A Guide to Higher-Quality Alfalfa for Stronger Dairy Performance

A Guide to Higher-Quality Alfalfa for Stronger Dairy Performance

Alfalfa is one of the highest-value forage crops grown across North America, serving as the nutritional foundation for many dairy and livestock operations. Because every cutting contributes to both yield and forage quality, maintaining healthy plants throughout the season is essential to maximizing performance.

Throughout the growing season, alfalfa growers face a range of challenges that can weaken plant health, limit regrowth, and reduce feed value. From environmental stress and foliar diseases to the demands of multiple cuttings, maintaining high-yielding alfalfa requires a proactive approach to protecting crop quality and tonnage.

A proactive foliar fungicide program can help protect plant performance throughout the season. With Vive Crop Protection’s foliar fungicide solutions, growers have flexible tools that maximize performance and support healthy plants from one cutting to the next.

Why leaf health matters

Leaves are the gas tank/fuel of the alfalfa plant, driving photosynthesis and producing the energy needed for regrowth after every cutting.

When foliar diseases reduce healthy leaf area or cause premature leaf drop, the plant's ability to capture sunlight and produce energy declines. This can delay regrowth, reduce standability, and lower forage yield. Because leaves contain the highest concentration of protein and digestible nutrients, leaf loss also reduces forage quality and the feed value dairy operations rely on.

Season-long challenges in alfalfa production

Every cutting places stress on the plant as it draws from root reserves to regenerate new growth. Throughout the season, those repeated cycles of harvest, regrowth, and environmental stress can gradually reduce stand productivity.

Some of the biggest challenges alfalfa growers face include:

• Foliar diseases that reduce photosynthetic leaf area
• Heat and drought stress
• Reduced regrowth following cuttings
• Premature leaf loss that lowers forage quality
• Declining stand vigor over multiple cuttings

Identifying common foliar diseases

Fungal diseases can significantly reduce alfalfa productivity, particularly during periods of warm temperatures, high humidity, and extended leaf wetness:

• Common leaf spot: One of the most widespread diseases in alfalfa, common leaf spot first appears as small, circular, dark brown to black spots on the upper leaf surface. As lesions mature, the centers often become light tan to gray while retaining a darker border.
• Stemphylium leaf spot: Start as small, light brown lesions that quickly enlarge into oval or irregular spots with dark brown to purple margins. Under favorable conditions, lesions may merge, causing large areas of dead leaf tissue and significant defoliation.
• Lepto leaf spot: Identifiable by small, tan to light brown spots with distinct dark purple or reddish-brown borders. Tiny black fungal fruiting bodies (pycnidia) may become visible within older lesions. As infections increase, lesions can coalesce, leading to premature leaf yellowing and leaf loss.
• Downy mildew: Causes light green or yellowish blotches on upper leaf surfaces and a distinctive pale purple to white fungal growth on the underside of the leaf. Severely infected plants may become stunted, with leaves curling or dropping prematurely.

Regular scouting and timely fungicide applications are important tools for minimizing disease impact before significant yield losses occur.

Support stronger alfalfa with a foliar fungicide program

Effective disease management starts before symptoms become prevalent. Regular scouting, monitoring weather conditions, and making timely foliar fungicide applications can help minimize disease development, protect plant health, and maximize yield and forage quality across multiple cuttings.

AZteroid® FC 3.3 / AZteroid® Pro delivers broad-spectrum, long-lasting disease control and stronger early-season vigor.

• Maximize farming efficiency through seamless mixability, enabling a single-pass application of disease control and fertility.
• They won’t clog nozzles or lines, and the solution stays mixed, even with application delays or freezing temperatures.

“I produced the record tonnage I’ve ever produced in my life in the San Luis Valley on the worst year on record”

– Chay Yund, CO Alfalfa Grower

For growers looking to improve standability, maximize plant vigor, and maintain greener plants, AZterknot® provides excellent control of major foliar diseases.

• This dual-mode-of-action fungicide helps boost plant performance, activates the plant’s natural defenses, and strengthens cell walls to reduce the impact of stress from droughts, heat, and other environmental factors, for the ultimate return in marketable yield.
• Plus, droplets spread flat and stick evenly across the leaf surface, reducing product runoff and providing uniform, reliable foliar coverage.

“We’re seeing higher protein, higher digestibility, less stock, more leaf. Overall, the plants seem to be a little bit bushier. Just healthier than they had in the past.”

– David Randall, NY Corn and Alfalfa Grower

“The real benefit we’ve seen is in the quality level. Anytime we’re having high moisture or any kind of wetter conditions than normal, AZterknot has made a big difference.”

– Matt Whitaker, Oregon Alfalfa Grower

AZterknot® boosts plant growth in alfalfa, increasing regrowth, leaf mass, and creating a greener, healthier crop.

Recommended Application Timing and Rates

Pro Tip! Apply either fungicide after the final cutting to help protect the stand through winter and support stronger regrowth the following season.

Conclusion

Healthy alfalfa doesn’t just produce more forage; it produces better forage.

Vive Crop Protection's easy-to-use fungicide portfolio is designed to help protect alfalfa yield potential while supporting the healthy leaf function that drives starch production, forage quality, and overall tonnage, cutting after cutting. The result is more consistent, higher-value feed that helps support milk production and greater profitability for dairy operations.

Learn more about Vive’s full product lineup: https://www.vivecrop.com/products