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| I've been grazing alfalfa for quite a few years. As I write this reply Ihave just come back from moving a group of 50 2-3 year old cow/calves to a new 80% alfalfa paddock in 1/2 bloom. It's raining! They will trample some of the alf. but I get my best grass/alfalfa mix where the most trampling happens. Alfalfa is a small part of our grazing program, but we have used alfalfa for grazing stockers or young cows for over 10 years with 1,000 of animal grazing days and have had two-three die from bloat in that time. Still expect to have a bad experience some day! I agree that it would be better to graze native grasses for gains in the summer. If you watch the cattle graze when turning them into a new field they will almost always eat weeds first, then grasses and then start eating the alfalfa. Alfalfa is bitter tasting and not their favorite. It takes a few days for the digestive system to handle and I feel you lose gains when you switch from grass/clover to alfalfa, while their system adjust. One of my bloats happened on a cloudy, mid 60's day with dew on the alfalfa. The cattle were a little hungry. I think you will find this description coincides exactly with how to not turn cattle in on alfalfa if you don't want them to bloat!
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grazing alfalfa
