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Farming has been a very profitable business for the past decade. When there is a period of farm prosperity, the main asset farmers own – land – becomes more valuable as demand for farmland increases.
Some farmers always get good stands of alfalfa – while others do not. The following will outline a few points that successful farmers use to establish good stands.
Conventional wisdom would suggest that shipping hay bales long distances is not practical. Transport and handling costs for bulky forage products make their production close to livestock more rational than exporting it halfway around the world.
Annual clovers (arrowleaf, crimson, ball, berseem, etc.) are cool-season legumes. They improve forage growth distribution and increase forage yield and quality while reducing nitrogen fertilizer need.
Most hay producers are quite familiar with the problems associated with baling moist hay. Normally, these problems include spontaneous heating, increased evidence of mold, loss of dry matter (DM) during storage, poorer nutritive value and (in extreme cases) spontaneous combustion.
In 1983, Clayton Geralds and his family started into the forage industry with 100 acres of alfalfa. This increased to 450 acres of alfalfa and 150 acres of alfalfa-grass mix four years ago.
A cattle producer wants to put 25 head of feeder cattle on a pasture you are not currently using. Envisioning 500-pound feeders, you estimate the pasture will feed 25 500-pound steers for three months, and you both agree.
“All things in moderation” is a mantra that applies to many things in life. Most of us like sugar, but we probably shouldn’t let it be the majority of our diet. Ruminants are no different.
Harvesting 10 tons of alfalfa per acre each year is a lofty goal. Whether you aim for this target or you aspire to achieve your farm’s highest yields, doing so begins by successfully establishing a robust alfalfa stand of top-end genetics in high-fertility fields.
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