Tissue removal by animal herbivores is a fundamental stressor in the evolutionary history of plants. In the agriculture of perennial biomass crops (e.g. grasses as feedstock), harvesting is a necessary damage event that one hopes is tolerated such that subsequent harvests are not reduced in quantity or nutrition. The objective of this study was to determine how a community of mixed plant species is affected by harvest for hay production. Plants in the study field were harvested once in May and again in September, which is a common practice for this type of field. Another field was harvested once in the fall, acting as a control. Comparisons of the biomass and nutrient profiles of first vs. second harvests allowed inference to the response of plants to damage. The results of this study indicate that a strategy of two harvests provides more biomass and nutrition in total relative to one late-season harvest. This is due in part to the apparent tolerance of some species to damage, such that their biomass was maintained or increased in the second harvest relative to the first. Another factor was the substantial recruitment of a species late in the season that was absent in the first harvest, which contributed to the maintenance of biomass and nutrition when comparing the two harvests. Overall, this study provides an assessment of the response of a mixed plant community to tissue removal within the context of perennial agriculture, with inference to the evolutionary strategies employed and potential for application to livestock feeding.