Page 20-Foraging Around, Lancaster Farming, Saturday, November 1, 1997
Dr. Marvin Hall
Forage Extension Specialist
Penn State
Whether we agree with it or not, the
maximum speed limit in most states is
65 mph.
Why should we drive within the
speed limit? Some Logical reasons
readily come to mind. The risks of
receiving a speeding ticket, being
involved in an accident, and bodily
injury or even death of the vehicle’s
occupants increase with speed.
So why would anyone exceed the
speed limit and expose themselves to
these risks? I suppose because we, as a
society, are in a hurry to get wherever
it is that we are going! We are willing
to accept additional risk just for the
chance of arriving at our destination
sooner than if we drove within the
speed limit—
Managing alfalfa stands in the fall
is really very similar to deciding
whether or not to exceed the speed
limit. Both involve the continuous
assessment of the benefits and risks
associated with your actions.
For example, you probably
wouldn’t break the speed limit if you
knew that the police were waiting just
down the road looking for speeders.
The risk of a ticket would be greater
than the benefits of speeding. Like
wise, you probably wouldn’t take a
harvest in late September if you knew
that a very cold and open (no snow
cover) winter was waiting just ahead.
The risk of losing the alfalfa stand
Bloat can be prevented through
management practices, feeding polox
alene, or a combination of both. New
grazing-type alfalfa varieties are just
as likely to cause bloat as traditional
hay-type varieties.
Some of the management tips
include:
• Fill animals with another rough
age before turning them onto alfalfa
the first time. Don’t allow animals to
get hungry. Hungry animals may over
eat and bloat when they get fresh
pasture.
• Gradually (over a 5 or 6 day per
iod) increase the time that animals
have access to alfalfa pasture.
• Observe animals at least twice a
day when they are turned onto alfalfa
pasture. Some animals are chronic
bloaters and should be watched espe
cially close or removed from the
pasture.
• Once they are use to alfalfa pas
ture, leave the animals on the pasture
constantly, even at night.
• Extra caution should be taken dur
ing wet, cloudy period in the early
spring when alfalfa is making its most
rapid growth. Do not put animals onto
alfalfa pasture if a heavy dew is
present.
• More mature alfalfa is less likely
to cause bloat. Minimize potential
problems by initially turning them
onto alfalfa that has reached the bloom
stage.
• Begin feeding poloxalene 2 to 5
days before turning animals onto alfal
fa pasture. Use higher dosages when
Exceeding The Speed Limit, Or Harvesting Alfalfa In The Fall
would be greater than the benefits of
fall harvesting, just like speeding,
must be assessed in each situation to
determine if the risks are greater than
the benefits.
The benefits of fall harvesting
change continually depending on the
amount of forage needed and the price
of purchased forage. In a drought year,
alfalfa is likely to be scarce and
expensive. In this situation, the bene
fits of taking a fall harvest may be
great enough to completely ignore the
risk to stand health or life. Likewise,
in a year when the bams and silos are
full of quality alfalfa, then the benefits
of taking a fall harvest are much less
than the risks.
Just as there are precautions which
reduce your risks when exceeding the
speed limit, there are also precautions
which can reduce the risk to alfalfa
stand loss when harvesting in the fall.
• Age of stand: Older alfalfa stands
are more likely to winter kill or suffer
winter injury following a fall harvest
than younger alfalfa stands.
• Variety: Alfalfa varieties with
moderate resistance to several dis
eases and sufficient winterhardiness
have greater tolerance to stress from
fall harvesting than less disease resis
tant or winterhardy varieties.
• Soil pH and fertility: Adequate
soil pH and fertility minimizes the risk
of fall harvesting by allowing alfalfa
plants to develop properly and be
healthier.
'f (
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❖ Special Report *
from Page 19)
(Continued
• Soil drainage: Alfalfa on well-
animals are first placed on alfalfa pas
ture, and reduce the rale if no problems
occur. Animals on lush alfalfa will
require more poloxalene than on more
mature alfalfa.
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drained soils is less likely to suffer
winter injury than alfalfa on poorly
drained soils.
• Harvest frequency: Alfalfa harvest
schedules which do not allow the
alfalfa plant to flower once during the
season, predisposes the plant to winter
injury.
• Fall cutting height: Leaving six to
Make Hay From
Your Pastures
Grace Truman
Extension Specialist
West Virginia University
Extension Service
You can save money this spring by
using the extra growth on your pas
tures for hay.
The West Virginia University
Extension Service offers these tips for
increasing your yields and the quality
of hay made from pastures:
• Apply extra fertilizer to the part of
the pasture that is to be used for hay.
Ask for a hay recommendation when
you send in your soil sample to the soil
lab for testing. If you don’t get your
soil tested this year, use a 60-45-45
fertilizer.
• Concentrate cattle on other pas
tures, and let the hay field grow. Most
cool-season pastures will produce
twice as much feed during April and
May as they will in June, July, and
August. Also, if you divide the pasture,
the cattle can graze the grass rather
closely in the spring. That will help
keep clovers in fescue pastures.
• Cut hay from the pastures about
the middle of May, when some of the
heads of grass are showing but before
seed start forming. Fescue hay cut in
the middle of May has about 10 per
cent crude protein content. When the
YOUR BEST FORAGE BOX VALUE
eight inches of stubble when taking a
fall harvest will reduce the risk of
winter injury.
The decision to take a fall harvest is
not always as simple as the decision to
exceed the speed limit. However,
when making either decision, under
standing and assessing both the bene
fits and risks can be helpful in making
the “best” decision.
hay is cut the last of May, the protein
content drops to about 7.5 percent.
Making hay from pasture provides
other benefits. The mowing kills many
spring weeds. The extra growth of
grass and clover helps “crowd out”
weed growth. New, tender regrowth
after mowing also provides high
quality feed. And more forage means it
takes fewer acres for each cow.
Plan now to get a soil test kit from
your county extension office. Be sure
to state on the information sheet that
you want a recommendation for hay.
The hay recommendation is higher
than for pasture because all the hay is
removed from the land. When the land
is pastured, some manure returns to the
land.