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All About Alfalfa Forage, Hay, and Nutrition and Storage
Alfalfa (“lucerne” for those “down under”) is leafy forage that is a rich, highly palatable, perennial legume. This type of plant “fixes”atmospheric nitrogen in the root system, converting gaseous nitrogen into plant nitrogen (protein). Like bermuda grass, it is not native to the USA, but likely came in from central Asia and has been known for thousands of years as a superb animal and horse forage. Alfalfa grows almost everywhere in the USA, perhaps best in the mid-south and less so in the upper north.
Alfalfa is rarely used as grazing forage for alpacas and other ruminants because the high nitrogen protein levels can overload their stomach. The less efficient horse digestive system can graze on it, but large weight gain and colic can occur. Alfalfa is just that “hot” (high protein) a feed. Clover often has the same result, as it is a similar legume and has many of alfalfa’s nutritional qualities. The problem with feeding alfalfa or clover to alpacas is that the overly rich forage overloads their efficient rumen. They get “slobbery” as the rumen is literally bubbling over. The high protein puts on weight very quickly and a fat alpaca is not a healthy alpaca. Many vets feel that overfeeding is the number cause of death and reproductive problems in alpacas.
However, alfalfa hay has a place in feeding alpacas – depending on environmental, reproductive, age and other heath conditions. First let’s discuss food alfalfa hay and what is “good” alfalfa.
Quality alfalfa hay is cut early in the “bloom” (purple flower) stage. When plants are in the non-flowering vegetative stage, all of the plant's energy is directed towards putting nutrients into the leaf and stem, resulting in a high plant bio-available protein and carbohydrate percentage. Pick up almost any green rapidly growing forage plant early in its development and taste it – sweet, with no bitterness.
However, in the reproductive stage, plant energy shifts into the making flowers and later seed heads. The start of flowering indicates the end of the vegetative stage and the start of the reproductive phase.
When the plant is fully flowering and in seed, most of the plant is just "woody" stem, with only a fraction of the previous nutritional value it had in the vegetative stage. The prior available high protein levels drop and the earlier digestible carbohydrates change to lignin, a very stiff, non-digestible carbohydrate with no food value. Lignin is plant cell wall “glue.” Trees have large amounts of lignin, making for a solid trunk and limb, but not a good bioavailable food source.
Recall when vegetable garden salad greens “bolt” and begin to turn to seed? The formerly good tasting salad greens now have a bitter taste. This shift is palatability also happens to forage grasses when plants enter the reproductive stage.
Alfalfa is often cut when the field just starts the shift from vegetative into the reproductive stage. The plant is now mature, has a sufficient height for cutting and further growth will not result in more quality hay per acre. A problem with over mature plants is that the leaf tends to fall off during cutting and the hay is less palatable. The ideal time to cut is just before the plant starts to bloom. Of course, this can be rather hard to see. Most farmers wait until they see the very first signs of bloom in the field indicating plant maturity.
Good, well-dried alfalfa hay has a marvelous sweet aroma, with no mustiness and a green interior to the dried bale. Quality alfalfa hay has a lot of leaf and not a lot of stem. Some of the leaves may be bleached by the sun, as it was sun cured - this is OK. Rain will destroy alfalfa and turn the interior black with mold - this is dangerous hay.
Moisture and hay never mix. Good hay stored in a leaky shelter will mold. Molding legume has been known for a long time by farmers to cause bleeding in cattle. Mold creates a compound that prevents normal blood clotting. Today’s anti-clotting drugs, such as coumadin, were modeled after the moldy legume compounds known to kill cattle. Moldy hay and the resultant fine dust can also cause a lung emphysema-like condition in ruminants called "heaves". Never feed anything moldy or dusty to ruminants.
One way to check for mold and dust is to shake a flake of the hay at night in the beam of a bright light. You have problem hay if you see clouds of dust (hard to see in the daytime).
Well-grown, cut and processed alfalfa hay usually has a very high crude protein concentration (often in the high 20's). Good quality alfalfa can also have an excessively high total digestible nutrient (TDN) percentage in the mid 70's or more. Compare this to bermuda hay, with a crude protein of half that (10-16%) with a TDN in the high 40's to low 60's. Recall that TDN represents what is bioavailable. Therefore, alfalfa not only has a very high crude protein, but also it is highly bioavailable and alpacas love the sweet taste. Therefore, alfalfa tastes like "candy" packing on the weight due to the high available protein and carbohydrate.
One way to buy good alfalfa hay with a lower protein percentage is to buy from a farm with field that is about to be renovated and is in its last year of production. Cultivated alfalfa fields produce the highest percent protein in the first few years after planting. Year by rear, as the plants get older, the protein levels decrease until the field is replanted with new alfalfa seed. Many farms sell this lower protein alfalfa hay at bargain prices. We always get what we pay for, but always do a forage protein and TDN test on your purchased hay.
Other farms may plant oats or another forage into an older alfalfa field. This too can be an excellent hay.
One major alfalfa controversy is the balance of calcium (Ca) to phosphorus (P) and is expressed as a ratio - Ca/P. Bone needs an appropriate balance of these two elements. C/P imbalances affect many critical metabolic functions, including bone formation, lactation, reproduction, digestion, muscle and other functions. This is an example of a critical rate-limiting step. Think of it like the length of your legs and your ability to walk. When in balance (equal leg length), you can walk fine, but with one shorter (or longer) than the other, then you are in trouble. Equally short legs work, equally long legs work - the key is balance - a good 1:1 ratio.
There are times when more calcium is needed, such as during nursing or during bone development in the nursing cria. What is needed is bio-available calcium. Recall the TDN number above? Shoe leather has a high crude protein (80-90%), but a very low TDN (1%). Alfalfa hay has an elemental (or total analysis) Ca/P ratio that is seemingly way too high in calcium and ranges from 6:1 to almost 10:1. This would seem a terrible Ca/P ratio as the calcium is too high and the phosphorus too low.
But most calcium in alfalfa hay is NOT bioavailable. The majority of calcium in alfalfa is in the form of insoluble and completely indigestible calcium oxalate. This total calcium is present when you do an elemental or total analysis of the hay, but does not account for the fact that much of the calcium is not taken up in the gut. The excess calcium in alfalfa is tied or bound up in an unusable, indigestible form. Like the TDN of protein, a better measure of calcium is the bio-available amount. When this bound-up calcium is factored out, the resulting Ca/P ratio is a bit under 2:1 which is a very good, if not excellent, ratio. Alfalfa is an excellent supplement, for specific nutritional needs, for limited periods of time.
Many women understand the bioavailable calcium issue, as they need more calcium to prevent osteoporosis. Humans get plenty of phosphorus in our diet - but calcium is often not sufficient to prevent brittle bones. If just taking elemental, raw calcium were the issue, then blackboard chalk could be fed - it is high in calcium! However, the calcium in chalk is not bioavailable (like alfalfa). The key is what is taken up in the gut. This is why orange juice with calcium is often suggested for women as that calcium is taken up with the juice. Again, the bioavailable issue . . . .
Another important issue is the presence of vitamin D. The biological precursor to vitamin D is present in sun-cured hay. This vitamin is necessary for gut absorption of bone minerals. Sunlight is also a very good activator of vitamin D precursors by skin exposure. However, many areas in the USA can experience extended periods of cloudy, sunless winter weather, and vitamin D supplementation may be needed to help with calcium absorption, especially in nursing mothers and growing crias. Tom and I believe that vitamin seasonal nutritional management is critical. We use an oral vitamin A and D paste every few weeks for supplementing crias. Dr. Norm Evans speaks of the dangers of using the injected vitamin D formulations (death) – beware.
Are we defending alfalfa as hay? YES! Alfalfa is often considered “bad hay”. However, and more importantly, we do not advocate sole feeding of any one feedstuff. Good nutrition for alpacas is best accomplished with a mix of quality forages (grazing or hay), pelleted feed; perhaps some limited grains, a good mineral mix and quality water. Alfalfa can be part of this “salad”, but can result in poor nutrition when it is exclusively fed. Other factors that influence feeding include: the lactational status of the dam, their age, season (winter or summer), what works well in your area, etc.
High protein feeds or forages such as alfalfa have been blamed for “blowing out the fiber” of alpacas, or for making it more coarse (thicker diameter). This is being studied, but preliminary data from Dr. Kathryn Jakes of Ohio State University suggests that a high protein diet does NOT coarsen fiber in alpacas. Rather, the fleece skin follicles only make a fleece that reflects the genetic predisposition the alpaca is born with.
In the north, with better availability of cool season grasses, especially orchard grass, you have a better access to good hays without the constant high protein and TDN percentage of alfalfa. In the south, bermuda hay is readily available. Consider finding and buying a variety of quality hays. Feed your animals appropriately, based on their nutritional, and body scoring needs. Also, do analyses on your hay and forage. Your county extension agent can help with this. Regular weighing and examination your animal’s body scores will help you adjust their nutrition to their specific needs.
Alfalfa hay is a superb feed for dams with fall crias. Consider the weight gain of a cria being up to and occasionally exceeding one lb per day! This obligates an enormous number of calories from the dam. It has been estimated that a heavily lactating dam has the caloric need of four (4, yes four!) non-pregnant alpacas.
Consider that the fall born cria is nursing heavily on the dam in mid winter, the worst time for cold/wind. Now add in the fact that the dam is likely pregnant. This dam needs many more calories as she has “three strikes” against her! Alfalfa can be excellent hay for those conditions when the dam is skinny, older or having troubles maintaining weight and body score. But, beware, as some others will try to get into the alfalfa and get fat!
Do all of the TimberLake alpacas have an ideal body score of 5 (on a 1-10 scale)? No, we have our “fatties” and the “skinnies” and some in between. Bachelor male groups, studs, yearlings and weanlings are all groups that have specific nutritional needs. Feeding alpacas to their physical needs is a big part of farm management. We try to keep every one at a good body score and then individually feed extra hay to those that specifically need it. Feeding individuals and groups takes time, but the effort pays off. There are no perfect systems. Do the best you can and work on it.
Hay storage conditions are important with air circulation being critical. First, spread plastic sheeting over the ground or on the concrete floor. Then, place pallets on the plastic sheeting. This keeps the bales off the moist ground surface and allows air circulation underneath. Yes, the ground is moist even though it may appear “bone dry”. Also, put wooden pallets on top of the stack to allow for ventilation under a tarp. Even though hay looks dry, it continues to give off moisture for many months, so do not “seal” the tarp tightly closed.
Tarps are useful, even in a barn, as the tarp prevents bird droppings and their parasites from accumulating on the stored hay. Make sure that the plastic tarp is not right on the top of the stack as this will allow water to condense and drip down into the hay. For the same reason, do not store hay right next to the wall of a building, especially a metal sided one. The best place is to store hay inside if you can, but be sure it is dry, as wet hay can (and will!) heat up and spontaneously combust.
In summary, alfalfa hay can be a superb forage nutrient. When properly fed, it will assist in superb alpaca nutritional management.
Here are some excellent websites for you to read:
Alfalfa – History, Varietals and Use
agri.atu.edu/people/Hodgson/FieldCrops/StudentWork/Vicki_Shaw.html
National Alfalfa Alliance Online Publications
www.alfalfa.org/cascpub.html
Feeding Value of Alfalfa Hay
ianrpubs.unl.edu/range/g1342.htm
Nutrition Overview
Nutrition Terms
Transfer Factor
Problems with Rye
Bermudagrass
Orchardgrass Choices
Alfalfa Forage
Nutrition Issues
Copper a Micronutrient