Soil Science Commons^™

Opportunities For Alfalfa As A Grazing Crop In Kentucky, Ken Johnson

Kentucky Alfalfa and Stored Forage Conference

Why do we continue to hear people talk about Alfalfa as a grazing crop? In my opinion there are two words that come to mind when I think of grazing Alfalfa, quality and yield. Alfalfa is without a doubt the highest quality forage we can graze. Alfalfa is also one of the highest yielding forages we can graze and maybe the highest yielding widely known and widely grown forage available to Kentucky farmers.

Hay Testing And New Marketing Program, Allen Johnson

Kentucky Alfalfa and Stored Forage Conference

The Kentucky Department of Agriculture (Hay & Grain Branch) Hay testing program is now entering its 13^th year of testing hay for Kentucky producers. The Department continues to use NIR forage analysis equipment. The program has made many improvements and much information has been gained. We continue to strive for quality control and producing accurate results. Recently, many new updates have occurred. New hardware and software have been added, along with the recent purchase of a second hay testing van. By placing a toll free call (1-800- 248-4628) to the Department of Agriculture in Frankfort, we will find a …

An Alfalfa Disease Calendar, Paul Vincelli

Kentucky Alfalfa and Stored Forage Conference

The following calendar provides producers and agricultural professionals with insights that may improve alfalfa production in several ways. First, knowing when to expect certain diseases improves one's ability to diagnose disease problems, which is a fundamental foundation for disease management. The many UK Extension Service publications on alfalfa as well as publications like the Alfalfa Analyst and the Compendium of Alfalfa Diseases, all are useful for diagnosis, but none provides a precise calendar of when to expect activity of alfalfa diseases in Kentucky. An alfalfa disease calendar can also provide occasional insights into timely management practices. For example, being …

Fertilizing Alfalfa For Profit, Monroe Rasnake, Steven G. Isaacs

Kentucky Alfalfa and Stored Forage Conference

Alfalfa has the potential for producing high yields of high quality forage with good management. A key component of good management is supplying plant nutrients in adequate quantities and proper balance. In Kentucky, this requires fertilizing soils with agricultural limestone, commercial fertilizers and/or animal manures. Good soil fertility is necessary for alfalfa stand establishment, high yields and long stand life.

Kentucky Alfalfa Conference After Twenty Years, Garry D. Lacefield

Kentucky Alfalfa and Stored Forage Conference

Today marks the 20th consecutive year we have come together for a full days conference featuring "Alfalfa- Queen of the Forages" as the theme and focal point. Only one other state in the U.S. has such an annual event.

Foreword [2000], Garry D. Lacefield

Kentucky Alfalfa and Stored Forage Conference

This is the front matter of the proceedings.

Evaporation Reduction Potential In An Undisturbed Soil Irrigated With Surface Drip And Sand Tube Irrigation, Masoud Meshkat, Richard C. Warner, Stephen R. Workman

Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering Faculty Publications

The efficiency of drip irrigation is highly dependent on evaporation losses occurring from the constantly saturated soil beneath emitters. Advent of subsurface drip irrigation is in part an approach to curb this inefficiency. An irrigation method, Sand Tube Irrigation (STI), is proposed to increase the efficiency of “Normal” surface applied drip Irrigation (NI method) on permanent tree crops without the need for burying the irrigation tubing. The sand tube consists of removing a soil core beneath the emitter and filling the void with coarse sand. A weighing lysimeter was constructed in the laboratory and instrumented to directly measure temporal evaporation …

Mowing, Dethatching, Coring, And Rolling Kentucky Lawns, A. J. Powell Jr.

Agriculture and Natural Resources Publications

Good lawn care takes more than just mowing and chemical treatments. To develop quality turf, you need correct mowing techniques and may occasionally need to dethatch, core, or roll your lawn.

Improving Turf Through Renovation, A. J. Powell Jr.

Agriculture and Natural Resources Publications

Turf generally can be improved through proper mowing, fertilizing, watering, and pest control applications. With some turf problems, however, the only solution is re-establishment, using one of two methods:

• The conventional method, which involves destroying the sod, tilling the soil, and replanting.
• Renovation, which involves replanting without completely tilling the soil and often without destroying all existing vegetation.

Advantages of conventional tillage over renovation:

• Control of weeds and undesirable grass may be more complete.
• Surface depressions or humps can be removed, resulting in a smoother soil surface.
• Large quantities of organic matter or sand can be mixed into the surface …

Effect Of Magnesium And Sulfur Fertilization Of Alfalfa, Kenneth L. Wells, James E. Dollarhide

Soil Science News and Views

In response to concerns that high yields of alfalfa need to be fertilized with sulfur (S) because of soil depletion of S and less S entering the soil from atmospheric fallout, studies were conducted during 1998-1999, to test for S response by alfalfa. Additionally, alfalfa was tested for magnesium (Mg) response because previous hay analysis from the study site had shown very low levels of Mg.

Irrigated Field Crop Acres In Kentucky, Lloyd W. Murdock

Soil Science News and Views

Irrigation in Kentucky has always been limited. This is due to a limited water supply in many parts of Kentucky and the high amount of rainfall in the state which reduces the chances for a consistent profitable response to field crops.

Soil Testing For Agronomic And Environmental Uses, William O. Thom, Frank J. Sikora

Soil Science News and Views

Soil testing is a program that includes taking samples from a field or site, performing a laboratory analysis, and making recommendations for lime and crop nutrients. Good results from this program depend on several supporting factors: (I) obtaining samples representative of the soil in a field area or site; (2) using good techniques in the laboratory that give accurate indications of the nutrient status of the sampled area; and (3) having an extensive data base for making lime and nutrient recommendations from the analytical results.

Drawdown Of Soil Test Phosphorus And Potassium Levels By Alfalfa, Kenneth L. Wells, James E. Dollarhide

Soil Science News and Views

Alfalfa hay production removes large amounts of phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) from soils. Because of this, there is always interest in the reduction of soil test phosphorus (STP) and soil test potassium (STK) levels by high-yielding alfalfa. Periodic soil sampling for 2 years during an on-farm· fertilizer study on a high yielding alfalfa field provided an insight into this.

Runoff From Fescue Plots Treated With Trimec, Cristopher G. Moss, Dwayne R. Edwards, Stephen R. Workman, R. Michael Williams

Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering Faculty Publications

Runoff of herbicides can promote adverse impacts in receiving waters. The objective of this study was to assess the effects of rainfall delay, herbicide application rate, rainfall intensity, and pre-application rainfall on runoff of TRIMEC (a combination of 2,4-D, dicamba, and mecoprop), a herbicide that is commonly used in central Kentucky. The levels of rainfall delay were 0, 2, and 4 d following application; and the levels of herbicide application rate were 0, 0.5, 1 and 2 times the recommended rate. Simulated rainfall was applied at intensities of 64, 102, and 140 mm h^-1; and the depths of …

Modeling Surface And Subsurface Pesticide Transport Under Three Field Conditions Using Przm-3 And Gleams, Robert W. Malone, Richard C. Warner, Stephen R. Workman, Matt E. Byers

Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering Faculty Publications

Contaminant transport models should be evaluated over a wide range of conditions to determine their limitations. The models PRZM and GLEAMS have been evaluated many times, but few studies are available in which predicted movement in runoff and percolate were simultaneously evaluated against field data. Studies of this type are essential because pesticide leaching and runoff are mutually dependent processes. For this reason, PRZM-3 and GLEAMS were evaluated for their ability to predict metribuzin concentrations in runoff, sediment, subsurface soil, and pan lysimeters under three field conditions (yard waste compost amended, no-till, and conventional-till) on a Lowell silt loam soil. …

Marketing Alfalfa Hay: What The Consumer Demands, Tom Keene

Kentucky Alfalfa and Stored Forage Conference

Anytime we address selling a product to the consumer; our first objective should always be to sell a quality product. However before we get into quality, I think we need to back up and understand that quality can vary from customer to customer depending upon the type of livestock he is feeding. For instance, if you are selling hay to a dairy operation, how is the hay being utilized? Is it being fed free choice? Is it going into a milking TMR (total mixed ration)? Is it going to feed young stock, breeding heifers, or sick animals? Each group of …

How I Produce And Market Alfalfa Hay, John Nowak

Kentucky Alfalfa and Stored Forage Conference

John Nowak was born March 22, 1947, in New York City and was raised in Westchester County, just north of New York City. After graduating from Colorado State University with a B.S. degree in farm and ranch management, he entered the U.S. Army. John served on active duty from 1969 until 1978. In 1975, his Army career brought him to Fort Campbell, Kentucky, and he began farming part-time in Christian County in 1976. As with many "start-from-scratch" farmers, John's first farming efforts involved producing burley tobacco during the years 1976 through 1979. In 1979, he began a cow-calf and backgrounding …

Grazing Alfalfa, Garry D. Lacefield, Jimmy C. Henning

Kentucky Alfalfa and Stored Forage Conference

Alfalfa is a high yielding, high quality, deep-rooted, versatile forage legume well adapted throughout the U.S. Gains per animal and per acre can be excellent with acceptable stand persistence when present technology is used. Is grazing alfalfa right for everyone? No. Is grazing alfalfa right for you? Only you can answer that question. This presentation attempts to give you information that will hopefully help you with that answer.

What I Have Learned From 4 Years Of Alfalfa Grazing Tolerance Variety Trials, Jimmy C. Henning, Robert Spitaleri, Garry D. Lacefield, Charles T. Dougherty

Kentucky Alfalfa and Stored Forage Conference

There has been interest in alfalfa varieties that would tolerate grazing for some time. The spreading type alfalfas (such as Rambler, Spredor 2, Travois) have long been generally promoted as being tolerant of grazing. Over the years, most selection for tolerance to grazing was done using frequent clipping to simulate grazing.

Studies conducted at the University of Georgia in the 1980's found that alfalfa varieties performed differently when grazed frequently compared to clipping frequently. This line of research eventually led to the release of 'AlfaGraze' alfalfa which was the first variety ever to be selected primarily by overgrazing by livestock. …

Practical And Economical Ways To Increase Alfalfa Hay Drying Rates, Michael Collins

Kentucky Alfalfa and Stored Forage Conference

Hay stores well for long periods and is better suited to cash sale and transportation than silage and remains the most popular method for harvesting the alfalfa crop. Rapid drying reduces field losses by reducing respiration and by reducing the incidence of rain damage during curing. Because of these factors, harvest losses are greatest for very dry forage and are low for very wet material like direct cut silage. However, the latter is subject to excessive storage losses due to seepage and to quality deterioration. Storage losses are generally minimized by harvesting at low moisture levels.

Alfalfa Following Alfalfa: What Works And What Doesn't Work?, Monroe Rasnake

Kentucky Alfalfa and Stored Forage Conference

Farmers often would like to go directly back into alfalfa when an old stand plays out. However, research has shown that it is often difficult to get new stands established when this is done. Some of the problems may be attributed to weeds, insects and diseases that build up over time and become difficult to control. Another reason is that alfalfa plants have been shown to produce chemical compounds that can inhibit germination and growth of new seedlings. This effect is called allelopathy or autotoxicity.

Secrets To Getting A Good Stand Of Alfalfa, Jimmy C. Henning, Garry D. Lacefield

Kentucky Alfalfa and Stored Forage Conference

Getting a good stand of alfalfa quickly is very important to Kentucky because it is the highest yielding, highest quality forage crop. In addition, it can be used in many different ways. Cool wet springs and hot dry falls have caused alfalfa seedings to fail in recent years. It would be easy to begin to believe that there was some 'magic' step or ingredient that has been missing. There are no magic steps to getting a good stand. Attention to a few major details can help maximize your chances of success.

What Grasses Work Best With Alfalfa?, Timothy D. Phillips

Kentucky Alfalfa and Stored Forage Conference

Alfalfa is the "queen" of forages, but many situations exist where it is desirable or necessary to grow alfalfa in a mixture with a forage grass rather in monoculture. Some of the reasons to grow grass with alfalfa are: improved yield (in terms of tons of dry matter produced), better seasonal yield distribution, better weed control, potential pest reduction, erosion prevention, bloat risk reduction, and accelerated hay-drying rates. Conversely, there are some factors that favor alfalfa monoculture. These include: lower forage quality, especially in terms of protein content; more difficult management requirements (herbicide use, fertilization, and harvest timing); and, lower …

Foreword [1999], Garry D. Lacefield

Kentucky Alfalfa and Stored Forage Conference

This is the front matter of the proceedings.

No Tillage Use For Crop Production In Kentucky Counties In 1998, Gerald R. Haszler

Soil Science News and Views

For the past several years, we have reported the status of no~tillage adoption in Kentucky counties. Now, CTICt has published the results for 1998. In 1994, 44% of all crops were produced under no tillage in Kentucky, whereas in 1996, that figure had reached 51 % . In 1997, it dropped to 48% and remains at 48% for 1998. Results for the leading no-till states for 1994, 1996, 1997 and 1998 are shown in Table 1. The percentage of major grain crops (com, soybeans and small grains) grown under no tillage in Kentucky are shown by county in Figure 1. …

Subsoiling Of No-Tilled Corn, Lloyd W. Murdock

Soil Science News and Views

No-tillage corn production has become very popular in Kentucky because of the advantages it offers producers. Currently, over half of the corn in Kentucky is planted by this method and even a higher percentage is no-till planted on erodible lands. Because of this, many fields have received little tillage in the last 10 to 20 years. Many producers wonder if soil compaction increases with time on these long-term no-tilled fields due to annual trafficking by heavy equipment. Subsoiling implements have become available that allow subsurface tillage while preserving the surface mulch layer. This practice allows for continued no-till planting while …

Lime Rate Adjustments Based On Rnv And Depth, William O. Thom

Soil Science News and Views

Agricultural limestone quality is measured by its neutralizing value and fineness of grind. Neutralizing value is determined by calcium carbonate equivalent (CCE). The higher the CCE, the greater the limestone’s ability to neutralize soil acidity. Reaction rate in the soil is affected by fineness of grind, with finer materials reacting faster with a soil to increase pH. Methods have been developed to calculate efficiency factors that involve using both CCE and material fineness. Regardless of the aglime material used, when the same amount of effective neutralizing material is applied and mixed thoroughly with the soil, the pH change in the …

Comparison Of Water And Temperature Distribution Profiles Under Sand Tube Irrigation, Masoud Meshkat, Richard C. Warner, Stephen R. Workman

Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering Faculty Publications

Drip irrigation is one of the most efficient systems in delivering water to the plant root zone. Research has shown that the saturated, or nearly saturated, surface beneath the emitter may increase evaporation thereby reducing the irrigation efficiency. To increase the efficiency of surface applied drip irrigation on permanent tree crops a sand tube irrigation (STI) method was developed and tested. The sand tube method consists of removing a soil core beneath the emitter and filling the void with coarse sand. A weighing lysimeter was designed and instrumented to directly measure temporal evaporation during irrigation and for a period of …

Quality Of Runoff From Plots Treated With Municipal Sludge And Horse Bedding, Elizabeth L. Busheé, Dwayne R. Edwards, Philip A. Moore Jr.

Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering Faculty Publications

Land application of horse stall bedding and municipal sludge can increase runoff concentrations of nutrients, organic matter, and bacteria as well as steroidal hormones such as estrogen. Concentrations of materials in runoff from sites treated with animal manure can be reduced by aluminum sulfate, or alum [Al₂(SO₄)₃•14H₂O] treatment. The objectives of this study were to assess plots treated with horse stall bedding or municipal sludge for: (a) runoff quality [concentrations of nitrate nitrogen (NO₃-N), ammonia nitrogen (NH₃-N), orthophosphate-phosphorus (PO₄-P), fecal coliform (FC), chemical oxygen demand (COD) …

Precision Agriculture: A Field Study Of Soil Test Variability And Its Effect On Accuracy Of Fertilizer Recommendations, Kenneth L. Wells, James E. Dollarhide

Soil Science News and Views

Use of precision agriculture techniques in Kentucky during the past several years has generated interest in how to soil sample a field for use in programming computer-driven, on-the-go, variable rate fertilizer spreaders (VRS). The advantage achieved by VRS is related directly to variability of soil test (ST) values within a specific field and the accuracy of how they represent the field. Since variability of ST values commonly exists on a small scale, a very intensive sampling procedure (grids of one acre or less in size) would be required to accurately describe the nature and extent of such variability within a …