Planting from vegetative material - cgiar

If we only consider what is best for forage and animal
production, the decision on when to cut forages is a
compromise between forage yield and quality (see
following figure on page 84). For the first few days after
cutting, forages regrow slowly as they have few leaves to
intercept light for photosynthesis. This is followed by a
few weeks of rapid leaf growth and production of good
quality feed. If left uncut any longer, the quality of the
forage drops as:
the plants produce more and more stem, particularly
when they start flowering,
digestibility of stem is much lower than leaf,
digestibility of old grass is much lower than young
grass, and
protein content decreases as the plant ages,
particularly in grasses.
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