So I reported earlier about some alfalfa plots that we have on some area dairy farms. Well those fields were cut yesterday (Tuesday), so it was time to take some yield checks. I was away on a fertilizer mission, but Stephanie sent these pics of the operation using the methods we came up with. MSU intern Jacob is in charge, and he assembled this frame that is 15 feet long and gives a rigid border to make the sample cut on the row of fresh-cut hay on the ground.
Then the sample is weighed on the scale wagon. A sample is collected and saved for moisture determination to equate the various sample weights. There were multiple samples collected like this for each treatment.
Samples were also collected as the hay was chopped for submission to the lab for quality measurements. These good field techniques will hopefully provide useful information. That's AgroLiquid research in action.
