IN THIS SECTION

2006—Number 3

CALIFORNIA FORAGE UPDATE is a joint project of the California Alfalfa & Forage Association (representing thousands of CA forage growers) and the Alfalfa and Forage Systems Workgroup of the University of California Cooperative Extension. 

Welcome to the THIRD issue of the California Forage Update for 2006.   We welcome your input and comments, see email contact names below.

Calendar:

Sept. 14^th Alfalfa & Forage Field Day – Varieties, Pests, PCA/CCA Credits – Kearney Research and Extension Center, Parlier, CA. http://alfalfa.ucdavis.edu

Oct. 24^th-26^th Alfalfa Intensive Training Seminar, Session I – Las Vegas, NV, National Alfalfa & Forage Alliance.  www.alfalfa.org  

Dec. 11^th-13^th –  2006 Western Alfalfa & Forage Conference – Comprehensive 3 -day conference by 11 Western States: http://alfalfa.ucdavis.edu

What’s Happening?

Catchword of the Day:  Hot, Hot, Hot!  The summer of 2006 has been characterized by much higher than normal temperatures throughout most of July. The hot July weather meant great difficulty for growers to produce high quality alfalfa, after a miserable spring of excessive rain and flooding in the Central Valley and N. California.  More normal (downright pleasant) temperatures have returned for August, but the first six months of this year were the hottest across the nation since the federal government began keeping records in 1890.  About 50 all-time high-temperature records were broken during the month of July, and several cities in California set records for extended heat waves, including Fresno, with six consecutive 110-plus-degree days, and Sacramento, with 11 consecutive triple-digit days.  Hot weather causes rapid lignification of alfalfa stems and plant stress.  Entomologists feel that the heat units may contribute to high summer worm populations (alfalfa caterpillar, armyworms).  On the other hand, quite a few heat units for corn production!

-D. Putnam, Forage Specialist, UC Davis

High Test Hay Supply Remains Problematic.  As reported in the July CAFA News, supplies of high-test milk cow quality hay could be tight throughout 2006 despite a sizeable increase in alfalfa acreage. It's not surprising given late spring rains that plagued Central Valley growers.  The June acreage report from the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) estimates a 60,000 acre increase in alfalfa acreage for California in 2006. In his CAFA News article, NASS Senior Economist, Seth Hoyt wrote that a 60,000 acre increase would normally boost production substantially above the previous year.  However, with a late start to the season in central and northern California, plus low tonnage in some areas, "alfalfa hay yields may well be down in 2006."  At the end of July, says Hoyt, NASS surveys were projecting a seasonal average yield of 6.7 tons per acre, vs. 6.9 tons last year. "With the hot July weather, it will be interesting to see the yield survey for July-August," he notes. Currently, NASS is estimating California growers will produce 7.1 million tons of alfalfa in 2006, vs. 6.9 million in 2005, only a 3% increase in spite of over 6% in acreage.  Hoyt will update CAFA members on hay market developments in the fall issue of CAFA News.

-Aaron Kiess, Executive Director, CAFA

Buyers and Seller’s Views. Top quality milk cow hay is moving well and there is increased interest this week in filling dry stock orders.  Depressed milk prices continue to limit cash flow and buying power of dairies and have held prices at $15 to $25 per ton lower than last season’s record levels.  All indications at least for the short term are continued depressed milk prices even considering the loss of production due to heat stress and cow losses.  Hay production looks to be substantially lower this cutting from the effects of the hot spell and extreme worm pressure.  Growers are now moving hay to storage for winter sales in anticipation of higher than normal hand-to-mouth feeding and possible higher returns.

-Rick Staas – President/CEO - San Joaquin Valley Hay Growers Association   

2006 Western Alfalfa and Forage Conference registration and preliminary program is now on-line.  With about 40 speakers and a trade-show exhibit, this 11-state program promises to be a terrific opportunity for Western forage people.  See http://alfalfa.ucdavis.edu/+symposium/current/index.html for registration and exhibition materials.  The conference will be held at John Ascuaga’s Nugget in Sparks, NV December 11-12-13.   Deadlines for early registration are on November 20^th.  Co-Chairs for the program: Glen Shewmaker (ID), Steve Oloff (CA), and Dan Putnam (CA), and the program is being developed by CE forage people from: Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming. 

-D. Putnam, Forage Specialist, UC Davis

Worms Crawl In and Out.  Worms (also called lepidopterous larvae) have been very common to severe in SJV alfalfa hay fields for the past couple of months.  Alfalfa caterpillars (the larval stage of the common yellow butterfly) are normally fairly abundant in alfalfa fields in the summer.  This species is easy to kill with many insecticides.  Beet armyworms and western yellow-striped armyworms have also been very common with the species breakdown varying among fields and areas.  Armyworm larvae are more difficult to kill and populations can persist through cutting and damage the regrowth.  There are even some differences in insecticide susceptibility between the two armyworm species with western yellow-striped armyworms being less susceptible to some insecticides (such as Success^®) than the beet armyworm.  Armyworm larvae skeletonize the alfalfa leaflets (leaving the veins intact) whereas alfalfa caterpillars eat the entire leaflets.  Alfalfa can withstand considerable populations of worms before treatment is needed (10 to 15 live larvae per 180 degree sweep with a sweep net).  These thresholds have been easily exceeded in some fields - numbers as high as 70-80 per sweep have been seen.  Many of the worms hide during the heat of the day so look carefully when monitoring fields for worm pressure.  Watch populations on young re-growth!

-Larry Godfrey, Entomologist, UC Davis

Furadan on the Way Out.  Carbofuran (Furadan), an insecticide used in alfalfa, is currently in the latter stages of review by the EPA as a part of the 1996 Food Quality & Protection Act.  In a document published in August, 2006, the EPA recommends cancellation of carbofuran for all uses, based on high ecological and worker safety risks and low economic benefits for growers for most crops including alfalfa, cotton, potatoes, sorghum and grapes.  There will be a 4-year phase out allowed for artichokes, chile peppers grown in the Southwestern U.S., cucurbits (granular formulation only), sunflowers, spinach grown for seed, and pine seedlings grown in the Southeastern U.S., and import tolerances will remain for sugarcane, coffee, bananas, and rice. The usage of Furadan in alfalfa is not great (~50,000 acres in CA) but it does represent an alternative class of chemistry and does still provide very effective control of the alfalfa weevil complex.  Being systemic, it also offers the advantages of long-term weevil control which may negate the need for a repeat application in the isolated cases when a prolonged egg hatch occurs in the spring.  Another advantage is that carbofuran is that it also controls aphid.  Aphids can be a pest in the spring along with weevil larvae. The other materials used for weevils are generally weak on aphids such as phosmet, chlorpyrifos, pyrethroids, and indoxacarb.  One concern with the loss of carbofuran in alfalfa is that there will be more reliance on OPs such as chlorpyrifos and pyrethroids such as lambda-cyhalothrin and several others.  These products are under scrutiny due to water/environmental issues, so we may have far fewer products in the future.  Of course, carbofuran is extremely toxic to humans and this is of concern to the mixer/applicator, although the worker exposure in alfalfa is much less than other crops.  Carbofuran is also very toxic to birds which is a problem for wildlife.   For further information on the registration of this insecticide, see: http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/reregistration/carbofuran/.  There will be an additional 60 day comment period beginning August 30. To make comments on the potential impacts of this decision, you may go to www.regulations.gov to look up the carbofuran docket.  You will need to go to the end to find the most recent materials.  Please submit any comments you have directly to the docket (docket # EPA-HQ-OPP-2005-0162).  Contact the EPA Chemical Review Manager: Stephanie Plummer (plummer.stephanie@epa.gov), 703-305-0076 with further questions.

-Larry Godfrey and Dan Putnam, UC Davis

CAFA in the House. A project CAFA initiated nearly two years ago has taken another step forward with the recent support from nine members of the House of Representatives. In a letter to Secretary of Agriculture, Mike Johanns, the California congressmen asked the USDA-ARS to establish new positions to conduct dairy-forage research for western states. ARS research for dairy forage-systems is currently centered in the Midwest and East, even though California is the country's No. 1 milk producing state. In addition, several other western states have a rapidly growing dairy industry. CAFA received strong support from Western United Dairymen and the California Farm Bureau in its most recent attempt to encourage the ARS to expand its research activities in California.  Funding for the new ARS positions will hopefully be established in the 2008 agricultural appropriations bill.

-Aaron Kiess, Executive Director, CAFA

Monitor New Stands for Pests. During September many growers will be establishing new stands or re-seeding alfalfa fields. When seedling alfalfa plants have emerged, monitor the stand for plants clipped by cutworms, crickets earwigs, or sowbugs. These pests are occasionally abundant enough to severely thin stands new alfalfa stands. The palestripped flea beetle is another occasional pest that can cause sever damage to seedling alfalfa.  Treat with an insecticide bait or foliar insecticide when these insects are abundant enough to cause areas of stand loss.

- Eric Natwick, UCCE Farm Advisor, El Centro, CA

Choose Your Varieties for Planting.  To choose a top alfalfa variety, begin by choosing a group of 6-12 lines which are the top yielding varieties at the UC trials (or other university trials), and then look at pest resistance, fall dormancy, quality, persistence and price factors. See http://alfalfa.ucdavis.edu/+producing/variety.html  for the 2006 preliminary data, as well as data summaries from multiple-year trials.  We have trials at Tulelake, Davis, Parlier (Fresno), Lancaster, and El Centro.  Variety selection can result in hundreds of dollars per acre gain or loss during the life of an alfalfa stand.  What’s worse, YOU WON”T KNOW whether you’ve made a good or bad choice.  Start a ‘long term relationship’ with an alfalfa variety by examining its potential performance, which is much more important than the price of the seed.

 –Dan Putnam, Forage Specialist, UC Davis

REGIONAL REPORTS:

Intermountain

Like the rest of California, the intermountain region experienced extended above normal temperatures. This has resulted in a lot of over-mature alfalfa in the second cutting.  The date of the first cut usually determines how many cuts there will be; three to four cuts per year are the norm.  Although first cutting occurred at a typical date this year, high temperatures in mid summer accelerated alfalfa development causing many growers to go from a three to a four cut schedule to maintain quality.  Growers who stayed with a three cut schedule found alfalfa on second cutting very mature because of the heat. 

Grass Hay Yields were also affected by the hot weather. Cool season grasses do not perform well under high temperatures and this summer’s hot weather resulted in poor second cutting yields across the intermountain region. 

Late August is an ideal time to plant alfalfa in the intermountain area.  However, some growers have been pushing that date into September or even October.  This practice is like playing Russian roulette.  Even if the alfalfa survives the winter, yield the following year will be lower than if the alfalfa were planted in late August.  Other growers have been planting alfalfa too early; in May or June.  Those growers should consider planting spring crops such as oat hay or summer crops such as sudan or sudan X sorghum for hay and following with a late August planting of alfalfa next year.

-Steve Orloff and Dan Marcum, UCCE Siskiyou and Shasta Counties

Sacramento Valley

Reseeding Damaged Stands- Many alfalfa stands were damaged this year due to winter rains. Although we do not generally recommend re-seeding alfalfa into old alfalfa fields, sometimes new fields can be successfully re-seeded the first year, but with some risk.  Fall may be the best time for growers to attempt to re-plant alfalfa into sparse areas damaged by floods.  Planting should be after the September cutting.  Growers may want to apply paraquat (Gramoxone) to the partially grown field to the areas of the field to be replanted to minimize competition to the young seedlings from weeds and existing alfalfa plants. Do not use soil-active herbicides at this time. Scratch up the soil lightly.  Apply a fertilizer like 11-52-0 at approximately 100 lbs per acre. Plant alfalfa seed, preferably with a drill and assure that the seed is covered and at the proper depth (1/4”).  Irrigate the field or planted areas like you are irrigating up a new stand.  Re-irrigate if rain does not come in order for seedling roots to remain in moist soil.  Do not apply winter herbicides meant for established stands to the replanted areas as these areas are still seedlings and should be treated separately with seedling herbicides.  The key aspects of success are 1) timing (earlier in Sept., the better), 2) Irrigation (irrigate like a seedling alfalfa field, assuring that moisture is in the young root zone) 3) weed pressure (minimize), and 4) original cause of damage—if the original cause of stand damage is not removed (e.g. low area, traffic compaction), plant damage is likely to occur again.

 - Jerry Schmeirer, UCCE, Colusa, CA

Ground Mealybug- In the past few years, ground mealybug appears to be more prevalent in alfalfa in Yolo County. These insects live underground and feed on alfalfa roots, causing plants to become stunted.  Infestations tend to be localized, but gradually enlarge, with distinct margins of healthy and unhealthy plants. To sample for mealybugs, dig up plants at these margins and look for tiny white insects along with a fine powdery waxy secretion. Control strategies involve rotation to less susceptible crops (wheat, beans, corn, sugarbeets) and applying soil amendments to the infested site as needed to stimulate plant growth. Some growers report that acidifying the soil with sulfur also helps control ground mealybugs. There are no known resistant alfalfa varieties and chemical control is difficult since these insects are typically found 6-18 inches deep in the soil. Prior to planting alfalfa, be sure to check the previous crop for mealybug infestations, mark these sites with GPS, and try incorporating insecticides where infestations occur for mealybug control. Anything that reduces stress on the alfalfa will reduce the impact of the mealybug.

-Rachael Long, Yolo and Sacramento Counties

Southern San Joaquin Valley

High populations of beet armyworms, western yellow stripe armyworms and alfalfa caterpillars have been a problem in the Southern San Joaquin Valley.  Some fields have been sprayed three times already.  Even regrowth after cutting has been affected in some fields.  During the heat of the day, worms are underneath debris or at the base of crowns.  Then when it is cooler, they crawl up the stems and eat any new regrowth.  

-Carol Frate, UCCE Farm Advisor, Visalia, CA

High Desert

Growers are finishing the fourth cutting and into the fifth.  Sporatic thunderstorms have damaged some hay in isolated areas.  Extremely hot temperatures in July and August have caused fields under marginal water stress to suffer substantial yield loss.  Insect pressure from alfalfa caterpillar and armyworm was low through the summer, but recently populations have been increasing sporadically in isolated areas.  Parasitic activity has provided effective biological control on alfalfa caterpillar through the season.  We have experienced reduced efficacy of chlorpyriphos on beet armyworm.  There has been an increase in pressure from the alfalfa web worm in the Barstow and Sandy Valley areas.  Populations are higher under longer cutting schedules.  Delayed cutting will result in higher web worm populations in the next cutting.  Early cutting helps solve the web worm problem.  

-Grant Poole, UCCE LA Co. and Tim Hays, Evergreen Farm Supply, Lancaster, CA
 

Low Desert  

Very high temperatures in July and again now in August have not been beneficial for alfalfa production.  Alfalfa growth has been slow during this time period, with cutting cycles extended.  Alfalfa caterpillar outbreaks necessitating treatments were noted after the extreme temperatures in July, with thought that the high temperatures may have resulted in lowering numbers of beneficial insects which were keeping alfalfa caterpillars in check.  A number of fields have been treated for grass control, and recently some fields have been treated for granulate cutworms. Threecornered alfalfa hoppers are also very prevalent in some fields, with Empoasca spp. leafhoppers, beet armyworms and pale striped flea beetles also occasionally numerous.

-Mike Rethwisch, UCCE, Riverside County

Summer Worms. Alfalfa caterpillars have reached high densities in the low desert. The alfalfa butterfly can be seen flying over fields with six inches of re-growth or less where the females are depositing eggs. Butterflies over alfalfa nearing cutting are not a problem.  Treat with an insecticide when numbers of non-parasitized larvae average 10 or more per sweep.

-Eric Natwick, UCCE Farm Advisor, El Centro, CA

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-Janice  Corner, jecorner@ucdavis.edu

California Alfalfa & Forage Association | California Alfalfa Workgroup