# Years a Field is Usually in Alfalfa



## UpNorth (Jun 15, 2009)

What is the average amount of time you guys usually keep a field in alfalfa production?

What is the longest you've ever kept a field in alfalfa?

What year has been the maximun yielding year of production?

In Wisconsin a lot of dairy farmers keep their alfalfa from 3-5 years on average. Yield usually maxes out in year 2 or 3 and the hay/silage yield in the later years is not worth the cost of harvesting so most people rotate back to corn silage.


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## buckeye (Jul 21, 2009)

I usally go 6 years with the best years being 3-4. I have gone 8 a couple of times.


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## swmnhay (Jun 13, 2008)

4-5 yrs in straight alfalfa.Yr 2& 3 are the best.Usually interseed orchard 4th yr if I want to keep it longer.

Had some Alf/orchard for 8 yrs.Actually have field of alf/orchard 14 yrs old,not much alf left.

I think crop insurance is only available for 5 yrs for alfalfa.?????


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

7-8 years here on the clay, 10 or better on the sand, had one last 17. I have plenty of folks that want real grassy hay but with some alfalfa in it and they'll pay the same as hay that's 70/30 alfalfa, grass. Even have one lady that feeds it to her _camels_. When they do start petering out I'll frost seed in some mammoth clover and make it for my beefcows a couple of years. When ready to take it out, we'll make the last cutting, get some regrowth and hit it with 2-4D and roundup, do another burn down in the spring, then no-till it to corn, then beans the following year and back to alfalfa.


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## Rodney R (Jun 11, 2008)

The oldest field we have right now was planted in '99 following sweetcorn. I have killed some that were newer. That field was planted with straight alfalfa, and then about 4-5 years ago I added some orchardgrass. I know that we have one other that is right about the same age. For what we want they do just fine. I don't know the actual yield off of them. I would say that the yield has been consistent, I'm sure that it has dropped, but it hasn't dropped enough that it isn't worthwhile. I know that we have another that is about the same age. We have one field that is about 4 years old and it is doing just as good as the first year. When I planted it, I had the thought of only keeping it a few years so that I could kill the wild grasses that would ruin the timothy I was trying to plant - I got myself some 'cheap' seed - It was only $85/bag, and the salesman said it would only last 2-3 years..... I was going to kill it this year, but..... maybe next year.

It seems the first year is about 75% of what we would normally get. Almost all of the alfalfa is planted at the end of august, or the 1st week of sept. We have enough slope on our land that we don't have standing water, and the ground doesn't heave. And we don't 'push' for the biggest crop, or cut by the calander. I like to see all the pretty flowers!  Nearly none of the hay we sell goes to dairymen, so mature hay is just fine, and might be better for the horses. I guess it all goes towards management, and the intended market.

Rodney


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

I plan on a 5 year stand, with 4 tons/A annual yield or 20 total tons/A of hay. This is planning on a total of 20 cuttings, & this is what I fertilize for.

In theory a stand should persist for 30 to 35 cuttings.

The worst persistence was less than one year, when a seedling stand died from drought. 
The best persistence was *11 years*. (This stand reseeded it's self two times during the 11 years. That stand was still a good solid stand but the ground was so rough that I could not travel over it at more than a few miles per hour. This is a natural evolution with a vertisal clay soil. )
Usually it is still a strong stand when plowed out at the end of *5 or 6 years*.

My system is to plow out a field, leave it fallow for one year and replant in the Fall. Every July one field is plowed out, and a different field is planted with the first Fall Rains of that same year. The year fallow allows for an accumulation of deep moisture and sure helps in weed control. 

Average yield is 4 T/A, best was 7.2 T/A and one year that averaged less than 2 T/A. I have had two failed seedings over a 30 year period.

In a dry year bermudagrass will out yield and out earn alfalfa. 
In a wet year the alfalfa has the advantage.


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## Rodney R (Jun 11, 2008)

Wilson - you said a stand should last 30-35 cuttings..... is that what you have seen, or is that some research somewhere? I'm just curious. Many times we'll be a full cutting behind the dairy guys, and they might be able to make an extra wet cutting at the end of the season. They would be doing 2 extra cuttings per year then we do. I know that a lot of guys like to let one cutting per year go into a good amount of bloom.... does that have any effect on stand length? 
I guess I missed a question in the 1st post..... average stand life would be about 8 years. That would fall somewhere between 24 and 32 cuttings. Maybe we should talk about stand life not in how many years, but how many cuttings?

Rodney


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

The 30 to 35 cuttings for a stand life came from Dr Marble, now retired, California Extension Forage Specialist. 
That is a little misleading though. For a few growers in Alberta where they have 1 or 2 cuttings a year is one extreme, while in the low South California Desert with their 8 or so annual cuttings is another extreme. I believe his figure is for good irrigated California conditions in the days when dairy quality alfalf was cut at quarter bloom.

On the other hand today's alfalfa varieties have much better pest resistance and more is understood about fertility management.

Here we have stress from our summer drought, while others have problems with frost heaving.

So a 30 cutting stand is a good rule of thumb.


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## haybaler101 (Nov 30, 2008)

I prefer 4 full production years with an average of five cuttings per year. Some years, I get 6, this year 4 on most. Stands are usually good after four years, but stem size gets bigger due to fewer plants, quality begins to drop due to stem size, curing becomes harder and weed pressure increases. Most importantly, I can grow one helluva corn crop behind the alfalfa for a couple of years with a lot less nitrogen needed.


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## Rodney R (Jun 11, 2008)

This year we will get 3 cutting off most fields. Last year we did 4 off about half of the acres, and 3 off the rest. 30 cuttings would fall right around 8-10 years. i do think that the newer alflafa varieties are more persistant than older ones, and we seem to have better conditions for stands to last than what y'all are saying.

Crop rotation isn't a big deal, since I'd like to follow up with some sort of hay crop, but normally either go to wheat or rye. We haven't had corn for several years, and the deer would eat all of the beans. Our ground is much better suited to growing hay anyway - not near deep enough for corn - I see in the magazines guys digging trenches to examine roots.... I could reach the bottom of our topsoil with about 5-6 spade shovels full. If we dug a trench, we'd be looking at rocks.

Rodney


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