Air October 1, 2003

Thank you Gary, and good morning everyone. It's the first of October, as weather permits, wheat is going to get planted in a hurry. I'll bet there are a few people who snuck some in early that are happy and others who wished they'd gotten a little bit more of a jump on the season. Not to worry, it is only October 1st and we've got plenty of time to plant wheat.

This fall presented us with a special quandary when it came to alfalfa. We know that we need to send alfalfa into winter dormancy with it's roots full of food. And to do that, we usually need 4 to 6 weeks worth of good growth on top of the plant when a killing frost comes that's hard enough to put it dormant. A light frost won't do it, we need temperatures down in to the 25 to 27 degree range to really shut down alfalfa. We usually expect our first frost around October 20th and alfalfa killing freezes sometime after that. Some years it is that mid October date, other years it's late November. Normally I would never recommend cutting alfalfa after mid September. This year, virtually all the alfalfa was dormant when we had those big rains over Labor Day weekend. That started it growing so by last week, we had alfalfa blooming and ready to cut. We could let it go and we'd be in good shape, which may have been the prudent thing to do. That leaves us the option of cutting it or grazing it after it freezes. Remember, alfalfa weevils really like those standing stems in the fall to lay eggs in so you do want to get those off the field some time via mowing or grazing. Or we could cut it and hope the weather is nice to us so that we get the needed regrowth. A lot of people cut alfalfa last week. If you did, I think we'll be okay, as I told several of you who called. If you didn't get it cut last week, don't cut it now. What's the risk that we are facing if you cut your alfalfa last week. In my predicted situation, we will have 4 to 6 weeks of good growth and no problem. In a worst case scenario, it turns off cold, like last October, and we have very poor regrowth, the alfalfa goes into winter with less than ideal root carbohydrate reserves. It will be slow to get started next spring and production will be hurt. It won't be dead, it'll just be producing less than it could have. There are no easy answers in farming, and everything has it's potential consequences!

This is Chuck Otte, Geary County Extension Agent, with Ag Outlook 2003.

Return to Radio Home Page

Return to Ag Home Page