Winter Kill or Over Grazed?

[jka300]

The other day I was cutting one of our hay fields. I observed that there are big patches, about 10-12 acres, where the alfalfa never came. I can't figure this out, this fields is only 2 years old. Last fall we pastured our cattle on it and they ate it pretty low. But to get to the point, my dad and I are split on the reason why this happen. I say that we grazed it to low which stressed the alfalfa to the point where it killed it. My dad says that it is winter kill which I have a hard time believing because we had about 5 feet of snow all winter. Please can someone put a end to this dispute. :help:

 

[mnmtranching]

Drought is REALLY hard on Alfalfa. So is open Winters, And so is grazing into Fall. Sounds to me like you may have grazed it to much, to late. Alfalfa needs to store up for the Winter.

 

[Jalopy]

Another consideration is that with grazing it too short that it suffocated. It doesn't really freeze off under the snow but if it can't trap air under the snow so the air temperature can fluctuate and move oxygen in and out of the soil it can die. So I don't know if you call it suffocation or insulation but I have seen the same thing happen when people take a real late final cutting and the alfalfa doesn't have a chance to grow back some before the winter snows set in. I like to see the alfalfa 5-6" tall before snow. The same thing can happen if the alfalfa is too tall and it lodges over under the weight of the snow and lays flat and doesn't trap enough air. jmo

 

[ChrisB]

I use the first week of September as the cuttoff date. If I can cut a third crop before then I go ahead and do it. Otherwise I wait until we get a good freeze.

When did you graze? Did you graze until late fall or was it after it froze? If it was after it froze, I would probably agree with your dad. If it was grazed through the fall, I would agree with you.

 

[jka300]

I use the first week of September as the cuttoff date. If I can cut a third crop before then I go ahead and do it. Otherwise I wait until we get a good freeze.

When did you graze? Did you graze until late fall or was it after it froze? If it was after it froze, I would probably agree with your dad. If it was grazed through the fall, I would agree with you.

We grazed it until late fall. After that we took them off it and started feeding them at home.