Roundup ready alfalfa

[plumboy]

I'm wondering if the horse people here will have a problem with genetically altered alfalfa?Might not be a big deal but I'm still checking around but its time to seed and I'm trying to find a good seed to use.My soil is a clay type thats been worked well and limed with about 5000lb/acre even though my ph was 6.2.So it should be well drained.Whats a good seed to use?

 

[5030]

You are asking a bad question. What I'd do is talk to your county extension agent rather than ask here. each particular area of the country needs a different blend of seed and seed type as well as drill depth and fertilizer application.

As a rule here, we use vernal alfalfa, rye and timothy with a dash of orchard grass. We blow ours on and run over it with a cultipacker.

 

[Chuck_Lind]

From personal experience..."Horse-people" are a different breed. Meaning...they will feed their horses the best of everything (not too much alfalfa), while they will eat low-grade dog food.

If you have a good timothy/alfalfa mix...and it's really dry square bales...they'll buy everything you got. If not...they'll tell all their friends and you'll never see them again.

Just my experience...and I've been lucky so far.

 

[rockinmywaypa]

Personnally I have a problem with roundup ready anything, only because what do you use to kill it when it has cross pollinated and becomes a nusance weed. All plants are weeds when growing where you don't want them to grow. Volunteer corn is a weed in beans, etc. I've read stories about problems with canola too. I would like to see a variety of birdsfoot trefoil that grows with as much volume as alfalfa and as tall so it will cut easily.Of course this would be of no use to horse owners but it would be a wonder crop for sheepmen.

 

[plumboy]

The roundup alfalfa is not out yet,they said its having some problems.The way its looking, probably going to go with pegasus from southern states.

 

[kensfarm]

I've read that some farmers get good yields using a mixture of diff. kinds of non-hybrid alfalfa seeds then by using a single hybrid.

 

[cowboydoc]

I use Garst insest resistent and have excellent results. It's about $210/bag but worth it in my opinion. The insect resistance will pay for the price of the seed alone in two years. I'll try and get some pics of some new fields we planted this year. This was the first year we did a spray seeding. They mix the seed in the big dedicated sprayers with a mix of liquid fertilizer and potash. It is then sprayed on. A light harrow job after that and it's ready to go. I was a big apprehensive but the coverage was excellent.

 

[rambler]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( The roundup alfalfa is not out yet,they said its having some problems.The way its looking, probably going to go with pegasus from southern states. )</font>

The problem is they can't figure out how to charge for it. Since they want $20 an acre premium for other annual crops, how do they charge for a perannual??? For thosae that keep stands for 5 years, that would be $100 an acre, at 5 acres per bag of seed, they would like $4-500 a bag in addition to current seed prices. Kinda leaked out a year ago when they were doing phone surveys of farmers, and some of us dumb hicks compared notes & figured out what was up.

They are meeting some price resistance on that, as well as the usual anti-GMO issues.

--->Paul