MADISON, Wis. (RFD-TV) — Reduced alfalfa yields following a dry growing season have some producers considering whether to rotate their fields to another crop.
Alfalfa agronomist Randy Welch says growers may not need to make that decision just yet.
“There’s really no loss in winter hardiness of drought stressed alfalfa. The alfalfa plant is designed to take dry weather. If you got to remember about the genetics of alfalfa it came from a very arid region of the world where it was really under drought stress, 80 percent of its life and so drought is really not going to hurt the alfalfa. It’ll be fine it’ll live through the winter just fine. We’ve had adequate rains now coming into the fall. The plant’s making carbohydrates, it’s making sugars that’ll help it to live through the winter.”
Welch says drought can take a toll on alfalfa production, but it does not necessarily mean the crop is lost.
