Frost seeding alf alfa

[Animal]

Has anyone frost seeded alf alfa into grass hay with any success?

 

[old]

I have never done it with alfalfa but have with clover and do so almost every year. I do wait till around the end of Feb or if we have snow in March I do it then. Over the years doing it that way has made my hay a lot better and it is about 40-50% clover now which sells well to horse people

 

[Animal]

Horse people here do not want clover they claim it makes their horses slobber. This farm is a century farm and I will tell anyone it was farmed with horses fed mixed clover hay and a coffee can of oats every day. I will guarantee you those horses were a much better and healthier animal than these lazy half foundered Nags that I am selling alf alfa hay to.......Cold as a witches heart aint it Old?

 

[old]

I know my horses love my hay as do my goats and the neighbor up the road loves my hay and his horses make short work of my 2000lbs bales. 2 bales last him about a week with 7 horses.
As far as it being cold heck no it isn't cold, lol I just think back to when I was up at the arctic circle and that believe me was cold compared to what it is here. But yes I didn't even try to plow my drive today because of the cold

 

[hayray]

L. Waste of time, don't do it, alfalfa has no competitiveness in this situation. Frost seeding at best with clover is still minimal pasture improvement. I have had better luck no-tilling (inter-seeding) medium red clover into grass sod in real early spring as soon as you can get into the field. I have heard the same thing about clover from horse people but myself have never seen a problem feeding clover to horses - I feed alot of clover to my own horses. Interseeding clover into grass sod will not make a bale look like a clover bale anyways and affords a good method to improve nitrogen, late summer yield after cool season grasses slump, and increase protein - but I am sure you already know that and is why you want to add some legume. Especially with you being organic you really can't afford growing hay without getting some nitrogen credits.

 

[randallin Mo]

Generally speaking, frost seeding of alfalfa is not recommended, especially into existing stands of grass. There ARE exceptions to the rule when it will work. The grass needs to be eaten basicly down into the ground so as to provide the best possible seed/soil contact. Any "tillage" prior to or after seeding is often beneficial so as to provide the same. Running a "pasture drag" over the seeded area helps greatly. Alfalfa seedlings can't handle much competition. "If" you get a frost seeded stand, try to eliminate as much competition from the grass as possible by early grazing, etc. I"ve had frost seeded stands that looked like pure seedings. I had no-tilled rye and orchardgrass in the fall and frost seeded the alfalfa in January. It was a perfect stand. I would not attempt to sow the alfalfa into a heavy stand of grass. The answer to your question is Yes, Maybe and No.

 

[Animal]

Bingo Ray, you hit the nail on the head, I am also wanting to raise RFV of my hay, had a buyer tell me to seed alf alfa into it to raise my food value, I did not see alf alfa frost seeding like clover and thats why I ask this question...

 

[stan jefferies]

horse people are picky, horses are not, I have a bunch of wooden panels some horses ate through, so I guess if the hay is as good as wood its good for a horse. Moldy clover is the problem, it makes them slobber which i hear is only a visual problem for humans. The real problem for horses is the edophyte grasses that leathers the birth sac or something. My opinion clover/timothy is good hay, my livestock like it and it makes an affordable plowdown for me every 2 years.