i have an alfalfa field about 2 ac. i need to change the crop to something cattle can graze on almost year round. i may leave 1 ac. alone and start w 1 ac. ? do i over seed it or do i need to til it under and start over? we are in northern md what would be a good base croop? they are on a feild of mixed grass w/ red clover now but next summer i want to rest that feild a little. also after a frost would it be safe to let them out in the alfalfa or will they get sick? we have 2 calves both are around 4 months old.

-- renee oneill (oneillsr@home.com), September 06, 2000

Answers

Renee:

Alfalfa can make an excellent grazing crop; however, it will likely cause bloat if you just put the calves into it. What you might do is to time their introduction. On day one, let them in to taste for five minutes, then herd them back to their current pasture. On day two, make it ten minutes, etc. increasing by five minutes each day until they get up to about an hour. Hold it at an hour for maybe a week or two more. After that it should be OK to let them free range as the bacteria they need in their digestive system to handle alfalfa should be fully developed. I would recommend cutting it for hay, then letting them in on the regrowth, which would be a good time to sod seed other popular pasture plants in your area.

-- Ken S. in WC TN (scharabo@aol.com), September 06, 2000.

Ken had a good answer. We had an 1 1/2 lot that for some silly reason the previous owners put to alfalfa from a cattle lot. We needed it for my mares and we let them in on the field in the winter and the horses munched on it and by spring when it started to grow, the horses were just fine and it provides a bit of green in addition to their hay.

-- beckie (sunshine_horses@yahoo.com), September 07, 2000.