14
—Lancaster Farming. Saturday. March 4. 1972
Don’t
Most farmers who grow alfalfa
don’t get nearly as much yield
per acre as they could and a
major reason is that they starve
the crop with low levels of fer
tiilization, Dr. Richard M.
Thorup, regional agronomist of
Chevron Chemical Company, told
local farmers attending the
annual Ortho banquet Monday at
Meadow Hills Dining Hall.
Fanners can readily expect
yields of five to six tons per acre
of alfalfa “if we do the things we
now know can be done,” Thorup
stated.
But the statewide alfalfa
production average in 1971 was,
only about half that amount, or
some 2.65 tons per acre.
While the ag industry has been
proud of rapid gains and output in
many areas, Thorup noted that
he recently saw an 1876 Penn
sylvania Farm Year Book in
which alfalfa output was 1.23 tons
per acre. It’s taken nearly 95
years to double this output but
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‘Starve’ Alfalfa, Speaker Urges
“let’s hope it doesn’t take another
95 years to again double.”
Thorup noted the world record
alfalfa output by a California
farmers who produced 16.2 tons
per acre on 11 cuttings on year
round farming. While the local
climate isn’t adaptable for year
round farming, Thorup em
phasized he thinks yields in the
six to 10 ton range are attainable
with present know-how.
He stated that it takes a lot of
good management and planning
to get these high yields and he
stated that “fertilizer is one of the
very important aspects of crop
yield.”
He showed a chart indicating
that alfalfa nutrient
requirements are much higher
per acre than com, emphasizing
that farmers who attempt to get
top alfalfa yields from good com
ground can often expect to be
disappointed unless they build up
the soil.
He stated that farmers putting
alfalfa on ground which has been
farmed by corn for many years
may be “literally starving the
crop to death.’’
He quoted the Ohio State
University study which em
phasizes that alfalfa needs
nutrients at levels two or three
times higher than corn.
To give an indication of just
how much fertilizer may be
required, he cited what he
described as a typical farm
which may have soils with levels
of 40 pounds of phosphorus. But
Central Tractor Meets
The fifth meeting of the Central
4-H Tractor Club was held
February 29 at Landis Brothers,
Inc., Manheim Pike, Lancaster.
A demonstration was given by
Dennis Landis on ignition and
compression checking tools.
Glen Porter, local leader, gave
a demonstration on the im
portance of fuel and air mixture.
The next meeting will be held
at 7:30 pm. March 7 at Landis
Brothers.
News Reporter,
JereSwarr
John J. Hess, 41, Inc.
Ph: 4424632
Paradise
West Willow
Farmers Assn., Inc.
alfalfa takes levels of around 90
pounds for top yields. But in the
first year of growth alfalfa will
only take up about one-tenth of
the available phosphorus.
He explained that instead of a
simple difference of 50 pounds
per acre, this means that the
fanner must apply 10 times as
much or some 500 pounds initially
just to bring the soil up to the
optium level for alfalfa
production.
Once this high level of fertility
has been reached, Thorup ex
plained, it then is supply a matter
of replacing each year the
amount which is taken off by the
crop.
But he emphasized that until
the farmer makes this initial
investment and gets the ground
built up to the proper nutrient
level, he can normally not expect
yields to go much beyond the
three or four tons per acre level.
High levels of nitrogen and
potash also are important. The
crop itself generates much of its
own nitrogen requirements.
But Thorup emphasized that he
foresees the time when farmers
who are interested in high alfalfa
yields will be compelled to apply
extra nitrogen. While the crop
can generate its own nitrogen
need for three and four ton yields,
he indicated he thinks the crop
will need help with nitrogen at the
higher yield levels.
Asked after the talk about the
economic importance of the
alfalfa crop, and cost versus
return on fertilizer, Thorup noted
that alfalfa in Lancaster County’s
second largest crop with 52,000
acres in alfalfa. He estimated
that probably 40,000 of these
acres are under-fertilized.
For the farmer interested in
getting the top yield, Thorup
acknowledged that the biggest
investment will be in bringing the
crop fertility levels up to what
they should be. But he added that
the main reason this would be
necessary is that farmers have
been taking the nutrients out of
the soil over the years without
putting enough back.
He explained that most far
mers already are putting some
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Ira B. Landis
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1912 Creek Hill Rd., Lane,
fertilizer on their alfalfa and that
the difference to take the crop
from what is now being used to
what should be used probably
would not be too great. He in
dicated that the farmer probably
can get by on total'cost of fer
tilizer equivalent to the value of
the return of a half ton per acre of
alfalfa. But the difference in yield
More and more successful area dairymen
are proving that good dry cow feeding
pays off in extra cow condition and
extra milk production in the next lacta
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from proper fertilization may be
many times greater, he in
dicated.
He added that proper
fetilization will result in alfalfa
with higher protein content and
more feed value.
“I think we certainly have the
potential for increased
production,” Thorup condluded.
Using Purina Check-R-Mix* formulas we
can build you a low-cost dry cow ration,
combining Purina Dairy Conditioner
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Ph: 354-0301
Gordonville
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Inc.
Ph: 367-1195
Rheems