MORGAN TOWNSHIP, Ohio — Dave and Gail Lierer have had three good cuttings of alfalfa hay so far this year. They’re not sure about a fourth.

"I don’t like shaving the ground down too low on the alfalfa because you don’t know what the winter is going to be," Dave Lierer said. "I like to have between 8 to 10 inches of growth to help out through the winter."

That goes along with advice Rory Lewandowski, Ohio State University extension educator in Wayne County, and Mark Sulc, OSU forage specialist, recently offered. The cool, wet spring followed by rainy weather well into the summer has delayed hay cutting schedules across much of Ohio.

Many fields won’t be ready for a last harvest until that critical fall rest period for alfalfa, which goes from Sept. 7-15 through late October in Ohio. Cutting during that critical period always carries risk to the stand health.

"It is during that rest period that our perennial plants are building up food reserves, carbohydrates that they are going to need to get through the winter," Lewandowski explained. "Perennial plants continue to live and respire; they’re burning energy through that winter period."

The plants need to get through the winter with enough reserves to initiate regrowth in the spring. The fall rest period is their opportunity to continue to photosynthesize and build up food reserves to store in the roots and crowns, Lewandowski said.

Certain risk factors determine if the stand will be harmed, and to what extent, by cutting during that critical period. "It can depend on how much stress that stand has gone through during the production year, during the growing season," he said. "If that stand had a lot of insect pressure, like potato leaf hopper ... that can be a factor that adds stress onto the plant."

If the variety selected has good disease resistance and good levels of winter hardiness, it will be better able to tolerate a late cutting. The cool, wet weather this season contributed to disease – Lewandowski said they found leaf and stem diseases in alfalfa stands they scouted this summer. That would lead to additional stress.

"Soil fertility is an important factor," he said. "When we look at soil potassium levels, that has a lot to do with how that plant can overwinter and take that last fall cutting. We like to see high fall potassium levels, soil pH at 6.8 to 7.0 range. Fields that are able to maintain that soil fertility are able to withstand stresses."

Other factors include the age of the stand. Younger fields are more likely to handle late cutting than older stands, he said. Also, how many times has the stand been harvested? If this would be a fifth cutting, that would put stress on the field.

Finally, consider soil drainage. Last year, some fields that didn’t have good drainage and had a fall cutting were damaged with the heaving that occurred this spring.

"If you assess all of those risk factors and decide where you want to be and make your decision, and then part of it will be what kind of fall we have," Lewandowski said. "You have to balance out all of those factors."

The Lierers have already decided they’re probably going to let their field go until next year.