News Release
February 22, 2007

Yellow-flowering alfalfa can improve native rangelands

            Ranchers who have seeded yellow-flowering alfalfa, along with state and federal researchers in Wyoming who are conducting studies, are confident the plant will boost forage quality and quantity on native dry lands in the northern mixed-grass prairies of Wyoming, Nebraska, Montana, Colorado and the Dakotas.

            The plant is a subspecies of alfalfa – Medicago sativa ssp. falcata – also known as falcata.

            Like other legumes, falcata releases nitrogen into the soil, and nitrogen is one of the most-limited nutrients in native rangelands, said Jerry Schuman, adjunct soil science professor in the University of Wyoming’s College of Agriculture and retired U.S. Department of Agriculture soil scientist.

            “As a result of the nitrogen fixation, you can realize a significant increase in forage production and quality of native plants,” said Schuman, who is involved in three falcata-related studies in Wyoming.

            Falcata provides additional protein-rich forage for livestock and wildlife, and the higher levels of nitrogen increase the rate of soil carbon storage and water-use efficiency by plants, he said.

            Researchers got the idea of testing falcata in Wyoming after seeing its success in South Dakota.

            “We have been struggling for years to find legumes that would survive in rangeland settings and, lo and behold, there is a rancher from South Dakota who has had the yellow-flowered alfalfa on his place since 1915,” said Bret Hess, an associate professor in the UW College of Agriculture’s Department of Animal Science.

            Hess is referring to Norman “Bud” Smith, whose family ranches east of Lodgepole, S.D. Smith is a descendant of a homesteader who was given a small packet of alfalfa seeds by a plant scientist who had collected it in Mongolia in the early 1900s. The homesteader sprinkled the seeds on native lands.

            In the 1950s, Smith noticed the quantity and quality of native plant species were higher in areas where falcata was growing versus undisturbed sites. Research backed his observation. In 2001 and 2002, Schuman said, native sites produced 1,100 to 1,400 pounds of forage, while areas having falcata netted nearly 2,500 pounds.

            News of falcata’s success is spreading. “We first started selling seed in 2003, and sales have tripled,” said Rick Dunne, owner of Wind River Seed Inc. in Manderson. “Approximately 250 customers – mostly livestock producers and conservation districts in Wyoming, South Dakota and other western and Midwestern states – have purchased seed.”

            Among them is Gillette, Wyo., rancher Loren Peyrot. “I’m optimistic falcata will improve our rangelands,” said Peyrot, who chain harrowed a 10-acre field in poor condition, broadcast seeded it and harrowed the field again.

            “Sixty percent of the seed took in 2005, and it looked pretty good in the spring of 2006,” Peyrot said. A hard drought then hit, and the falcata plants either went dormant or died. “I hope they are dormant, but we won’t know until we receive more moisture.”

            Peyrot said he toured the Bud Smith ranch before planting, and he was impressed. “The falcata is scattered across hillsides and in the draws, and they even hay and graze it. The thing that stuck with me is that it provides good forage for cattle, it’s drought resistant once it gets established and it doesn’t seem to cause bloat problems.”

            Another Wyoming landowner experimenting with falcata is Bob Berry, who placed a conservation easement on his ranch at the foot of the Big Horn Mountains near Sheridan.

            Berry both interseeded and disc-ripped falcata seed into 700 acres of dry land pasture in an effort to help restore a badly damaged area. Among his goals were to increase livestock forage production and provide habitat for grassland birds, which could benefit from the additional cover and insect life that abounds in alfalfa.

            Berry said he got good germination and initial growth during the wet spring of 2005, but then a severe drought hit and either the plants went dormant or died.

            “I won’t know what falcata will do until this year or beyond, but I am optimistic – based upon the way the purple-flowered variety of alfalfa responds to moisture,” Berry noted.

            Unlike purple-flowering alfalfa, which has a long taproot, falcata has a shallow, fibrous root system.

            Schuman said, “A lot of precipitation in the northern prairies comes in half-inch thunderstorms. That doesn’t help taproot plants, but it’s perfect for plants like falcata. It would be a major mistake to turn away from this plant just because we’ve had several years of drought.”

            Don Sims, whose family runs a cattle ranch in southeastern Wyoming near McFadden, said they’ve never seeded yellow-flowering alfalfa into their dry lands but believes the potential for its success is high.

            “It would add protein to the forage and would help build soil by putting nitrogen into it; however, I think it could be overgrazed, so it all comes back to management. You would probably need short-term grazing with recovery time,” Sims predicted.

            Berry agrees. He said falcata is highly palatable to cattle and grows slowly subsequent to being eaten or mowed, which may weaken or even kill the plant without proper deferred grazing management.

            “Timed seasonal grazing during the growing season stimulates forage production of native grasses, which reduces the potential for bloat in cattle, as well as increasing overall forage quality and quantity for summer and winter grazing,” Berry said.   

            Professor George Vance Jr., an environmental chemist in the UW College of Agriculture’s Department of Renewable Resources, said, “The increase in plant biomass and forage quality along with the potential to sequester carbon and possibly receive carbon credits are valuable assets for the use of falcata on native grasslands.”

            What if yellow-flowering alfalfa establishes itself? Could it take over the native plants? Researchers don’t believe so after studies carried out at the Bud Smith ranch. “It appears this should not be a problem if falcata is grazed,” Schuman said. 

            Ranchers interested in planting falcata can contact their UW Cooperative Extension Service county office or a seed dealer, or call the federal Agricultural Research Service’s High Plains Grasslands Research Station near Cheyenne at (307) 772-2433.

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Contact: Robert Waggener, Editor
Phone: (307) 766-3571
E-mail: robertw@uwyo.edu

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