Thinking about growing alfalfa but aren’t convinced? Let’s change that.
Alfalfa is a perennial flowering plant in the legume family. The forage is used across the world for grazing, hay, silage, and as a cover crop. It has a ruminal digestion rate that’s five to 10 times more than that of most grasses. Because of this, cattle can digest it faster and consume more alfalfa than other forage crops.
The Benefits of Growing Alfalfa #
Growing alfalfa can improve your soil health. The plant adds organic matter to the soil, providing nutrients and helping make other organic material available. It also helps address compaction by acting like a sponge and holding moisture in the soil, improving the soil structure, and preventing erosion. Alfalfa also provides protein, amino acids, fibre, and sugar to the microorganisms in the soil, helping your overall crop health.
Alfalfa is a low input user that fixes its own nitrogen too, meaning you don’t have to worry about whether or not your crop is getting what it needs. You can get three to five years of harvest off one alfalfa crop, reducing your overall spring workload each year you aren’t seeding it.
Adding alfalfa to your crop rotation diversifies your fields, breaks up their disease cycles, and offers competition to weeds. It can also be a stable form of income when annual crops see fluctuations.
“Alfalfa is very profitable long-term,” said Jordan Schmidt, BrettYoung Seed Production Specialist in Southern Alberta.
Multi-year production of alfalfa for BrettYoung Seed Production is a great way to improve internal drainage within your fields, too, noted Schmidt.
“Alfalfa’s deep root systems will travel down through the soil and open up pours for moisture to move rather than run off the field,” he said.
Growing Requirements #
In its first year, Schmidt recommends growing alfalfa with a companion crop so you still get a profit from the field and so the new alfalfa seedlings can have protection against erosion and weeds.
Because alfalfa stands are generally thin, very little seed is needed for planting. Schmidt said around half a pound to two lb/acre is all you need to establish an alfalfa stand — even less seed is required if your crop’s under irrigation. If you are irrigating your alfalfa crop, it’s important to note it doesn’t require as much as other crops.
“With drier years and smaller irrigation allotments, this is a benefit,” said Schmidt.
Because insects can be a problem as alfalfa grows, Schmidt recommends regularly scouting your field to know what’s affecting your field and how much. Then, you can assess threshold numbers and control insect populations through use of a biological, cultural, or chemical application.
Though insects can damage your alfalfa stand, there are some that are critical to its success. The leafcutter bee, for example, is required for the field to have good pollination. Many established alfalfa growers have their own leafcutter bee’s but there are also options for contract pollination from beekeepers in your area.
BrettYoung offers multi-year production contracts with guaranteed minimum prices to manage risk and maximize profitability. Yields from the crop range from 350 lb/acre to 600+ lb/ac, with irrigation yields rising even higher. Learn more by contacting your BrettYoung Seed Production Specialist or by going to www.brettyoung.ca.
