# How many tons per acre on alfalfa?



## hillrunner

I am curious how many tons per acre you expect on average for alfalfa on your acres and how you get them. How many cuttings do you usually get? Do you fertilize yearly? Do you cut pre bloom if possible or let some bloom before cutting?
I appreciate any info. I am trying to decide whether to plant more hay next year or just row crop. So far, I am unimpressed with the local hay market and cannot match row crop profit with alfalfa. The per hour profit looks even worse. The only problem is, I love to make hay. I am wondering if I am getting all I should be out of my acres.


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## hay wilson in TX

A fairly common annual yield is 5 tons/A, with 4 cuttings. 
In the Humid East at one time a 10 ton annual yield was major headlines. Now it is interesting but not all that news worthy.

We hear of 18 ton & 10 cuttings as news worthy but probably not big newsin the Irrigated Desert Southwest.

In theory a stand of alfalfa will persist for 30 cuttings. That might mean a three year stand in Southern Arizona or Southern California. I doubt if a stand will persist 15 years in much of Western Canada.

The old rule of thumb was a ton of alfalfa is equal to 25 bu of corn. I expect the nutritional equivalence is still in the 25 bu range but at today's prices the economic equivalency may be in the 15 bu = ton of hay range.

The maturity to harvest is determined by the price the customer is willing to pay. I understand the Western Dairies pay a premium for above 180 RFV hay. This is cutting at early bud stage. The price per ton falls quickly but the added yield can have the income back up for alfalfa cut mid or late bloom. An advantage of a mid to late bloom cutting schedule is one fewer cutting. This reduces the equipment running time for mowing and raking though the equipment running time for the baler and storing may be the same or even more. This can reduce your cost per ton and counter the loss in value.

Fertilizer application. This is really a local decision. Our Friends in Oklahoma have data to show we will have a higher total yield for the life of the stand by applying ALL the phosphate prior to planting. 
With the excessively high levels of native calcium HERE, I have been advised to apply half the expected needs of fertilizer prior to planting the stand, and apply additional fertilizers dependent on the plant analysis. 
In addition I like to apply potash going into our summer drought, to encourage Luxurious Potassium Uptake and improve water use efficiency.

You will make adjustments to meet the wants of your market, and disregard the ideal presented by sundry experts and authorities. HERE 20% Crude Protein is what the market wants to pay for. Therefore most of my hay is cut at quarter to mid bloom. I invest in a hay analysis for protein for the customer and mineral analysis for the monitoring of the fertility.

My best customers are the dairy GOAT customer. There is little or no race horse industry here so I discourage the horse owners from buying alfalfa hay. I do have 10% to 12% CP bermudagrass hay for the casual recreational horse owning customers.


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## mlappin

Can count on three cuttings here even with weather delays, had some only got two off of last year, will get three on all of it this year and four on a quarter of it.

Have a new field tht in two cuttings has already broke 4tons/acre with one more to go. In a good year with four cuttings I could see it break 6 tons/acre easy enough.


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## covenanthay

My budgets are all figured at 4 tons which is generally pretty obtainable so I nearly always make budget. I fertilize each year after first cutting and after the last cutting. I charge equipment and land cost to the hay acreage and whats left after variable expenses is my return to labor and management. I also raise hay because I like it and it is what I know, not always because it is the most profitable.


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## hillrunner

thanks for the help guys.


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## NCSteveH

I was faced with the dilemma of finding storage for the 18 tons/ac I made on the farm last year, ran out of barn space and didn't know what to do. Then like a bad dream, I woke up.

Realistically I have seen a history of 4-6 tons on my farm in Maine with 3 cuttings.


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## Montana Red

I agree 4-6 tons on a good stand and some fertilizer in 2-3 cuttings


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## LeadFarmer

I am from the previously mentioned irrigated Desert Southwest. I am near the Californian Imperial Valley, which is where I believe some of those super high yields come from.

On average we like to see 10-11 tons/A and normally 8 cuttings a year. Sometimes we may sneak in one last "clipping" in November. We have a couple fields that are first year alfalfa, and I have yet to figure out their exact yields, but they have easily produced over 2 TPA the last four cuttings, possibly as much as 2.5 in June/July.

We apply chicken manure, or composted steer manure once a year. Which we use depends on the age of the stand/how close we are to taking it out. With the chicken manure we can normally apply it and not fertilize all year. Not once.

Our decision of how mature to harvest the hay is pretty simple. During "dairy season", spring time, we will cut pre-bloom or every 28 days generally. This is to make sure we get that high RFV that Hay Wilson made mention of. The magic number USED to be around 180, but nowadays that is considered "good" hay. They will try to dock you for anything under 190-200 now, with 200 becoming a pretty standard benchmark.

During the summer months we grow our hay for maximum yield/decent quality. We don't worry about bloom/flowers at all, in fact they are almost our biggest indicator of when the hay is ready to cut. We cut on a roughly 32 day cycle now. Basically we check the hay when its 30-31 days from last cut, if it's full of bloom and done growing, then we cut it!


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