Quick answer: Aim for a stand that is about 30–40% grass. A common seeding is 12–18 lb/acre of alfalfa with 3–8 lb/acre of a companion grass, but understand up front that your seeding ratio is a weak lever. University of Wisconsin trials found that changing the grass share of the seed mix from 15% to 75% barely moved grass emergence, because grasses germinate at cooler soil temperatures than alfalfa does — the weather at seeding decides your ratio more than the bag does. Expect the mix to shift by cutting and by year, not hold a number. The payoffs are real and consistently reported: faster drying, less leaf shatter, more tonnage, fewer insect problems, and bales that shed water better. The price you pay is weed control — once grass and alfalfa are growing together, almost no herbicide is safe on both.
Ask a room of hay growers whether to seed straight alfalfa or an alfalfa-grass mix and you will not get a shrug. Over the last fifteen years a large share of experienced producers have quietly moved their acres to mixes, and they will tell you exactly why. What they will also tell you — usually a few posts later, and usually with some exasperation — is that nobody hits the ratio they planned.
This guide covers what an alfalfa grass mix actually buys you, what seeding rates people really use, why your stand composition drifts, the herbicide corner you can paint yourself into, and what all of it means on the day you are mowing, raking, and wrapping bales.
Why growers switch from straight alfalfa to a mix
The reasons come up again and again, and they are not the ones a seed catalog leads with. Drying speed is usually first out of the gate. One Minnesota producer who converted his whole operation summed it up:
"With a mix it drys better,less leaf shatter,and the bales shed water better then straight alfalfa."
— swmnhay · HayTalk thread 83465
Three separate benefits in one sentence, and the third one — the bales shed water better — is the one that almost never appears in agronomy literature. A round bale with grass stems running through it turns rain better than a bale of pure alfalfa, which packs into a spongier, more absorbent mass. That matters directly if you store outside.
Research backs the drying claim rather than merely tolerating it. University of Wisconsin forage specialists list faster drying as a specific agronomic reason to add grass, and put a number on the sweet spot: a stand of 30 to 40% grass with alfalfa dries faster than either pure alfalfa or pure grass. Not faster than alfalfa — faster than both pure stands. That is a genuinely non-obvious result, and it explains why growers in humid regions with narrow weather windows keep landing on mixes.
The other benefits cluster around risk. Grass fills the low spots where alfalfa drowns, survives ice sheeting better, and gives the stand something to hold on with when alfalfa starts to thin. Several growers also report less heaving on ground prone to it, and noticeably less insect pressure. As one Tennessee producer put it after switching most of his acres:
"And if it is still a tick green and the Orchard grass is dry then you can still bale without any fear. And as mentioned, the dang insects are not nearly as bothersome."
— Vol · HayTalk thread 83465
Note what he is describing: the grass component acting as a moisture buffer that widens the window rather than narrowing it. That runs against the intuition that mixing two crops with different drying rates must make baling harder. In practice the grass holds the windrow up off the ground and lets air move through it, and cool-season grasses head little or not at all after first cutting, so later-cutting regrowth is mostly leaf that changes quality slowly over a week or more.
The market question, where the answer genuinely splits
Do not assume a mix sells for less. It depends entirely on where you are, and growers in the same discussion report opposite outcomes. From Indiana:
"Ditto here, I consistently get less for straight alfalfa at the auctions than I do a nice alfalfa/orchard grass mix."
— mlappin · HayTalk thread 23975
And, in the same thread, the exact reverse:
"Market here is totally different. $80/ton for grassy alfalfa. $130/ton clean alfalfa. Those prices are for rounds."
— treymo · HayTalk thread 23975
Both are right. Dairy-heavy regions and export channels pay for clean, high-relative-feed-value alfalfa and dock grass as a contaminant. Horse markets and general livestock markets in the eastern half of the country frequently pay a premium for a leafy alfalfa-orchardgrass mix and treat straight alfalfa as too rich for the animals they keep. Before you seed anything, price both in your market. This is a marketing decision at least as much as an agronomy decision.
Seeding rates people actually use
Published guidance increasingly asks you to seed by seeds per square foot rather than pounds per acre, because seed size varies enormously between species and even lots. University of Minnesota Extension recommends 60 to 75 seeds per square foot for alfalfa-grass mixtures, which should land you around 30–35 plants per square foot by the end of the seeding year.
In practice, growers still talk in pounds. Here is the range that comes up repeatedly, alongside what people report getting:
| Approach | Alfalfa | Grass | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alfalfa-dominant mix | 14–20 lb/ac | 3–4 lb/ac orchardgrass | Most common. Keeps weed pressure down in year one. |
| Balanced mix | 12–15 lb/ac | 6–8 lb/ac | Targets the 30–40% grass window more directly. |
| Grass-dominant / horse market | under 10 lb/ac | medium-to-high grass rate | Alfalfa dominates early otherwise; expect more weed risk. |
| Drilling grass into standing alfalfa | existing stand | 6–8 lb/ac | Late-summer window. See the herbicide section below — this is the strategic play. |
Seeding depth is where new stands are most often lost. The rule of thumb from growers who no-till alfalfa is blunt and better than any number:
"if you have to dig at all to find the seed, it's most likely too deep."
— mlappin · HayTalk thread 12082
If you are broadcasting or drilling into an existing stand, splitting the rate across two passes at an angle gives far more even coverage than one heavy pass. Our guide to thickening a thin hay field covers that technique in more detail, and establishing an alfalfa stand covers seedbed prep and fertility.
Why your ratio will not match your plan
This is the part that frustrates people, and it deserves a straight answer rather than another rate table. Growers describe the problem consistently. From one:
"What the ratio ends up being the first few years is really hard to say. Seems every field is a little differant, some you can tell the orchard grass is their, others it seems to take a few years for it to really show up well."
— mlappin · HayTalk thread 12082
And from another, answering a grower who specifically asked how to hit 60/40:
"As your stand ages the alf will be less and the orch more. the exact time that it will be 60/40 is a crap shoot."
— tom burlingham · HayTalk thread 12082
Research explains exactly why. In University of Wisconsin trials, orchardgrass, tall fescue and meadow fescue were each seeded with alfalfa across grass shares from 15% to 75% of the mix. Grass seeding rate had little effect on grass plant counts taken 30 to 40 days later: emergence ran about 23% at a 15:85 grass:alfalfa mix, 19% at 50:50, and 16% at 75:25. The researchers' conclusion is worth reading twice — the alfalfa-to-grass seeding rate has much less effect on the final stand than the environment the seed germinated in.
The mechanism is soil temperature. Those grasses begin germinating just above freezing, around 2–4 °C, while alfalfa wants roughly 5–7 °C to start. Optimum germination is about 15 °C for the grasses and about 25 °C for alfalfa. Seed into a cool, backward spring and grass takes the field; seed into a warm one and alfalfa runs away with it. You are not choosing your ratio so much as placing a bet on the weather.
Species matters too, and unequally. In the same trials, tall fescue and meadow fescue emerged at 26% and 24% respectively, while orchardgrass managed only 9%. That is the research explanation for the very common complaint that orchardgrass takes, in one grower's words, a few years for it to really show up well. It is not slow to grow so much as poor to emerge.
The ratio also changes every cutting
Even once established, there is no single number. One grower tracked his own field and reported it cutting by cutting:
"Have a field that was planted 4# orchard 18# alfalfa."
"1st cut is about 40-50% Orchard."
"2nd cut 15-25% Orchard"
"3rd cut 50-60% Orchard"
— swmnhay · HayTalk thread 12082
The same field swings from nearly half grass, down to a fifth, and back to more than half — inside one season. Orchardgrass is a cool-season grass that grows hard in spring and fall and goes quiet in midsummer heat, while alfalfa carries the hot months. Plan your marketing around that: your first and third cuttings are your grassy hay and your second cutting is your alfalfa hay, from the same field.
Species choice can make the swing far more extreme. If you seed alfalfa with timothy, be aware of what happens after first cut:
"Something the OP may want to keep in mind is an alfalfa/Timothy mix will be nearly pure alfalfa after first cutting since Timothy produces minimal regrowth."
— FarmerCline · HayTalk thread 64642
That is a real problem if you sold a customer on timothy-alfalfa in June and are delivering essentially straight alfalfa in August. Orchardgrass and the fescues regrow; timothy largely does not. See our orchardgrass guide and smooth brome guide for how each companion behaves through a season.
The herbicide squeeze — the real cost of a mix
Here is the trade-off nobody mentions until you are living it. In a pure alfalfa stand you can use grass herbicides. In a pure grass stand you can use broadleaf herbicides. In a mix, most of both categories will damage half your crop. A grower laid it out in 2009:
"a o/a stand has almost no herbicides available to take out summer weeds. We have been told that a better situation might be to plant alfalfa - spray the field for 2-4 years, as the stand thins, no till some orchardgrass in the field to get a nice o/a that is realitively weed free."
— Production Acres · HayTalk thread 12082
Nine years later, in a completely separate discussion, another grower arrived at the same strategy from his own experience:
"That mix dries and sells well. I am really liking notill rr alfalfa for a season or two and then 6-8 lb. orchard in the fall. I am finding mixed stands from the start difficult to keep weed free."
— SVFHAY · HayTalk thread 83465
Two growers, nine years apart, converging on the same answer is about as strong as informal evidence gets. Establish alfalfa clean first. Clean it up chemically while you still can. Then bring the grass in. With Roundup Ready alfalfa this is especially clean — you spray glyphosate to take the field down to bare alfalfa, then drill grass into it in late summer. Growers in these discussions consistently treat late August as the hard cutoff for that fall seeding, and report spring attempts failing when wet soils leave the seed trench open.
The obvious corollary: once the grass is in, Roundup Ready alfalfa loses its whole advantage, because glyphosate will take out the grass you just paid to establish. You are trading a chemistry tool for a stand composition. Go in knowing that.
For established mixes, herbicide options are narrow. Metribuzin is the product most commonly available for mixed grass-legume hay, and even it carries a real risk of injuring the grass component, particularly at the higher rates needed on tougher weeds. Oregon State's summary of weed control in grass/alfalfa mixed hay is a useful starting point, but herbicide labels and registrations change every year and vary by state. Always check the current label and your state extension guide before you spray, and see our weed control in hay fields guide for the cultural side.
What a mix means at the mower, rake and baler
Agronomy aside, a mixed stand behaves differently in the field, and a few adjustments are worth making deliberately.
Cut higher than you would for straight alfalfa
This is the single most important change and it is easy to get wrong. Alfalfa regrows from crown reserves, so it tolerates a low cut. Most cool-season grasses regrow from carbohydrate reserves stored in the base of the stem — cut those off and you have removed the fuel for regrowth. Leaving more stubble in a mixed stand protects the grass component and slows the drift back toward pure alfalfa. Smooth brome is particularly sensitive to low cutting.
Time the first cut to the grass, not just the alfalfa
Grass quality falls off a cliff once it heads. Alfalfa quality declines more gradually. On first cutting, the grass is usually the limiting partner, so let the grass maturity drive your timing. On later cuttings the grass mostly stays vegetative, which is exactly why the harvest window widens after first cut. Our guide on when to cut alfalfa covers the pure-stand timing to compare against.
Moisture is more forgiving, but check it anyway
The mix dries faster and growers report being able to bale with the alfalfa slightly green as long as the grass is dry. That is real, but it is not a licence to skip a moisture check. Grass and alfalfa stems can be at different moistures in the same windrow, and a bale that averages fine can still hold a wet pocket that heats. Test more than one spot in the windrow, not just the fluffy top. See baling moisture for net-wrapped bales and our moisture tester guide.
Net wrap and storage
Two practical notes. First, mixed hay generally makes a firmer, better-shaped bale than pure alfalfa, which helps the wrap stay put and helps the bale hold its shape in the stack. Second — and this is the grower observation from the top of this article — a mixed bale genuinely sheds water better outdoors, because grass stems give the surface something closer to thatch. If you store outside, that difference compounds over a winter. Both effects depend on the bale being covered edge to edge, which is what full-width bale net wrap is built to do — a firm mixed bale under short or frayed net still weathers at the shoulders. Our guides on outdoor net-wrapped bale storage and round baling alfalfa cover the rest.
Fertility shifts once grass is in the stand
Pure alfalfa fixes its own nitrogen. A mixed stand at 30–40% grass is roughly the point where legume fixation can still meet the grass component's needs — go much grassier and the grass will start responding to applied nitrogen, and the more nitrogen you apply the more the grass will push the alfalfa out. Nitrogen is a lever that moves your ratio, so use it knowing which direction it pulls. Potassium demand also rises with tonnage; see fertilizing hay fields. Grasses also tolerate wheel traffic better than alfalfa, which makes mixed stands a much better fit if you apply manure or poultry litter between cuttings.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best alfalfa to grass ratio for hay?
Around 30 to 40 percent grass is the widely recommended target. In that range, nitrogen fixed by the alfalfa can still meet the grass component's needs, fiber content stays acceptable for most markets, and the stand dries faster than either pure alfalfa or pure grass.
How many pounds of orchardgrass do I plant with alfalfa?
Common rates run 3 to 8 pounds per acre of orchardgrass with 12 to 20 pounds of alfalfa. Lighter grass rates suit an alfalfa-dominant hay; heavier rates suit horse markets. Expect wide variation in the result, since research shows seeding ratio has far less influence on final stand than germination conditions.
Why is there so little orchardgrass in my new seeding?
Orchardgrass emerges poorly compared with the fescues. University of Wisconsin trials measured about 9 percent emergence for orchardgrass versus 26 percent for tall fescue and 24 percent for meadow fescue. It also establishes slowly, so a stand can look nearly pure alfalfa in year one and shift substantially by year two or three.
Can I spray a mixed alfalfa-grass hay field for weeds?
Options are limited, which is the main drawback of mixed stands. Broadleaf herbicides that are safe on grass injure alfalfa and grass herbicides injure the grass component. Metribuzin is the product most commonly labeled for mixed stands, and it can still damage grass. Check the current label and your state extension guide before applying anything.
Does an alfalfa-grass mix dry faster than straight alfalfa?
Yes. University of Wisconsin forage specialists list faster drying as a specific reason to add grass, and report that a stand of 30 to 40 percent grass dries faster than either pure alfalfa or pure grass. Growers consistently report the same, along with less leaf shatter during raking and baling.
Should I seed alfalfa and grass together or add grass later?
Many experienced growers seed alfalfa alone first, control weeds chemically for one to a few seasons, then drill grass in during late summer as the alfalfa thins. This gets you a clean stand and a mix, in that order. Seeding both together works but leaves you with almost no herbicide options from day one.
The bottom line
An alfalfa grass mix is not a compromise crop. For most growers outside the premium dairy and export channels it is the better agronomic choice: it dries faster, shatters less leaf, yields more total tonnage, suffers less insect and winter damage, tolerates traffic, and makes a bale that sheds water better in the stack. Target 30–40% grass, cut higher than you would pure alfalfa, and let grass maturity set your first-cut timing.
What you must go in clear-eyed about is the chemistry. Once grass and alfalfa share a field, your weed control options shrink to almost nothing, so establish the alfalfa clean first and add grass in late summer once the field is clean. And stop chasing an exact ratio — the research is unambiguous that seeding rate is a weak lever compared with germination weather, and your stand will read differently in first cut, second cut, and third cut anyway. Manage the stand you have rather than the one on the seed tag.
Forum quotes are reproduced verbatim with attribution and linked to their source threads; follow the links to read the originals. Herbicide registrations and labels change annually and vary by state — always read the current label and consult your state extension service before applying any product.
Featured photo: Alfalfa field by Alan Hunt, licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
