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| I've got about 160 acres of dryland ground to go back into alfalfa next spring. We would take 1 cutting and then most likely graze the regrowth in late summer. It has between 2.5 to 3.5 ft of sandy loam soil, then becomes quite gravelly underneath. Wheat on this ground usually runs out of moisture to finish the crop as our rains quit in the end of May or early June. The highest winter wheat yeild dad had on this field was 44bu, with 28bu not being uncommon. Our other ground yields 65-85bu swww. Spring wheat has been 18bu. DNS the last 2 years, which with the high prices, paid for the costs of rotating the ground out of the old crp alfalfa it was in. We had it in CRP for 10 years and then it expired and wouldn't qualify (not steep enough) to go in again back in mid 90's. It had a good stand of alfalfa in the crp, which we hayed and grazed until 2 years ago (too many weeds-so rotated it).
Anyway, that is a long winded version of "what variety would you plant on this ground". It had Ladak 65 origionally mixed with a couple of grasses. This seeding will be straight alfalfa. I see there is a variety called "shaw" out there also. I'm about 50 miles SW of spokane. 15inch annual rainfall (but not this year). Winter usually is a mix of rain, cold and snow-which melts off after a couple of weeks so we have more mud before the next snow. Once in awhile, like last year, it stays cold all winter.
My "maxigraze gt" has survived 9 years on subirrigated bottom ground if that gives you a winter tolerance idea.
Thanks
Art
Edited by Art Swannack 10/20/2008 15:52
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alfalfa -which variety to plant?
