Pasturing
Category:
ALFALFA
The practice of pasturing alfalfa the first season,
especially where it cannot be irrigated, is usually condemned, lest it
should weaken the plants unduly for entering the winter. It would seem
probable, however, that under some conditions such grazing would be
helpful rather than hurtful. The cropping of the plants by stock, in the
influence which it exerts upon the plants, is akin to that which arises
from cutting them back frequently during the summer. The animals thus
grazed will also crop down weeds. This, at least, is true of sheep. The
author has succeeded in getting a good stand of alfalfa by sowing seed
at the rate of 15 pounds per acre, along with 2 to 4 pounds of Dwarf
Essex rape seed, and grazing the same with sheep. Other growers, during
recent years, have succeeded similarly. The grazing should not begin
until the plants have made a good start, but it should not be deferred
so long that the rape and the weeds will unduly shade the alfalfa
plants. The pasturing should not be too close, nor should it be so long
continued that the alfalfa plants will not be able to provide a good
growth in the early autumn before the advent of winter.
The management of the spring-sown crop the first season requires careful
attention in areas where the hazard exists in any considerable degree
that the plants may take serious harm at that season, or, indeed, fail
altogether. In Western areas, from Canada to Kentucky and Missouri, it
is important that the stubbles of the grain shall be cut high, amid
which alfalfa grows when it is sown with a nurse crop. When not thus
sown, it is of prime importance that the plants shall stand up several
inches above the surface of the ground before the advent of winter. This
is specially important in States west of the Mississippi River. The
objects effected are three-fold. First, the snow is arrested and held
for the protection of the plants, and to furnish them with moisture when
the snow melts. The extent to which the stubbles and the erect young
alfalfa plants will hold snow is simply surprising. On the exposed
prairies, the snow usually drifts so completely from unprotected lands,
that during almost any winter a large proportion of the area will be
quite bare. The melting of the snow thus held is also of much value to
the crop in the moisture which it brings to it, especially in areas
where the rainfall is less than normal. Second, the plants are thus
protected from the sweep of the cold winds which blow so much of the
season in the unprotected prairie, and which are frequently fatal to
various winter crops. Third, they are also protected from the intensity
of the frost, which may in some instances kill young alfalfa plants in
areas northward.
In the Northern States east of Minnesota, the New England States, and
the provinces of Canada east of Lake Huron, the considerable covering on
the ground is not so important, relatively, to protect the plants
against the coming winter, but it is also of considerable importance, as
sometimes the early snows melt so completely that the fields are left
bare in midwinter. The warm temperatures which melt the snow may be
followed by a cold wave, which may be greatly injurious to the plants.
There may be instances, as where the snow usually falls very deeply, in
which the covering left would prove excessive, and so tend to smother
the plants; hence, sometimes it may be necessary to guard against too
much covering.
If the plants should lack age or vigor on entering the first winter, a
top-dressing of farmyard manure will render great service in protecting
them. This, however, is only practicable with comparatively limited
areas. It is sometimes practiced in the North Atlantic States, where
the manure thus applied will prove greatly helpful to the growth of the
alfalfa during the following season. These precautions to guard against
the severity of winter weather are not nearly so necessary in the Rocky
Mountain States where irrigation is practiced. In these, alfalfa spring
sown is sometimes pastured during the following winter, and without any
great harm to the crop. Thus greatly do conditions vary.
It may also be well to remember that where rainfall is usually plentiful
and sometimes excessive, that a better stand of the young plants can be
obtained when the rainfall is moderate than when it is copious.
Saturated ground is hurtful to the young plants. They will not grow
properly under such conditions and are likely to assume a sickly
appearance. Mildew may appear and the plants may fail in patches. And
this may happen on land which will ordinarily produce reasonably good
crops of alfalfa after they have once been established.
The value of alfalfa in providing pasture is more restricted than in
providing hay. This arises in part from the injury which may come to the
plants from grazing too closely at certain times, and in a greater
degree from injury which may result to certain animals which may feed
upon the plants, more especially cattle and sheep, through bloating, to
which it frequently gives rise.
This plant is pre-eminently a pasture for swine. They may be grazed upon
it with profit all the season, from spring until fall. No plant now
grown in the United States will furnish so much grazing from a given
area in localities well adapted to its growth. Swine are very fond of
it. Some growers do not feed any grain supplement to their swine when
grazing on alfalfa, but it is generally believed that, under average
conditions, it is wise to supplement the alfalfa pasture daily with a
light feed of grain, carbonaceous in character, as of rye, corn or
barley, and that this should be gradually increased with the advancement
of the grazing season. One acre of alfalfa will provide pasture for 5 to
15 head of swine, through all the grazing season, dependent upon the
degree of the favorable character of the conditions for growth in the
alfalfa, the age of the swine, and the extent to which the pasture is
supplemented with grain. But in some instances the area named will graze
at least 15 hogs through all the growing season without a grain
supplement.
Swine may be turned in to graze on alfalfa when well set, as soon as it
begins to grow freely in the spring. It should be so managed that the
grazing will be kept reasonably tender and succulent. For swine pasture
the plants should never be allowed to reach the blossoming stage. This
can be managed by running the field mower over the pasture occasionally
when the stems are growing long and coarse. Close and prolonged grazing
by swine will tend to shorten the period of the life of the alfalfa. The
extent to which this result will follow will depend upon soil and
climatic conditions and the closeness of the grazing. To avoid such a
result and also to secure the utilization of the food to the utmost,
some growers advocate cutting the alfalfa and feeding it to swine as
soiling. The advisability of handling it thus will be dependent to some
extent on the relative price of labor.
The best results, relatively, from growing alfalfa to provide pasture
will be found in the Western valleys, where alfalfa grows with much
vigor, and in certain areas of the South, where it grows freely and can
be pastured during much of the year. In areas eminently adapted to the
growth of clover, it is not so necessary to grow alfalfa for such a use.
In Western areas, where Canada field peas are a success, and especially
where artichokes are not hidden from swine by frost, pork can be grown
very cheaply, and without the necessity of harvesting any very large
portion of these crops, except through grazing them down by swine.
Such conditions would be highly favorable to the maintenance of health
in the swine, and the quality of the pork made would be of the best. In
some instances a small stack of Canada field peas is put up in the swine
pasture that the swine may help themselves from the same the following
year, as in rainless or nearly rainless climates, where such grain will
keep long without injury.
Alfalfa furnishes excellent grazing for horses, more especially when
they are not at work. Like other succulent pastures, it tends too much
to induce laxness in the bowels with horses which graze it, without any
dry fodder supplement. But it has high adaptation for providing pasture
for brood mares, colts, and horses that are idle or working but little.
While it induces abundant milk production in brood mares, and induces
quick and large growth in colts until matured, it is thought by some
practical horsemen that horses grown chiefly on alfalfa have not the
staying power and endurance of those, for instance, that are grazed
chiefly on Kentucky blue grass and some other grasses. There is probably
some truth in the surmise, and if so, the objection raised could be met
by dividing the grazing either through alternating the same with other
pastures or by growing some other grass or grasses along with the
alfalfa.
The alfalfa furnishes excellent grazing for cattle, whether they are
grown as stockers, are kept for milk producing, or are being fattened
for beef. For the two purposes first named it has high excellence, and
it will also produce good beef, but alfalfa grazing alone will not
finish animals for the block quite so well without a grain supplement as
with one. But the danger is usually present to a greater or less degree
that cattle thus grazed may suffer from bloat, induced by eating the
green alfalfa. This danger increases with the humidity of the
atmosphere, with the succulence of the alfalfa, and with the degree of
the moisture resting on it, as from dew or rain. This explains why in
some sections the losses from this source are much greater than in
others. It also explains why such losses are greater in some areas than
in others. It is considered that grazing alfalfa with cattle in the
mountain valleys is less hazardous than in areas East and Southeast, as
the atmosphere is less humid, the danger from the succulence can be
better controlled by the amount of irrigating water supplied, and
because of the infrequency of the rainfall. Nevertheless, the losses
from bloat are sometimes severe in both cattle and sheep in the mountain
States, notwithstanding that some seasons large herds are grazed upon
alfalfa through the entire season without any loss.
Cattle grazed upon alfalfa may be so managed that the extent of this
hazard will be very much lessened, if not entirely obviated, but with
large herds some of the precautionary methods now to be submitted may
not always be practicable. They should never be turned in to graze upon
alfalfa when hungry. Some grazers adopt the plan of leaving them on the
grazing continuously when once put in to graze. Others leave them in for
a limited time each day at the first, increasing the duration of the
pasturing period from day to day. After managing them thus for a week or
two, the animals are only removed from the pasture for such purposes as
milking. Others, again, feed some alfalfa or other food in the morning
before turning them on to alfalfa pastures. Another plan adopted is to
graze them on a field of other grazing, located, if possible, beside the
alfalfa field, until after the dew has lifted, and then to open the gate
into the alfalfa pasture. This is readily practicable with a herd of
cows, but not to anything like the same extent with a large herd being
grown for beef.
The danger from bloat in pasturing sheep upon alfalfa is at least as
great as in pasturing cattle on the same, and the methods of managing
them while thus being grazed are not far different. So, too, the
experiences in such grazing are very similar. The losses from such
grazing some seasons have been slight. Other seasons they have proved so
heavy as to make such grazing unprofitable. When sheep are being grazed
on alfalfa, a light feed of grain given in the early morning reduces
materially the danger from bloat. It also enables the flock-master to
finish his sheep or lambs for the market cheaply and in fine form, since
this small grain factor, not necessarily more than half a pound a day,
whether given as wheat, rye, barley, oats or corn, puts the ration
practically in balance for the purpose named, and it may be given to the
sheep daily in troughs without taking them out of the pasture.
It is thought that there is more danger to cattle and sheep from grazing
on alfalfa than on any of the clovers, and probably such is the case.
But whether this is true or not, the danger is very considerable, and is
enhanced by the presence of frost as well as the presence of moisture,
from much succulence in the plants, from rain and from dew. So great is
the danger that the inexperienced should proceed with much caution in
such grazing. When bloat does occur, the method of dealing with it is
given on page 95.
The tendency to produce bloat in alfalfa pastures decreases with the
extent to which other grasses are present in the pastures. Should
alfalfa be grown, therefore, for the purpose of providing pasture, some
other grass or grasses should be sown along with it. Which of these
should be thus sown ought to depend chiefly on the adaptation of the
grasses for producing vigorous growth under the conditions present. In
the States east of the Mississippi and north of the Ohio, and in all of
Canada east from Lake Huron, alfalfa may be made an important feature in
pastures variously composed. For instance, on suitable soils alfalfa may
be made an important feature in pastures composed otherwise of medium
red and alsike clover and timothy. The author can speak from experience
as to the slightness of the danger from grazing cattle and sheep on such
pastures. In the Southern States tall oat grass could be sown with the
alfalfa, and probably orchard grass. In some areas alfalfa will maintain
its hold on lands smitten with Johnson grass, both producing freely. In
much of Kansas meadow fescue would answer the purpose, northward brome
grass would probably answer, and in some places timothy. In Idaho and
the States adjoining, tall oat grass, meadow fescue and orchard grass
will all be helpful, and in some of the mountain States it has been
found that when alsike clover is grown freely in alfalfa pastures, the
tendency to bloat is not only lessened in the animals grazing, but the
value of the pasture, especially for winter grazing, is greatly
improved. Some grazers, especially in the mountain States, have adopted
the plan of sowing other pastures, as wheat or barley, beside the
alfalfa pastures, and these are made accessible at will to the animals
that are being grazed. The plan has some commendable features, but
grazing animals thus does not reduce the danger as much as when they are
grazed on pastures in which other grasses grow up amid alfalfa. In some
of the Western States pure alfalfa meadows are grazed through successive
seasons with but little loss, but in such instances the grazing began in
the spring and was continuous. Judicious care should be exercised in
grazing alfalfa lest the stand of the plants shall be injured. The
liability to injury in the plants from injudicious grazing increases
with the lack of adaptation in the soil and climate for abundant and
prolonged growth in the alfalfa.
In a large majority of instances, as previously intimated, it is not
wise to graze down alfalfa at all closely the season of sowing, and in
some instances it should not then be grazed to any extent, lest the
plants be unduly weakened for entering the winter. In cold areas the
hazard is much greater from such grazing than in those that are mild,
and likewise, it is greater when the growth is only moderately vigorous
than in areas where alfalfa grows with the vigor of a weed, as in
Western mountain valleys. In areas where the winters are cold, and
especially where the snowfall is light and the winds have a wide sweep,
the animals which graze upon alfalfa should be removed in time to allow
the plants to grow up to the height of several inches before the advent
of winter. The growth thus secured will catch and hold the snow, and the
protection thus furnished is greatly helpful to the preservation and
vigor of the plants. Experience has shown that in Northern areas
pasturing alfalfa in winter, especially when the ground is bare and
frozen, brings imminent hazard to the plants. On the other hand, grazing
in winter in the mountain valleys, when as far north as Central
Montana, may be practiced with little or no hazard to the stand of
plants when these have become well established. In such areas alfalfa
may be grazed practically as may be desired, providing this grazing is
not too close.
Cattle injure alfalfa less than other animals when they graze upon it,
as they do not crop it too closely; swine injure it more, if the grazing
is constant. Horses do even greater injury, through biting the crowns of
the plants too closely; but sheep injure alfalfa pastures more than any
of these animals, when the grazing is close, owing to the extent to
which they trim off the leaves.
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