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North Dakota | Have a nice stand of "Grazing" Alfalfa. It is 5 years old. Most years I get 70 5x5 big round bales off of it. Last year I had to cut it before it started blooming because of weevils mostly but we did have some drought.
I also spiked with anhydrous knives pulling a land roller behind early in spring before the plants started growing or just after the frost was out of the ground. I only got 40 bales but it was of the best quality.
The stand was thick and leafy but quit growing because of the reasons mentioned. I have dismissed the spiking/rolling as the cause because when I spike/roll grass you do kill some grass resulting in less production for that year but I believe the alfalfa did not show evidence of any lost plants.
I did not cut 2nd cutting except for just a few rounds around the outside but didn't get but 3 more bales. Definitely not worth the effort but the reason I did this is so I could use a rock rake. The whole 40 acres needs to be raked for rocks eventually but the process is so slow I'm shooting for just small increments each year.
After raked on a windrow I found the rocks mostly too small to pick up with a rock picker so I used a loader to bunch them up on a pile. 1/2 mile field made est 4 truck loads on each side.
I left them for markers so I knew exactly where I left off. My intention with this pile of rocks/dirt/foreage is to haul them to the closest pasture and dump them in the low eroding spots and leave in piles to slow down the erosion after making new piles this year.
This year on this field I took a 16' disk pulling the land roller down the middle of the field made 4 rounds. It left the field with good foreage so no wind erosion should occur and it packed down nicely. This was done just after the frost was out of the ground and the disk went 4 to 5" deep.
If this experiment fails and the alfalfa does not come back I will try another strip next year but disk shallower.
If this experiment is a success I will do more of the field the same way next year.
I would like very much to hear from you people if you have an opinion on this process. I have thick skin so fire away.
Edited by OilfieldCows 3/25/2025 07:26
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Alfalfa
