01/13/2026
Some good food for thought! (And the deer too!)
INTERESTING ALFALFA TIDBITS FROM (AND AGAINST) THE EXPERTS...
Passing along a few pieces of helpful information from the experts for anybody considering alfalfa for their property.

1. According to Whitetail farmers and wildlife nutritionists, alfalfa is safe for supplemental feeding purposes of whitetails in the winter. No hot gut issues.
2. Deer will pick through the bale for the most nutritious parts of the plants, just like they do when they are naturally browsing. You're going to have some waste to clean up in the spring.
3. Use the waste for bedding where you don't want woody vegetation to grow back--a spot that you actually want them to lay down in cover (swamp, clearcut, etc).
4. Leave a bit of netting on the top like a headband for a while so they have to work for it down low. The bale won't fall apart quite so quickly. 
5. If you have the equipment, move the bale every so often so predators have a tougher time working out the travel patterns of the deer herd.
6. Put out multiple bales so predators can't fixate on one spot, and you reduce the drama between the mamas. 
7. Check frequently for shed antlers at the bale and along the trails leading to the bale.
8. Alfalfa bales are the cheapest way to provide supplemental feed for deer. Pure alfalfa from cuts two, three, or four, not treated with propionic acid are best.
9. Check local regulations. For future planning in CWD government overreach areas, grow alfalfa on your property so bales left out are normal farming practices. 
10. If you're going to provide supplemental feed, especially up north where winter is a four or five month affair, start early and don't stop until green up. 
11. Alfalfa is not consumed by other animals like other feed options. You're not going to lose it to raccoons or bears or skunks or birds or squirrels.
12. There will be plenty of experts eager to tell you about research that says whitetails don't need us to survive, leave em alone they been here forever, blah blah blah. Those folks usually fall into two categories. First, the group that doesn't do much to invest in their deer herds or properties. Second, the group fear mongering about CWD to the extent of supporting the ineffective practice of mass killing of localized herds so deer don't MAYBE die of CWD. Track that logic! In Minnesota, we had two straight severe winters that wiped out a massive number of the bucks we had passed along to the next age class. On many properties, that resulted in two straight seasons of building the age class back with no studs to hunt. Never again will I let winter be such a major wildcard on the properties I manage. We invest too much time and dime to let survival be a happy accident. Feed 'em, or get out the saw.
