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NEWS |
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We welcome contributions and suggestions. Comments about and
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Alfalfa Hay for Horses Question 1: I have several horses and have been given all kinds of advice from my friends about feeding them hay. We have tried both alfalfa and bermudagrass and have not notice much difference in the horses. However, the horses seem to be more active when fed alfalfa hay. Is alfalfa better than bermudagrass for recreational/breeding horses? Response: Either hay will work, depending on what else is being fed. Good grass hay will have about 10 to 20 percent less nutrients than an average alfalfa, so grain or pasture would have to make up this difference. Most grain/hay diets can be balanced to use grass hay. For example, mares in production can be fed a 14% protein grain at 5 to 10 pounds per day (depends on what else they are eating, how big they are, whether they are milking, etc.) and a grass hay and meet their needs. Feeding alfalfa increases the energy from the hay, so about 10 to 15% less grain is needed. In addition, feeding alfalfa increases the protein content of the diet significantly, so with alfalfa, a lower percent protein grain mix can be fed. Question 2: I would like to know how long you should let fresh alfalfa hay cure before feeding it to horses. I have just picked up some freshly baled hay from the field. I don't want my horses to get sick from it, and this is my first experience of getting fresh hay. Response: It can be fed anytime post harvest. With all good, lush feed sources, restrict intake at first, so give them one or two flakes per day at first (about half of what you would feed this winter). Alfalfa is a relatively safe feed stuff, with the exception of the potential of blister beetles in hay baled in the summer. Don't feed any with blister beetles in it. Check web site http://alfalfa.okstate.edu/database/insects/bbdata.htm for information on blister beetles in alfalfa. For additional information about feeding horses. Go to the Animal Science web site www.ansi.okstate.edu Click on department, then publications, then horse and you will find a list of articles that you can view on feeding, rations, hays, etc. -- David W. Freeman |
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Weed Control Established Stands The "Good News" is weeds have not been a problem this summer because of limited rainfall and many of you have already baled good quality hay from three cuttings. In addition, the short hay supply and reduced growth of bermudagrass and other summer forages has resulted in good hay prices. We are getting a lot of request about buying hay and information that most good alfalfa hay is going for more than $100/ton. One buyer last weed was saying that asking price for prairie hay was $95/ton and $110/ton for oat hay in dough stage. I told him he needed to find some weedy alfalfa, that it would be better hay for beef cattle. The "Bad News" is it is getting too dry in many parts of the state and growth of alfalfa is about stopped. Actually having weeds in thinning alfalfa stands this year would be a bonus. It would increases total hay yield and not deduce the selling price that much. However, if pigweeds are present, they should be cut before seed is formed to minimize the sharp bracts of seed heads. If there is not enough forage to bale (it takes about ½ ton/acre to pay for harvest costs), then one should consider grazing. Having weeds is usually a bonus for grazing since weeds in alfalfa minimize bloat problems, and good gains can still be obtained by grazing (see Grazing Alfalfa Chapter in Alfalfa Circular E-826 on web at: alfalfa.okstate.edu/alfalfa/pub/alfalfa-production/graze_nav.htm. New Stands For those of you planning to establish alfalfa this fall, make sure you kill established plants like curly dock before planting alfalfa. Disking dry soil after moldboard plowing can be an effective way to kill established plants in dry summers. Also, if you have a field that has a history of dock problems, better plan on spraying in October with 2 to 3 pt/A of Butyrac 200. That will be the only time that you can selectively remove curly dock from your alfalfa stand. Many of you comment that curly dock is a problem in low areas where alfalfa does not grow. Dock is tolerant to excess water and alfalfa is not. If you want alfalfa to grow in the low areas and not curly dock, you must drain them. Be aware that "Rotational Crop Restrictions" exits for alfalfa on many herbicides used in Oklahoma. The reason for these restrictions is that there may still be enough herbicide in the soil to injure subsequent crops. The use of the sulfonylurea herbicides (such as GLEAN and AMBER) on the wheat crop in the winter before fall planting alfalfa has resulted in severely stunted alfalfa seedlings in a number of fields in Oklahoma. This has been particularly evident after dry summers following herbicide application. To be safe, better not plant any alfalfa into fields treated with residual herbicides until the time restriction has been met. Read the label of herbicide used to see find current restrictions. --Jim Stritzke |
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What happens to alfalfa during the long, hot summer? It goes dormant and can stay alive for many weeks or several months, if it has been well managed. What should we do to it? Summer grazing is especially attractive when hay yields are low during July and August due to dry conditions. Summer grazing also is a good way to utilize thinning stands infested with grasses and other weeds. Normally, forage nutritive value of these weeds is good, and grass in alfalfa reduces the chances of bloat. "Clipping" low yielding fields does not hurt or help the alfalfa, but it is not economical to run that machinery for so little hay. -- John Caddel, |
Irrigating alfalfa is more "art" than science in Oklahoma, but adhering to certain practices makes irrigation profitable. During peak production periods, alfalfa uses water at the rate more than 0.3 inch/day. Many irrigation systems in Oklahoma are not designed to meet the water demands fast enough to start irrigating alfalfa in the summer and catch up. If a system can deliver 2 inches of water per week for 3 weeks, this amounts to 6 inches of water between harvests. Alfalfa needs about 6 inches of water available to its roots to produce 1 ton of hay/acre. Based on this rule-of-thumb, 2 inches/week is only enough to produce 1 ton/acre/harvest with minimal rainfall. If that is your situation, perhaps it would be better to irrigate only part of the stand and apply more water to part and leave part to go dormant. How much does it cost to irrigate alfalfa? The costs are highly variable, depending on the source of water and the cost of energy to pump water to the field. Generally, irrigation costs about $7.50/acre inch of water pumped or 6" of water would cost about $45/acre. It would not be surprising to find costs of $5 to $10/acre inch. With the high price of hay and the low likelihood of having hay rained on, this increased cost of production is probably worth a closer look. Roughly this is looking at no additional production with little or no additional cost. Compare this to applying 12" of water and producing 2 tons/acre of good hay that may sell for as much as $120/ton. So, a producer who already has a source of water and a sprinkler system may earn about $240/acre for only $90/acre additional costs. -- John Caddel Contests Winners at Hay-Day 2001 Don Allen Parsons won an electronic moisture meter donated by Livingston Machinery Co., Chickasha for estimating the Moisture Content of the small bale. Chris Dunn guessed the exact weight of the round bale and won a bag of Magnum alfalfa seed donated by Johnston Seed Co., Enid. Establishing New Alfalfa Stands If you are planning to establish a new stand this fall, you should have already - -
With just a rain or two it will be time to plant. The next item on my check list is to select the variety. Enclosed with this NEWS is a summary of our variety testing and the recommended varieties for planting this fall. If you are interested in more detail, refer to the Internet, where all the alfalfa variety test data are stored - alfalfa.okstate.edu/alfalfa/var-test/alf-var.html -- John Caddel August 2 - Crop Production Clinic,
including Alfalfa, for Cleveland, Pottawatomie,
Anyone wanting to list alfalfa meetings may contact John Caddel with the particulars. Fax 405-744-0354. Email-caddel@okstate.edu |
