From MARCH, 1950 Issue of Farm Journal 
Photos: J. H. Staby 
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Tretoll .. «Ame tat lant 
BY RALPH D. WENNBLOM 
OME 30 years ago an Ohio farmer 
planted seeds of a “new legume” 
in one corner of his alfalfa field. 
Today that legume—birdsfoot tre- 
foil—is still going strong; in fact, it 
has spread over the entire field. Sounds 
almost like a weed, doesn’t it? Actually, 
trefoil is a high-protein legume with 
about the same feeding value as alfalfa. 
It has become popular in many 
parts of the country. If you don’t know 
much about it, you’d better read on. 
What farmers really like about 
birdsfoot is the way it grows and re- 
seeds on “problem” soils, where alfalfa 
and clovers fizzle out; and on slopes too 
steep for plowing. 
Its deep, spreading roots can stand 
quite a bit of hot, dry weather. It 
doesn’t make as much early spring 
growth as most legumes, but it makes 
up for that during July and August. 
Of course, birdsfoot has some weak- 
nesses. It’s a slow Starter; takes two or 
three years to get going. That means 
that it isn’t a legume for crop rotations. 
Its place is in permanent pastures. Also, 
seed is scarce and rather expensive. 
Trefoil’s stems are small and rather 
weak. That’s why you'll want to plant 
it with a grass to help support it. Brome 
works fairly well, except that it some- 
times offers too much competition. 
Bluegrass and birdsfoot get along 
famously. Farmers in Iowa, New York, 
Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Indiana report 
that once started in a bluegrass pasture 
you can count on trefoil to keep coming 
for a long, long time. 
In April, 1942, Iowa State College 
seeded trefoil in a worn-out pasture. The 
bluegrass was on its last legs; the soil 
was thin and beginning to erode. 
Since then, cattle have kept it eaten 
as close as they could bite it off—from 
early spring until the ground froze. The 
birdsfoot has spread and thickened. 
Such over-grazing isn’t recom- 
mended. But this experiment, as well as 
the experiences of more than 200 Iowa 
Here’s the kind of pasture cows dream about. 
As feed, birdsfoot trefoil is just as good as alfalfa 
and red clover. In pastures, it'll take a lot of heat, 
heavy grazing; has never caused a case of bloat. 
farmers, have convinced them that tre- 
foil can stand a lot of abuse. 
Cattle like trefoil and make good 
gains. In tests last year at Indiana’s 
Purdue Experiment Station a fertilized 
trefoil-bluegrass mixture produced 334 
pounds of beef per acre. A nearby blue- 
grass pasture, also fertilized, managed 
to produce only 221 pounds per acre. 
Best time for seeding, according 
to the Iowa folks, is early spring—about 
the time you seed alfalfa. Tear up the 
bluegrass as though you were fitting it 
for a crop of corn. Broadcast 4 to 5 
pounds of seed per acre, then follow 
with a cultipacker. Be careful to get the 
trefoil seeded shallow. Inoculate with a 
special trefoil strain of bacteria. 
Indiana has been trying late winter 
seedings. They prepare the seedbed in 
the fall, and broadcast the seed in Feb- 
ruary before the frost goes out. 
There are two types of birdsfoot 
trefoil—broad-leaf and narrow-leaf. The 
broad-leaf seems to be the only one 
suited to Iowa conditions. Both types 
grow well in New York. In the Pacific 
Northwest, a strain of narrow-leaf seems 
best for heavy, wet soils. 
Another kind — “big trefoil’? — 
spreads from underground runners, and 
is best on wet, light soils in the Pacific 
Northwest and parts of the Southeast. 
It isn’t as winter-hardy as birdsfoot. 
While both trefoils will grow on 
poor soils, they do best when properly 
fed with lime and phosphorus; how 
much depending on the soil. 
Birdsfoot hasn’t done too well in 
the northern part of the Corn Belt. 
South Dakota, Minnesota, and Wiscon- 
sin have had trouble getting stands. 
States farther south aren’t recommend- 
ing it for land that will produce good 
crops of alfalfa and clovers. As a per- 
manent pasture legume, however, they 
feel it’s “worth a try.” 
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