Consider Integrating Short-Term Forage Stands in Your Mixed Farm

Source: Saskatchewan Agriculture and Food

For most producers, the main objective of their pasture management plan is to keep a tame forage stand productive for as long as possible. This reduces the frequency of reseeding/rejuvenation, and keeps costs down. Many producers also tend to keep cropland in perpetual crop production, and pasture land in perpetual pasture.

However, Al Foster, Forage Development Specialist with Saskatchewan Agriculture and Food, wants producers to consider incorporating a short-term forage rotation onto their cropland.

“Including perennial forage crops, such as alfalfa or alfalfa/grass mixtures, in rotation with annual grain crops provides many agronomic and environmental benefits,” he says. Also, given low grain prices, the ability to raise a few more cattle should put more money into mixed farmers' pockets.

This is where the integration of short-term forage stands becomes attractive, Foster points out.

“A number of the benefits are unique to deep-rooted, perennial hay crops like alfalfa," he says. "These are well-documented and are especially noticeable on dark grey and grey soils. For example, alfalfa fixes much of the nitrogen it needs for growth. After an alfalfa crop is terminated, nitrogen in the decaying roots and nodules becomes available for subsequent crops.”

Alfalfa roots perform “biological tillage,” thereby improving the soil environment for root growth of subsequent crops.

“On heavy clay soil, including alfalfa in a rotation increases soil/water infiltration by creating ‘channels’ in the soil through which water can move,” he explains. As well, the tap roots of perennial legumes extract nitrogen and phosphorus from deeper in the soil than shallow-rooted annual crops.

In addition, forage in rotation reduces weed pressure on the annual crops that follow. Two or three years of forage in a six-year rotation virtually eliminated wild oats in cereal crops in a long-term study at the Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada Research Station in Brandon. In fact, a survey of commercial fields in Manitoba indicated significantly fewer wild oats, green foxtail and Canada thistle in wheat following forage crops, when compared to wheat following annual crops.

“The average lifespan of an alfalfa stand in the northeast is probably six or seven years,” Foster explains. “The main advantage of shortening the lifespan to two or three years is that the benefits associated with forages can be spread across more land without the need to increase the farm's total forage acreage.

Also, forages in rotation can slow the development of herbicide resistant weeds, which, in some areas, is becoming a problem.”

In areas where land is marginal for crop production, rotating two to three years of alfalfa hay—in lieu of crop production—can both improve the soil and save on crop input costs. In addition, land currently producing hay can be converted to pasture, thereby increasing the grazing capacity of the farm.

Foster encourages producers to give serious consideration to the advantages of short-term hay stands: lower input costs and increased cattle production.

For more information, contact:

Al Foster
Forage Development Specialist
Saskatchewan Agriculture and Food
(306) 878-8890