planting alfalfa

anderson farms · May 24, 2008

I two small fields that were in beans about 3 or 4 years ago. I want to put alfalfa in. How do I go about it? When? What do I need to do to the ground? Ther is weeds in it I have mowed them a couple of times so no trees or anything. They are only like 5 acres each, just wanting some extra hay to use and sell. Or should I plant timothy or something? Just want your guys ideas, Thanks

IndianaRed · May 24, 2008

For horses or cattle?

Anonymous-0 · May 24, 2008

You need primary and secondary tillage before seeding. Primary could be a moldboard plow, chisel plow, heavy offset disc. Secondary is field cultivator, medium disc, cultipacker, etc. Timing? Central MN, this is a typical time for straight seeding, tad late for seeding with a nurse crop. Also late August if straight seeding. This is a cold, late spring for us- almost all seeding, planting was done in the last two weeks, small grain, alfalfa, corn, beans.

GordoSD · May 24, 2008

You are too late for spring planting. Go ahead and plant some grain sorgham in there, and harvest that in Aug.
Get a soil sample. Odds are you will need pretty good amounts of P and K. That has to be worked in so get that down. Then, heavy disc twice at least. Then a spike tooth harrow. Wait 10-12 days for weeds to emerge then apply herbicide according to local FSA guru. Then a cultipacker or roller You want a seed bed that is flat and firm. Just firm enough you can make a heel print in. Smooth enough to lawn bowl, or putt a golf ball on.
Then drill in seed. If you don't have a drill broadcast and then cultipack again. Pray for rain!
I just did this in SD planted 3 1/2 weeks ago, and the field is plum green tonight.

GordoSD

Allan in NE · May 25, 2008

Really too late this year.

I'd wait till next April, disc it and drill 'er with an oats cover crop.

Allan

GordoSD · May 25, 2008

I wouldn't think you need a cover crop on land as flat as that?
Is that an old #3 JD drill? Has some chains and loops that drag behind to cover see? I used one several years ago for some grain sorham in a deer food plot and it worked great.
Did you pack that field after drilling with that thing? Let me know how it comes up. That would be faster than broadcast/cultipack as my packer is only 8 feet wide. I didn't get the two four foot wings with it.

Gordo

paul · May 25, 2008

Locaion/ climate/ rainfall availability has a lot ot do with it......

Typically you want to plant before now in spring, or again in fall about 6-8 weeks befroe freeze up, if you can catch the typical rainy season where you are. Alfalfa likes very firm seed bed, only planted 1/4 inch or so deep, and lots of rain afterwards to get it rooted.

Spraying glysophate (Roundup, etc.) before you plant to kill the bad weeds is a good idea. If you have a notill drill you don't need much soil prep in good level soil; otherwise you need to make a nice clear seedbed, and harrow or cultipack it to make it nice & firm.

--->Paul

anderson farms · May 25, 2008

Going to be used to feed a couple of steers for the freezer, and the hogs too. Really just trying to learn how to do it right the first time. Looking at buying some more ground to put into hay. My wife stays home with our 9 mo old son so looking to make some extra green. No pun intended. I want to get into the hay bussiness. Starting small and trying to build up. Thanks

Anonymous-0 · May 27, 2008

Around here alfalfa is sown about in August. Two popular methods used to sow it here. About half is sown with a drill the other half is sprayed on with liquid fertilizer and then run over once with a cultimulcher (cultipacker in Allen's terms)Spray roundup and get rid of the weeds first. Maydo it now work it up let the weeds come up and spray again.

Anonymous-0 · Jun 1, 2008

No-till in the spring after spraying roundup. You can wait for it to burndown or no-till in later same day. You will save a lot of fuel plus if these small fields are prone to erosion. It also helps conserve moisture in a dry year like last year and protects it form being washed out like this year. (Indiana)
You can rent a no-till drill from your local ASCS office or Ag dealer. John Deere is the one I prefer, but there are other good brands out there.
I will never till alfalfa in again!

I have a Pic posted on

http:www.haytalk.com/forums

of this years field seede no-till last year. Pic taken around April 19th.
It made 71 bales an acre last week. Not bad first year alfalfa. I didn't fertilized yet either.
It was seede past the deadline for my area last year. It was seeded on May 1st and we had a dry summer.
No-till will protect moisture and prevent seed washout. This was a heavy clay soil also.

IH 1466

Jared M · Jun 22, 2008

Hogs are monogastrics and cannot break down forages to get the nutrients out of them like ruminants (cattle). If you are trying to avoid buying corn for the hogs bakeries will sometimes sell stale products cheap that you could feed. If feeding grain, a ration of 65% corn 35% soybean meal will do just fine on feeder pigs.

planting alfalfa

anderson farms

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IndianaRed

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Anonymous-0

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GordoSD

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Allan in NE

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GordoSD

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paul

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anderson farms

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Anonymous-0

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Anonymous-0

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Jared M

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