ALFALFA AS AN ALTERNATIVE TO BERMUDAGRASS FOR PASTURED STOCKER CATTLE SYSTEMS IN THE SOUTHERN USA

Authors: Cassida, Kimberly; STEWART, C - UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS; HABY, V - TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY; GUNTER, STACEY - UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS

Submitted to: Agronomy Journal
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 12/5/2005
Publication Date: 4/2/2006
Citation: Cassida, K.A., Stewart, C.B., Haby, V.A., Gunter, S.A. 2006. Alfalfa as an Alternative to Bermudagrass for Pastured Stocker Cattle Systems in the Southern USA. Agronomy Journal. 98:705-713.

Interpretive Summary: Bermudagrass pasture is a mainstay of cattle production in the southern USA but yield and nutritive quality of this forage is poor during dry summers. The deep roots of alfalfa might allow better forage production during dry periods, but stand establishment and persistence has been poor on Coastal Plain soils. We established alfalfa pastures using optimal fertility practices and compared their productivity to pastures of common bermudagrass. Alfalfa pasture produced greater stocker calf gains in less time than bermudagrass pasture, but was not more productive than bermudagrass in late summer. Management of alfalfa would have been more efficient under a dual grazing/hay production system. This work is useful because it showed that alfalfa can indeed be established and grazed on problematic Coastal Plain soils. It benefits hay and cattle producers in southern regions by giving them management options that will improve use of soil and forage resources and reduce the need for nitrogen fertilizer.

Technical Abstract: Deep-rooted alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) may support better stocker calf gains than common bermudagrass [Cynodon dactylis (L.) Pers.] during summer in the southern USA. Yearling beef heifers (Bos taurus x B. indicus) grazed each type of pasture for two years on a Coastal Plain soil in southwest Arkansas. Alfalfa stand counts declined linearly with time under unusually wet soil conditions during the study. Alfalfa yielded more early-season forage than bermudagrass, including two hay harvest prior to grazing in the seeding year, but went dormant by mid-August, resulting in a late-season yield advantage for bermudagrass. Bermudagrass provided a longer grazing season (113 to 116 d for bermudagrass vs. 64 to 155 d for alfalfa), more animal grazing days than alfalfa (1123 to 1452 vs. 589 to 1218 d), and fewer grazing interruptions than alfalfa. Wet weather, rapid maturation of alfalfa during hot weather, and pesticide grazing restrictions often made it difficult to graze alfalfa paddocks in a timely manner. Heifer performance did not differ between forages in the first year, but average daily gain (ADG, 465 vs. 328 g d-1) and total liveweight gain (664 vs. 447 kg ha-1) were greater for alfalfa than bermudagrass in the second year. In both years, heifers grazing alfalfa made the same amount of liveweight gain in less time than those grazing bermudagrass. Difficulties encountered in managing alfalfa for grazing could have been countered by harvesting hay from over-mature paddocks; therefore, a dual hay/grazing production system could improve effectiveness of alfalfa utilization in the southern USA.