The quality of your forage could be declining. Many producers around the state have already started cutting alfalfa. Even though the cool wet conditions we've had this spring have slowed down the reproductive growth, quality may be dropping. Extension forage specialist, Vance Owens says cutting early will give you a higher quality forage. Whatever a producer desires some people have started earlier especially if they're looking at higher quality end of things selling to dairy markets type of situations to letting it get longer and getting more tonnage off of it.
Many factors contribute to the quality of hay and one major factor is how wet the crop is.
Two things you should consider are how much and how fast it's rained. The faster and harder the rainfall the more nutrient leaching you will have. What generally happens with rained on hay especially if it gets over an inch in a several hour period situation, we'll see crude protein levels will probably stay the same. This year you may not see blossoms like we expect because of the weather, but that doesn't mean it's not ready. Owens says its a good idea to monitor your crop for the best time to cut.