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Originally Posted by COMPOSTER
I've thought about attempting to make a small plot of alfalfa to use in compost and mulching. How much land are you thinking of devoting to the hay?
Glenn
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Devoting? I wouldn't personally be "devoting" anything to just hay. Multi-purpose "including" hay? That for sure can be either grown between rows or in the staging areas between plots if you were going to try and make a high % alfalfa type hay. Or in a grazing paddock between rotations for grass hay.
On the other hand once the rotation is in place. You certainly could include alfalfa in the rotation as part of the crops. It wouldn't be hard. Just use a no till seed drill in later years after the sod has been killed back by the mulch from previous years.
Something like this might be useful.
Dew Drop Drill
PS I am not sure if you are 100% organic or just mostly organic. I have already posted a couple vids you might be able to pull some ideas from though, if it helps.
Living Mulch Part 1 1:45 Helen either lets the "hay" decompose between rows as it gets mowed, or when needed to add to compost, grows it right beside the compost pile.
Innovative No-Till: Using Multi-Species Cover Crops to Improve Soil Health The farmers in this vid are both integrating animals and/or growing hay too. All as part of a rotation. Most are not completely organic, but are integrating organic methods into their farming. I talked to one of the farmers of this vid on the phone. He is almost completely 100% organic in the fields he started integrating these methods, and newer fields he is still gradually weaning outside chemical inputs. He grows his hay in between his other crops ie.. after one is harvested, but before the next is planted. He is also the only guy I ever saw, met, or read about, who already uses the technique of using a large cylindrical bale of hay and unrolling it for a thick mulch. He does it for potatoes. He simply puts the seed potatoes directly on top of the ground and rolls the hay bales over them. Finished till harvest.