What is alfalfa used for?

[sevensages]

In the documentary Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson, the narrator says that after the boxer Jim Jeffries retired from boxing, he started an alfalfa farm in California. Before I saw the documentary Unforgivable Blackness, I knew that alfalfa was a type of grass or a type of plant, but I didn't know that anyone deliberately grew alfalfa on farms. I don't think that humans ever eat alfalfa. What is alfalfa used for?

 

[fresh_42]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfalfa#Cultivation

Agriculture
Alfalfa is cultivated worldwide as livestock feed and also as a food crop (sprouts). Very often, if not predominantly, the plants grown in Central Europe are not the pure species *Medicago sativa*, but rather hybrid alfalfa (*Medicago × varia*).
History of Cultivation
Alfalfa was already an important fodder crop for horses in Persia. According to tradition, it was brought to Greece around 470 BC. From there, it arrived in Italy around 150–50 BC, where it was used as fodder for sheep. At the beginning of the 16th century AD, Spanish colonial rulers brought alfalfa to the Americas, primarily to Mexico and Peru.
...

Source: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luzerne#Landwirtschaft

Compared to hay, alfalfa provides more protein and calcium to the ration and is therefore a valuable addition to the basic feed as well as a fiber-rich substitute for concentrated feed.

Source: https://www.dr-maroske.de/luzerne-die-koenigin-unter-den-futterpflanzen/

Alfalfa sprouts: A crunchy boost for vegans​

Alfalfa sprouts: Little nutrient powerhouses for plant-based cooking
Imagine sprinkling a handful of healthy ingredients into your meals. That's exactly what alfalfa sprouts are! These little green wonders are not only a treat for vegans and vegetarians, but also add a fresh touch to any salad or smoothie.

Source: https://samen.de/blog/alfalfa-keimsprossen-knackiger-kick-fuer-veganer.html

 

[sevensages]

fresh_42's source says that alfalfa is used as feed for livestock, and fresh_42's source also says that alfalfa was used to feed sheep in antiquity. What livestock is alfalfa used to feed in the 20th century and 21st century?

 

[fresh_42]

fresh_42's source says that alfalfa is used as feed for livestock, and fresh_42's source also says that alfalfa was used to feed sheep in antiquity. What livestock is alfalfa used to feed in the 20th century and 21st century?

Cattle and horses.

 

[sevensages]

Cattle and horses.

Okay thank you

 

[fresh_42]

I have seen on TV that some people tried using it as a meat substitute, but I haven't dug deeper.

 

[Bystander]

Cattle and horses.

, and poultry, and fish, and ....

 

[jbriggs444]

As a legume and a non-grass, rotation of fields into alfalfa can be helpful for fertility and for anti-pest purposes.

Also, pet rabbits and such can be fed alfalfa pellets.

 

[Baluncore]

Alfalfa, AKA lucerne outside the USA, is a perennial, nitrogen-fixing, fodder crop. It is not over-grazed directly, but each area is mechanically trimmed and collected, maybe three times each year. Only part of the field is harvested each time, so a continuous supply of crushed chaff or bales is available year round.
Alfalfa is a rich source of protein, so is blended with grass hay and used to feed and fatten valuable stock, including horses.

 

[Bystander]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laminitis

Alfalfa, AKA lucerne outside the USA, is a perennial, nitrogen-fixing, fodder crop. It is not over-grazed directly, but each area is mechanically trimmed and collected, maybe three times each year. Only part of the field is harvested each time, so a continuous supply of crushed chaff or bales is available year round.
Alfalfa is a rich source of protein, so is blended with grass hay and used to feed and fatten valuable stock, including horses.

carefully, please.

 

[Baluncore]

carefully, please.

You are being a bit cryptic. Are you suggesting that overfeeding will lead to overweight animals, resulting in laminitis?

Lucerne here is expensive, so it is really only used to restore horses and lambs from poor condition, during and following drought. I have hand fed lucerne to ewes and lambs that could not lift their nose off the ground, it put a real spin in their tails.

 

[Bystander]

You are being a bit cryptic. Are you suggesting that overfeeding will lead to overweight animals, resulting in laminitis?

Fifty/sixty years ago "they said"/the story was that "foundering" was the result of a "too rich" diet; admittedly I've never heard of cattle/sheep/horses breaking down fences around hay/alfalfa fields, but at the same time why fence off fodder/forage?

 

[Baluncore]

... but at the same time why fence off fodder/forage?

Because the perennial plants are most productive, and can generate the maximum fodder, when they are repeatedly harvested mechanically, so are not overgrazed or trampled by stock.

 

[Klystron]

There are several literary references using alfalfa (and lucerne) including lead character Alfalfa in comedy series "Our Gang". Alfalfa represents an unworldly, naive, almost inept, rural character often the bane of his more sophisticated cohort.

 

[Mark44]

The plant name "alfalfa" is derived from the identical Spanish, word or possibly "alfalfez," which in turn come from an Arabic dialect, "al-faṣfaṣa". At one time I read that this translated to "king of grasses," but this wikipedia article defines it as "fresh fodder."

BTW, many of the words in English that begin with "al-" are also derived from Arabic; E.g., alcohol, almanac, albatross, alchemy, alcove, algebra, alkali, and a few others.

I've known of the word "lucerne" for a long time, as it's the name of a city in Switzerland, but I had no idea that this was another name for alfalfa.

 

[fresh_42]

The plant is called Luzerne in German, and lucerne in English English. The town (and Kanton) is called Luzern (also German) from Latin ad monasterium Lucernense. The origin is uncertain, possibly from the Latin word lucerna (meaning "light").

alfalfa(n.)
common name in North America for "lucerne," a plant in the legume family important as a forage crop, 1845, from Spanish alfalfa, earlier alfalfez, said by Iberian sources to be from Arabic al-fisfisa "fresh fodder." Watkins says it is ultimately from an Old Iranian compound *aspa-sti- "alfalfa, clover," from *aspa- "horse" (from PIE root *ekwo- "horse") + -sti- "food," from suffixed form of PIE root *ed- "to eat."

lucern(adj.)
"pertaining to the lynx," 1530s, from German lüchsern, from luchs "lynx" (see lynx), or else from Old French loucerve (see serval).

https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=lucerne

 

[Averagesupernova]

....but at the same time why fence off fodder/forage?

Because too much green alfalfa will cause cattle to bloat.

 

[Ouabache]

I knew that alfalfa was a type of grass or a type of plant, but I didn't know that anyone deliberately grew alfalfa on farms. I don't think that humans ever eat alfalfa. What is alfalfa used for?

Alfalfa is a hay crop used in animal feed. It's a legume and not a grass and has root nodules supporting bacteria that will fix nitrogen (taking atmospheric nitrogen and converting it to an organic form available to plants). If you look at their flowers they should remind you of pea (Pisum sativum). If you happen to drive by an alfalfa field and break off a piece of alfalfa from the top of a plant. Crush it in your hands, it has what I would describe as a distinctive sweet chlorophyll scent.

 

[Baluncore]

I don't think that humans ever eat alfalfa.

ALFALFA Sprouts are highly nutritious and rich in vitamins B1, B2, C, E, K, D and especially vitamin A; minerals such as phosphorus, calcium (five times more than milk), magnesium, iron, potassium, sulphur, zinc; and a good quantity of protein (35%) and fibre.

 

[jtbell]

When I saw "alfalfa", I thought of this guy from the "Our Gang" short-subject movies that were a staple of Saturday-morning TV when I was a kid c. 1960:

Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer

Until I read the linked Wikipedia article, I didn't know (or had forgotten) that he died about that time from a gun homicide.