Roundup ready alfalfa as a food plot and source of bailing income?

[Hoytvectrix]

I'm wondering if anybody is familiar enough with Roundup ready alfalfa bailing. We currently have around 60 acres of pasture that are getting bailed. They are mostly cool season grasses and clover. The pastures are only getting bailed one time of year and it is typically in late July or early August.

My renter says that he is not familiar enough with the alfalfa but thinks that it might work to be treated just like the grass pasture and bailed in late summer. My thought is that I could even use that as an opportunity to oversee some brassicas into the stand for a mixed use fall food plot and get a little bit of income from the food plot to pay for the chemical and the more expensive seed.

My concerns are that the alfalfa would get to Woody if it was only bailed one time a year.

I have planted quite a bit of alfalfa as part of a mixture and we typically just clip it once a year. With the deer browse it tends to work pretty well with clover and chicory. These types of stands typically only last a couple of years though before other weeds move in.

I'm assuming that I'm missing something because I haven't really heard of too many people doing this.

 

[hillrunner]

Alfalfa would be way past prime by late summer. You'll want a minimum of 3 cuttings. Here the first cutting is around June 1st and you try to take a cutting about once a month until about mid September.
It will not work to over seed into actively growing alfalfa.

 

[Hoytvectrix]

Could be alfalfa be mowed if it was timed right or would that be too much biomass Left on the surface?

 

[hillrunner]

If you mowed it often enough I'm sure it could be done but it seems extremely wasteful. Can you not get someone to bale it? 60 acres of alfalfa should have no problem attracting a farmer.

 

[Hoytvectrix]

It's not actually 60 acres worth. It would probably be closer to about 5. I would like to keep it small enough to be treated as a food plot. The other 55 acres have past year is going to be gradually converted to native warm season grass or some kind of pollinator mix.

 

[hillrunner]

It's not actually 60 acres worth. It would probably be closer to about 5. I would like to keep it small enough to be treated as a food plot. The other 55 acres have past year is going to be gradually converted to native warm season grass or some kind of pollinator mix.

Ok, that makes a bit more sense. I would still think you could get someone to bale 5 acres. Alfalfa makes a great food plot if you can get it baled. If not, I'd look towards easier to manage plots like clover.

 

[Hoytvectrix]

That's helpful. Thanks for your input. I think I'm going to try it anyways, but I definitely have some homework to do with picking out the right cultivar or variety.

 

[Bill]

In MO I bet the deer would keep 5 acres mowed.

 

[Brian662]

Check this out, doesn't necessarily talk about baling it but may answer some pros/cons. Said a colleague got 12 years out of a stand.

 

[FarmerDan]

I keep going back to your post trying to see why you want to do this. It goes without saying but I'll say it anyhow. Alfalfa is a tricky and picky plant to grow. It doesn't like wet soil because of its tendency to harbor disease easily acquired by the plant. Nutrient levels need to be right for continued growth and the growth path of alfalfa itself changes as the seasons change. So, to get it right requires some management attention. From a cutting perspective the first year, the establishment year, gets treated a little different than its mature years. Cutting once a year in late summer - early fall interrupts plant energy flows. Is all of that important for you? Will it matter? I don't know. But cutting and baling it once a year you will probably end up with only stems. Leaf shatter is one of the reasons cutting strategy is so important. You might find a variety that minimizes all those hazards but you won't know how it performs for you on your land until you try it. It sounds risky, but I would really like to know how it works out!

 

[Hoytvectrix]

I keep going back to your post trying to see why you want to do this. It goes without saying but I'll say it anyhow. Alfalfa is a tricky and picky plant to grow. It doesn't like wet soil because of its tendency to harbor disease easily acquired by the plant. Nutrient levels need to be right for continued growth and the growth path of alfalfa itself changes as the seasons change. So, to get it right requires some management attention. From a cutting perspective the first year, the establishment year, gets treated a little different than its mature years. Cutting once a year in late summer - early fall interrupts plant energy flows. Is all of that important for you? Will it matter? I don't know. But cutting and baling it once a year you will probably end up with only stems. Leaf shatter is one of the reasons cutting strategy is so important. You might find a variety that minimizes all those hazards but you won't know how it performs for you on your land until you try it. It sounds risky, but I would really like to know how it works out!

I'll try to go into a little bit more of my reasoning and current plan. I definitely appreciate any and all input.

Situation: we have lots of open pasture ground and are slowly adding food and habitat to where it makes sense. I recently planted some clover, alfalfa, and chicory plots using a ratio that I've learned works well on an adjacent farm. These plots tend to last about 4 years or so until certain broadleaf weeds or sedges get into them and my options become limited for weed control.

My thought process was, would I be able to plant a pure roundup ready alfalfa plot that would last longer due to the expanded weed control options? The bailing of alfalfa is really just killing two birds with one stone if the timing would work out. I don't absolutely need the added food, but if the income worked out to offset the cost of mowing and spraying the plot, would it make sense to go this route as opposed to just keeping it in useless cool-season pasture that is currently doing nothing for the wildlife I'm trying to promote?

The long-term plan is to eventually convert all of the cool season pasture to NWSG plus Forbes or to early successional habitat. We have only owned the farm for less than 2 years and I'm trying to make as few permanent changes to it as possible while I learn the land a little bit better. If I can maximize income and benefit habitat more than the current pasture, to me it seems like that's a solution where everyone wins.

I'm definitely going to try it and I will document it in my land tour thread.

 

[buckdeer1]

I thought about RR alfalfa but my main weeds are pigweed and marestail which both are RR resistant so I just try to control with mowing.Even 5 acres if it's good enough hay and you bale in small squares you could sell to horse people.But RR would only help if your weeds can be killed.I would maybe talk to some horse people or the one that would buy as they may not want RR.And yes you would probably cut 3 times with the first 2 cuttings being the prime ones

 

[Catscratch]

If you're going to sell to horse guys you have to be cautious about blister beatles.

 

[jsasker007]

I've tried alfalfa a few different times and I don't give it enough attention to get a decent plot of it. Still have a little bit of it growing with my clover and chicory but alfalfa seems to be too fussy. I need plants that can do well with very little care.

 

[Angus 1895]

Check out sanfoin

The crop salesman here in salmon Idaho states the deer / elk flock to it over adjacent alfalfa fields in the pasimiroy valley