April 5, 2006
Bulletin #101
Table of contents:
Bulletin #101
"Understanding the Productive Value of Alfalfa (Lucerne)"
By: Daryl Holle, Blue Mountain Feeds
Bulletin #101
Understanding the Productive Value of Alfalfa
Key factors to the success of any commercial livestock production are the ability to accurately determine the productive value of your livestock and the productive value of the inputs.
Working with producers from many countries, the limiting factor all too frequently comes down to the ability to obtain Alfalfa of the right quality. This is having a serious impact on the commercial viability of ostrich production and the ability to achieve the production benchmark targets recently published.
Personally I stopped actively producing ostrich until I was in a position to control my own Alfalfa production. At the time I had to depend on purchasing Alfalfa in a market where supply and demand was the only criteria that set the prices, price was not related to quality at all. I could see the difference in bird performance from one batch of Alfalfa to the other. When the Alfalfa is below a certain quality it does not feed well and it is not possible to reformulate to make up for those lost nutrients without putting other aspects of the ration out of balance, with the resulting loss of performance.
In the United States Alfalfa is the 3rd most valuable crop behind Corn and Soybean, the other two major ingredients for productive livestock rations, including Ostrich.
Blue Mountain has brought together published articles and papers written by a number of different authors to illustrate the important contribution of quality alfalfa in commercial livestock profitability. The document covers:
· Why Quality Alfalfa is important in Livestock Production
· Why Quality Alfalfa is important in Ostrich Production
· Defines Quality Alfalfa
· Explains how to calculate the productive value of Alfalfa
· Identifies the positive environmental contribution of Alfalfa, including return on water consumption
· Describe how to take Accurate Samples
· Explain how to understand lab tests
· Identifies the economic value of Alfalfa
The Blue Mountain Alfalfa Guide can be downloaded by clicking on the following link:
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Also check out our web site at www.blue-mountain.net for feature articles addressing Ostrich Nutrition, Feeding Management, and Ostrich Farm Management.
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