Page 14—Fbraglng Around, Lancaster Farming, Saturday, February 7, 1998
Maximizing Alfalfa
Yields A Look Back
DR. JOHN E. BAYLOR
Retired Forage Specialist
Penn State
The nationally recognized Pennsyl
vania Alfalfa Growers Program
sponsored by PFGC in cooperation
with Penn State involved nearly 400
Pennsylvania alfalfa growers and
ended about 12-14 years ago.
However, alfalfa growers in Penn
sylvania and around the U.S. are still
benefiting from many of the lessons
we’ve learned.
And while during the past decade or
so we’ve continued to see improve
ments in cultivars and management
practices much of which we learned in
the late ’7os and ’Bos is still valid.
Below is a summary of the produc
tion practices of top producers in that
program. The overall average esti
mated hay equivalent yield for the top
10 growers in each of the first eight
years approached eight tons per acre,
the yield goal recommended by many
experts at that time for good soils, and
more than 2'/i times the state average.
Cultivars
Over the eight-year period, at least
15 different high-yielding cultivars
were used by the 80 top growers.
These cultivars or varieties were also
consistently among the highest yield
ing in replicated trials in the state.
Soils And Fertility
All top growers planted alfalfa on
well-drained soils, consisting mainly
COLUMBUS, Ohio - When Cyd
Bickford and her husband Paul de
cided to tiy intensive grazing on their
600-cow, southwestern Wisconsin
dairy farm six years ago, they con
verted the whole farm to pasture in the
first year. It wasn’t such a good idea.
“We weren’t prepared for how ster
ile the soil was and how little it pro
duced the first couple years,” Bickford
said. “It would have been better to
have converted half the land to pasture
and grown hay and com silage during
the initial stage, while the pastures de
veloped.”
Starting slower also would have al
lowed adequate time to plan how to
set up premanent fencing and water
lines.
“We’ve pulled up more fence posts
than most people have put in,” she
said.
The Bickfords will share their graz
ing experiences with interested begin
ning graziers in Akron, Ohio Feb. 16
at 11 a.m. during a “Getting Started
Grazing” producer panel to take place
at the Great Lakes Grazing Confer
ence.
Beginners should learn from an ex
perienced grazier before starting, so
they don’t make as many mistakes,
Bickford said.
Keeping an open mind is important.
“It seems like the longer we graze,
the more we leam there are no easy
answers or bad answers. Just when we
think we’ve got things under control,
something causes us to change how
we do things, especially the weather,”
she said. “Grasses grow too quickly or
it gets too muddy to use lanes to some
pastures, so we have to take pastures
out or add them to the rotation before
we’d planned.”
Rick Duff, another member of the
Getting Started Grazing panel who’s
of limestone. Lime and fertility pro
grams for establishment and mainten
ance were based on soil tests and
grower experience.
Most producers applied sizable
amounts of dairy cow manure in the
rotation before alfalfa. When yields
exceeded eight tons of hay equivalent
per acre, nutrient removal of phos
phorous and potassium frequently ex
ceeded 125 pounds and 600 pounds
per acre, respectfully.
Most top yields were obtained the
first full harvest year after the year of
seeding and were, for the most part,
from stands seeded in the spring with
out a companion crop. For the majori
ty of those fields, a herbicide was used
to control weeds establishment.
Many top producers also used an in
secticide at seeding time to protect
(1) Ave. of 1
Beginning
been intensively grazing 100 to 120
sheep on his Athens County farm
since 1986, also believes it’s import
ant for beginning graziers to go slow
ly.
“I’ve made about every grazing
mistake you could possibly make, but
the danger today is that it’s more ex
pensive to make mistakes, because
more people are trying to sell you
things you may not really need, like
inappropriate fences and expensive
exotic grasses.” Duff said.
He recommends new graziers keep
their grazing system as simple as pos
sible for a few years, so they can see
how their pastures improve and per
form and bow their animals prefer to
move through fields. Then they can
spend money, if needed, on more ex
pensive water systems, fence and
grass seed.
Grazing takes more time starting
out, but once a system is established,
less labor is needed and the time in
volved is minimal. It could take as lit
tle as 10 minutes a day just long
enough to walk to the field, open the
gate, let the animals go through, close
the gate and walk back, Duff said.
Grazing is not only a science, it’s an
art, said Gary Wilson, agriculture and
natural resources agent at the Hancock
County office of Ohio State Univer
sity Extension and the moderator for
the Getting Started Grazing panel.
Graziers must know when to put ani
mals on pasture and when to take them
off, how to sustain pasture growth and
yield, when to rotate animals, and how
to adapt all these things to their own
soil, grass and landscape.
“New graziers need to learn the art
of grazing when to do things that
maximize yield from pastures and
growth of animals.” Wilson said.
“People who graze get most of their
Establishment
Production Costs, Costs Per Ton, And Net Returns At Various Yield Levels;
Pennsylvania Alfalfa Growers Program. (1981-84)
Yield Range
Tons/A
<3.0 (1)
3.0-
4.0-
5.0-
6.0-
7.0-
>B.O
983 & 1984 only.
Graziers Should Take It Slowly
new stands against troublesome in
sects. Seeding rates were generally in
the neighborhood of 15-16 pounds of
properly inoculated seed per acre for
these top top yields.
Frequency Of Harvest
Over the eight-year period, all top
growers made at least four cuttings per
year and several harvested their crops
five times.
At that time, when three cuttings
per year had been common, this move
to more frequent harvests by top pro
ducers indicated the potential of more
intensive management for high yields
of high quality forage.
Cutting intervals of 35, 38, and 45
days between cuts 1 and 2, 2 and 3,
and 3 and 4, respectively, appeared
neatly ideal for Pennsylvania growers
at that time.
While weather conditions then and
now frequently dictate frequency of
cutting, most top growers were able to
maintain a cutting schedule close to
the ideal.
In 1978, the second year of the pro
gram, three of the top 10 growers
Ave. Yield
Tons/A
2.76
3.50
4.55
5.51
6.44
7.34
8.13
information from each other, so hav
ing a panel where new people can talk
with experienced graziers will benefit
everyone who attends.”
Any livestock producer who wants
to leant how to develop a grazing sys
tem or improve details of their current
system should attend the Great Lakes
Grazing Conference, said Tom Noyes,
dairy agent at the Wayne County of
fice of Ohio State University Exten
sion and one of the event’s coordina
tors.
A conference highlight will be a
presentation by Charles Opitz called
Mastering the Ait. Opitz, who has
been grazing for more than 10 years
on his 1.200-cow Wisconsin dairy
farm, is considered one of the real
masters of grazing, Noyes said.
David Kline, an Amish dairy graz
ier in Holmes County, will discuss
how grazing affects the whole farm.
The conference also will include pre
sentations by university grazing spe
cialists from Michigan State Univer
sity, the University of Missouri, Ohio
State, Penn State University, the Uni
Storage
Production
Cost/A
$279.73
255.47
250.05
285.36
304.19
310.46
344.20
stored all of their cuttings as silage
with eight storing one or more cuttings
in that form.
For the other years, nearly every top
producer stored at least one cutting as
silage with about 40 percentof those
growers storing all cuttings in the silo.
Disease Control
Controlling insects attacking alfal
fa, especially potato leafhopper, is es
sential to produce top yields of high
quality forage.
Today new leafhopper tolerant
varieties promise to offer some pro
tection against this pest. However, in
most years all top growers sprayed
their crop at least once, frequently
more often, with an approved insecti
cide.
However, top producers also took
advantage of the insect management
program to help producers better pre
dict the buildup of troublesome in
sects in individual fields.
Dollars And Sense
Keeping good records on produc
tion costs was an important part of the
grower’s program.
(Turn to Page 18)
Cost Per
Net Ton
$104.25
75.91
56.80
53.88
49.25
43.74
43.95
versity of Wisconsin and the Univer
sity of Guelph in Ontario, Canada.
Last year, mote than 400 people at
tended the conference, and Noyes ex
pects better numbers this year.
“The conference has become one of
the premier grazing conferences in the
Midwest,” he said. “Most of our topics
are a result of last year’s evaluations.
We took a lot of their ideas and
molded the conference around what
participants said they’d like to hear.”
The Great lakes Grazing Confer
ence runs from Ba.m. Monday, Feb. 16
to noon Tuesday, Feb. 17 at the Ra
in ada Plaza in Akron. Registration is
$4O for the first person from each farm
before Feb. S and $5O after. Addition
al participants from the same farm pay
$25 before Feb. 5 and $35 after. Mail
in registrations must be sent by Feb.
10.
For registration after that date or for
more information about the confer
ence, those interested should cot tact
the Wayne County office of Ohio
State University Extension at (330)
264-8722.
Net Return
Per Acre
$ 59.60
16.51
94.33
138.46
196.50
258.87
310.21