# Alfalfa variety to plant



## AQHACWBY (Feb 6, 2012)

I am in western wisconsin, medium clay soil.
What variety of alfalfa and grass seed is best for this area.
I use the hay for mostly horses.
I like a 70% alfalfa to 30% grass mix.
In the past I have seeded 15lbs alfalfa, 8 lbs orchard, 8 lbs timothy, 8lbs brome per acre.
I try to find a thinner stem alfalfa with quick recovery.
Cropland 640 has worked in the past, but has a thicker stem (slow dry time )
This year I want to add rye grass to the mix and take out the brome.
I have not had any luck finding any test plots in the area.
The cover crop will be oats and peas, taken off early as high moisture and wrapped for the cattle.


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## mncattle (Jul 23, 2010)

Well I really like the WL brand for alfalfa. I have been planting the WL353LH variety and have been happy with that. I usually can get 4 cuttings a year offf it and it is fairly fine stemmed. The first cutting is the stemmiest and 4th cutting the finest stemmed. Hope that may help you. Another thing is I would think you can cut the grass seed in half and you would be happy with your stand and save money. I usually plant alfalfa at 10-12lbs and grasses at 3-5lbs.


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## rrg (Dec 1, 2011)

I have cropland mp1000 in our field. It yields great produces dairy quality hay if managed properly. I am looking at tearing it up this fall, planting corn next year, and then the following year planting cropland legondairy. The legondairy has the finer stems that folks buying for horses tend to prefer. We do sell to some horse folks and they balk at the corser stems from the mp1000 sometimes. I'd go for the legondairy or rebound 6.0. Just my two cents worth.
Ryan


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## AQHACWBY (Feb 6, 2012)

Thank you MNcattle and rrg.
Cropland rebound is $271 a bag here. kinda high.
WL353LH is at $200 a bag , has a fine stem,fast recovery and restistant to alot of bugs.
Empire II looks good to.
Don't know what Legondairy is going for a bag. Will find out on Monday.

I talked to a nearby dairy farmer that farms about 2100 acres and he was asking me what grasses that i added to the mix.
I guess he has been watching my fields and says they look like I get more tonnage than he does per cutting.
That might be, but what is the feed value in it for dairy cattle.

.


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## hay wilson in TX (Jan 28, 2009)

For Wisconsin I would want hopper resistance. WL 453LH looks good. It also has Phytophthora and Aphanomyces Something that might come in handy.
But it does not have any aphid resistance. If you are also interested in aphid resistance AmeriStand 409LH is highly resistant to the Pea Aphid.


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## endrow (Dec 15, 2011)

AQHACWBY said:


> I am in western wisconsin, medium clay soil.
> What variety of alfalfa and grass seed is best for this area.
> I use the hay for mostly horses.
> I like a 70% alfalfa to 30% grass mix.
> ...


Agree we have also found you must use a thin stem variety alfalfa to get good baled hay ..your mix sounds good as well


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## hay wilson in TX (Jan 28, 2009)

Alfalfa cut in the early bud stage, HERE, still has the thin stem.
Your Dan Ubdersander likes a short duration for alfalfa. First and second season alfalfa is out finest stems with goo yield. By the third season the stand has thinned down resulting in a thicker stem for the same yield of hay.

HERE, we have shorter growing alfalfa and a thin stem, I believe due to our shorter day (14 hours) during the growing season is the reason for the shorter growth and thin stems.

In a good growing year we can start cutting the last week of March. In a typical growing year the first field is usually cut by mid April. This year we will be fortunate to start cutting in May.

Time will tell.

My rotation is to plow out after the 5 th season. Plant a different field back to alfalfa each September.


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## AQHACWBY (Feb 6, 2012)

Thanks everyone,
Hay wilson, I too go to a 5 -6 year rotation.
I am just coming off a two year corn/soybean rotation.
I believe I will go with the WL353LH @ 16.5 lbs per/acre
And mix in Timothy @ 5 lbs/acre
And Orchard grass @ 5 lbs/acre.
I was told that in the 4th year, I could alway thicken the tonnage up by drilling a type of rye grass in. Any thoughts on that ?

I talked to a few reps and they all agree that we don't have much of a pea aphid problem here.


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## hay wilson in TX (Jan 28, 2009)

Pest are where you find them. I am understandably nervous about the Pea Aphid. In the 1960's the pea aphid found things to their liking and about finished any interest in alfalfa, here in Central Texas. Fortunately New Mexico had come up with Moapa, a new variety that had some resistance to the pea aphid.
We always have had problems with Root Rot, due to our heavy soil and periodic flooding. Our usual climate is a drought, with periodic flooding. My father called it drowning. I later learned to call it wet foot root rot. I still like Wet Foot as it is easier to spell than Phytophthora. K
You have one of the top alfalfa Extension Specialist, Dan Undersander. [email protected] If you want some good information about alfalfa ask him. Not knocking sales representatives but I have found they only want to sell the grower what they have on their floor. Something that they have been sold and that is what they want to sell to us. 
Some years ago AFGC held their annual Conference at Madison. A real contrast between Wisconsin and Texas in July. Most refreshing, as well as interesting.


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