Alfalfa in April

*Please note: This post was originally from April 2010.
Alfalfa in Aprilfrom Dairy Discovery at SwissLane Farms by annie

We all know that April showers bring May flowers!
Well, last week we were blessed with some much needed showers but sometimes too much of a good thing isn't always best.
We found this to be true with our newly planted alfalfa fields. We planted 210 acres of alfalfa seed this year. Last week, the rain caused washouts in 2 of the fields that we had just planted and we had to replant 15 acres.
Today my dad went over the rough spots with the Finisher to smooth out the washouts.




And then, Uncle Tom came along and replanted more alfalfa seed.



This field has beautiful rolling hills! (which contributed to the washouts)



Alfalfa seed will last for 5 years, so we replant a few fields each year. Total we have around 700 acres of alfalfa that will be harvested for hay silage. This hay silage makes up about 25% of the cow's diet.