Alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.)

What is it?

If Nocton Dairies decide to go ahead with their intensive dairy plans, one of the crops they could well be growing is alfalfa or lucerne.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfalfa

Alfalfa Establishment Guide

'High yielding, high-quality alfalfa often provides the foundation for profitable feeding programs for dairy and other livestock.'

http://www.plantmanagementnetwork.org/pub/fg/management/2004/alfalfa/

Planting

'Alfalfa is grown as a cultivated crop across the world, mainly as forage for animals. Most notable is the fact that the plant exhibits auto-toxicity, i.e. it is difficult for alfalfa seeds to grow in existing planting grounds of alfalfa.

Therefore, when planting alfalfa, it becomes imperative that alfalfa fields be rotated with other crops like corn, wheat, etc, prior to a second or subsequent reseeding of alfalfa.'

http://www.all4naturalhealth.com/planting-alfalfa.html

Alfalfa Production

'From an agronomic perspective, alfalfa is a great rotational crop because of its soil conditioning abilities.'

'Alfalfa responds well to phosphorus and potassium fertility, but no nitrogen is required, since alfalfa (being a legume) fixes its own nitrogen.'

http://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/alfalfa.html

Crop Cycle

'Alfalfa is a perennial plant. The development cycle is based on the carbohydrates which are stored in the roots. After each cutting, the plant uses these reserves for regrowth. This cycle is repeated until yield decrease the crop must then be turned over into the soil or resown.'

http://www.ics-agri.com/alfalfa-cycle.htm