Growing lucerne (Medicago sativa L.) for fresh feeding and hay

Lucerna (Medicago sativa L.) je z beljakovinami bogata metuljnica, kar jo dela zanimivo za pridelavo na kmetijah usmerjenih v prirejo mleka. V luči vse resnejših podnebnih sprememb se lucerna kaže kot ena izmed ključnih poljščin, s katerimi bomo lahko kakovostno voluminozno krmo pripravljali tudi v prihodnje, kljub manjšim količinam padavin, ki jih lahko predvidevamo. Cenjena je na kmetijah, ki pridelujejo seneno mleko in meso, vendar težavo na teh kmetijah predstavlja konzerviranje. Zaradi velikih izgub pri sušenju na tleh lucerno največkrat sušimo v sušilnicah za seno. Ena izmed možnosti je tudi krmljenje prilasta, to je svežega odkosa v hlevu. Na ta način vedno večje črede živine pripeljemo v hlev, vendar se izognemo fermentirani krmi oziroma silaži. Postopek nam v Sloveniji sicer ni tuj, nimamo pa tradicije sveže krme na velikih kmetijah in farmah. Diplomsko delo je nastalo zaradi zanimanja o možnostih konzerviranja lucerne, ki se je v letošnji suši izkazala za pravo odločitev tudi na naši kmetiji, ki je usmerjena v prirejo senenega mleka.Lucerne (Medicago sativa L.) is protein rich legume, which makes it interesting for cultivation on farms focused on milk production. In the light of climate changes, lucerne or alfalfa appears to be one of the key crops with which we will be able to prepare high-quality, voluminous feed in the future, despite the smaller amounts of precipitation that we can foresee. It is valued on farms that produce hay milk and meat, but hay making is a problem on these farms. Due to large losses when drying on the ground, alfalfa is mostly dried on hay dryers. One of the options is also so called zero grazing, also reffered to as cut and carry. In this way, the increasing herds of livestock are brought to the barn, but fermented feed or silage is avoided. The process is not foreign to us in Slovenia, but we do not have a tradition of fresh feed on large farms. The thesis was born out of an interest in the possibilities of making hay from alfalfa, which in this year\u27s drought turned out to be the right decision even on our farm, which is focused on hay milk production