‘To cut, or not to cut, that is the question. Whether 'tis nobler to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageously low prices or to harvest when the slender shoots are yet tender to the tongue” --I think Shakespeare said that.

The tradeoff between high yields and high quality in alfalfa is a quandary that farmers have wrestled with for generations.  However, this has become particularly important as dairies have demanded ever higher quality for their higher-producing dairy cows.  After all, the average 2013 dairy cow produces >70% more milk than a cow in 1970, and dairies have demanded higher quality forage as a result.  This has meant that growers cut at increasingly shorter schedules,...