Grazing Alfalfa pasture

[BAR_R]

The Father-In-Law and I are having a debate. I last cut the alfalfa/brome field Aug 12. With all the rain and warm weather the field is comming back strong. He says to turn the cows out now before the killing frost. I thought you should wait until after the frost then turn them out and let them clean everything up. There is 30 acres and about 8 cow/calf pairs. The have consumed 2 bloat guard blocks in the last 3 weeks.

What does everyone think? We are both think we are right but will bow to the opinions of the board. Any additional info can be provided as needed.

 

[dun]

If your first freeze is a hardkilling freeze you won;t find them eating much of the slimey alfalfa.

 

[johndeereboy]

I have a similar situation, I have a 6 acre grass(mostly)/alfalfa field that i fenced this summer. I was thinking that after a hard killing frost i would let them in there to eat it down. I heard that alfalfa will make them bloat (if you turn them out before a hardkilling frost). We had one frost, it got to like 30 degrees. But i was going to wait for another to be safe.

I could make hay out of it, but there is not enough there to get one roundbale.

 

[Stocker Steve]

It is hard on the alfalfa stand if you graze it down during the fall growing season. You will lose some food value after it freezes.

I usually quit grazing legume stands about a month before the typical killing frost to give them time to recover. The exception is when I plan to plow it up this fall.

 

[Chris H]

The Father-In-Law and I are having a debate. I last cut the alfalfa/brome field Aug 12. With all the rain and warm weather the field is comming back strong. He says to turn the cows out now before the killing frost. I thought you should wait until after the frost then turn them out and let them clean everything up. There is 30 acres and about 8 cow/calf pairs. The have consumed 2 bloat guard blocks in the last 3 weeks.

What does everyone think? We are both think we are right but will bow to the opinions of the board. Any additional info can be provided as needed.

How tall is the grass & alfalfa? If it's 10-12 inches, turn them in. Do not let them graze it below 4 inches, 6 inches would be better to let the brome keep growing.

 

[BAR_R]

The alfalfa is about 14-18 inches high. It looks great. It is going into prebloom and there are some blooms already on the plants. I was worried about winter kill but I also did not know how much of it would be grazed off by 8 cow/calf pairs on 30 acres. I would expect to have a good frost anytime toward the end of October.

 

[Chris H]

The alfalfa is about 14-18 inches high. It looks great. It is going into prebloom and there are some blooms already on the plants. I was worried about winter kill but I also did not know how much of it would be grazed off by 8 cow/calf pairs on 30 acres. I would expect to have a good frost anytime toward the end of October.

Graze it now while you can get the full value from it. Follow all precautions of grazing alfalfa, like normal. Cows will tend to clip the tops of alfalfa that high and not take it shorter unless there is limited amount to eat. With 8 pairs on 30 acres they should have plenty to last a while.
Do some rough estimates on how much forage is available, and how much forage your pairs eat a day. I'd bet it will take 30 days to get the forage down to 6 inches with that number of cattle on those acres. When grazing alfalfa in the fall we don't like to take it under 4 inches, we seldom lose any to winterkill.