Alfalfa varieties for Iowa

Alfalfa has been called the queen of all forage crops“. In Iowa, this recognition is well deserved, for no other forage legume or grass produces such an abundance of highly nutritious roughage for feeding livestock. Compared with red clover, alfalfa has produced 25 percent greater yields of forage over a 20-year period in experiments on Webster and Clarion soils in central Iowa. Under acid soil conditions in eastern and southern Iowa, red clover may outyield alfalfa, but on most Iowa soils it would appear economically sound to apply the lime, phosphate and other soil treatments necessary for successful alfalfa production. In 1950, more than a million acres of alfalfa were harvested in Iowa, while the acreage in the five states including Nebraska, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois and Iowa, totaled more than 6 million. The alfalfa acreage in Iowa has doubled during the past 20 years, and it is believed that even a much greater acreage devoted to this crop would be highly desirable

Better Alfalfas Available

Never before have Iowa farmers been able to buy certified seed of improved varieties of alfalfa at such reasonable prices. About 40 million pounds of high-quality certified seed of Ranger, Buffalo and Atlantic alfalfas are available; substantial quantities of Grimm and Ladak also are on hand

Merit: A New Ladino Clover

Merit ladino is most useful for pasture in mixtures with bromegrass or orchardgrass. Merit outyields common ladino and is superior in winterhardiness and in tolerance to leafhopper damage and midsummer drouth

Clover Varieties for Iowa

Use of adapted strains of red clover is highly important in getting top yields of forage and seed. Here\u27s why along with a brief description of some of the more promising improved varieties

Bromegrass!

It took the blistering, hot, drouthy summers of 1934 and 1936 to get Iowa farmers interested in bromegrass as a pasture crop. In those years- and in other hot, drouthy periods- bromegrass pastures have been far superior to bluegrass

Iowa Needs Red Clover

Red clover, the old standby rotation legume of our fathers and grandfathers, was shoved back a few years ago by newer and seemingly more promising legumes

Alfalfa That Lives

One of the chief problems which Iowa farmers have in growing alfalfa is to find a satisfactory variety. Few alfalfa fields are worth leaving after the third year because wilt has thinned the stand so much. The Iowa Station, along with various others and the United States Department of Agriculture, has been trying to solve this problem by finding or developing varieties or strains which are wilt-resistant, winter-hardy and yield well

Nematodes and Fungi Are Cutting Hay Yields

Because of parasitic nematodes and fungi many Iowa farmers are not getting nearly the quantity of hay that alfalfa is capable of producing. Hay losses from these pests and diseases cost several million dollars annually