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MFA Agri Services of Iowa – Corydon, Leon and Lineville.
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Good pasture and hay management consists of several practices, one is to follow good fertilization principles. *Regular soil testing (MFA recommends every three years) followed by application of the recommended amounts of fertilizer and of lime. Do not forget that a proper pH is critical,especially in alfalfa. *Silages and hay production removes large quantities of nutrients from the soil, this makes deficiencies show up quickly. * Manage your legumes, they fix Nitrogen in the soil and help reduce fertilizer costs, helping to improve your profitablity. *Fertilizing forage crops is profitable, but not if you don't feed what you grow through your fertilizer program. Watch your stocking rates and plan how you are going to graze your fields. Check into an Intensive Grazing Management program. *Alfalfa is a heavy feeder of P & K and it uses the micro nutrient Boron. Alfalfa removes an average of 15 pounds of phosphorus(P) and 60 pounds of potash(K) per ton of hay. We recommend you apply it twice 1/2 after first cutting and 1/2 after last cutting. Add 2 pounds of Boron to the acre after the first cutting. *Recents studies have also shown a response to sulfur on many forages. If you do not have a soil test we suggest that you apply 10 to 15 pounds of Sulfur per acre. | |
Being Smart with your Nitrogen dollars is important with the ever changing costs of fertilizer. Besides managing your legumes to give you home grown nitrogen, check out using Urea with Agrotain as a Nitrogen alternative. Most guys prefer Ammonia Nitrate as a Nitrogen source, but with it's high cost today, Urea treated with Agrotain has become a good choice. Producers are telling us that Urea treated with Agrotain is giving them better growth in thier hay fields and pastures than Ammonia Nitrate. | |
Stages to harvest your hay crops. Alfalfa should be harvested in the bud stage for the first cutting 1/10th bloom for second and later cuttings. If spring seeded, allow your alfalfa to get to at least mid-bloom.
Fescue and Orchardgrass' first cutting should be in the boot to early head stage.
Red Clover needs to be cut at the early bloom.
Bromegrass should be cut at bloom to mid-bloom.
Big bluestem, indiangrass, and switchgrass should be cut at early head stage. Stop by and let us help you plan your forage fertilizer programs. |
