I'll throw in what I know, from raising it for horse feed. It's sold on it's RFV score, price for untested 100.00 per ton 2.50 to 3.50 per small bale, tested upto around 300-400 per ton for RFV 230+ "dairy hay", depending on market. First cut needs to be prior to 10% of the field in bloom. Pheasants love to nest in it, and you will kill a lot if you cut when it's ready. 3 or 4 cuttings annually, irrigated 6 usually. As the cuttings proceed they get finer and the RFV gets higher, normally. Ending with "rabbit food", a term we use for cuttings that are all leaf. Only nutrition is the leaf by the way, stems are roughage. We interseed with orchard grass, adds value to the first cut, and will extend the 3rd and 4th. Being a legume it fixes nitrogen which benefits the grasses. It also mines nutrients, and minerals from deep in the soil. A stand, cared for and nutured will last 3 to 4 years, then you will have to replant. Needs a specific blend of minerals and nutrients, in the Kansas City area, we seem to be always short of Boron. Alfalfa really needs/likes? Boron so we apply annually. There are various specialty varieties, designed for various latitudes, based on resistence to disease, and pests etc. I would use the perrenial recommended by the Ag Extension for your area, or used by a current grower with success. Avoid the annual varieties, they are expensive and mostly used as green manure crop. You can seed in the early spring or fall, We use the grass seeder on an Oliver drill, and drag to get good ground contact on "worked" soil. We usually seed with oats as a cover crop, cut the oats, and or bale it at boot stage, leaving the alfalfa/timothy already sprouted and thriving. One caution, don't cut to short or to late, it has a tendency to freeze out in the crowns during severe winters, and you will lose it. Needs a decent regrowth to insure survival. Alfalfa is a Middle Eastern plant, the word is adapted from Arabic, and roughly translated means, "excellent fodder". I have recently been experimenting with the newer lespedezas, NOT the bush varieties, which are bad news!!!! Like the University of Missouri's Marion variety, because it is quail freindly, I have no pheasants in my area, but I'd like to encourage the quail. It looks good so far, and the harvest was on par with alfalfa last year. Only two cuttings, same yield. It does not lose much RFV as it matures, and is virtually pest free so far, quail could be found along the edges almost always, to get the seed from plants which were in corners or field edges and didn't get mowed or hayed. I believe we got some nesting in it as well. Not an effective nitrogen fixer however. Good Luck. Keep us posted.
