While farming in the ‘North’ brings the benefits of growing some of the best forages like alfalfa and cool-season grasses, it also carries the weight of fall decisions that will ‘make or break’ your profit due to risks of winter injury. Fall decisions regarding alfalfa production include proper harvest timing  and providing adequate potassium, leading to strong plants that can survive a severe winter and come back the following year with good yield potential.

Difficult alfalfa harvesting conditions sometimes result in farmers being off schedule for late summer harvesting alfalfa.  This raises the question of best cutting management of alfalfa harvest as the end of summer approaches. If we want good winter survival and rapid greenup for good yield next year, alfalfa must either: This has resulted in the […]

“Cut alfalfa at late bud for optimum quality.” We’ve heard this statement, or a similar one, many times over the past 10 to 15 years. Although forage quality is strongly correlated to morphological stage (for example, late-bud or first flower), many years of monitoring the forage quality of a standing crop has taught us that environment plays an important role in what the actual forage quality might be at a specific stage of maturity.

Alfalfa may start growing in the spring while some freezing nights are still occurring.  This has caused many management questions among farmers.

For determination of keeping stand of new seedlings: Determine whether the seedlings have developed crowns (pull a plant and feel if ridge between root and top growth which usually develops when plant is 3 to 4 inches tall).  All seedlings without crowns and with damaged terminal buds will die.  Count remaining plants and keep stand […]

While removal of old stands is recommended with fall applications, many fields are now slated for removal due to winter-kill. This can be challenging, but options exist depending on the situation.  Below I discuss management options for common scenarios this spring.

Establishment of dense vigorous stands of alfalfa is essential for long-term profitability, but establishment can be challenging because seedling alfalfa is vulnerable to competition from annual weeds and wind and water erosion. Roundup Ready Alfalfa was re-introduced last year as a new tool available to farmers growing high-quality alfalfa. While not for everyone, it will be useful for many alfalfa growers.

Step 1:  Choose a representative 2-square-foot area in the field. Step 2:  Determine the most mature stem in the 2-square-foot sampling area using the criteria shown in the table to the right. Step 3:  Measure the length of the tallest stem in the 2-square-foot area. Measure if from the soil surface (next to plant crown) to the […]

Stress in the seeding year reduces future yields of alfalfa. This occurs because the seeding year determines the stand plant density as well as individual plant size and vigor. The following paragraphs will show that autotoxicity, potato leaf hopper, cover crop, and, possibly, drought stresses in the seeding year will reduce alfalfa yield in future years, even when the stress is gone.

Winter Injury occurs someplace in Wisconsin every year. Being able to diagnose and manage winter damaged stands may help prolong stand life and increase production. Below is a brief discussion on diagnosing and managing winter damaged alfalfa.