Sanfoins Future in Wyoming :: Sanfoin Wyoming Farming Environment Essays

Sanfoins Future in Wyoming esparcet, Onobrychis viciifolia is a perennial chivalricure soil legume that is native to Mediterranean regions around the Black and Caspain Seas and north into Russia. esparcet leaves are oddly pinnate with 13-21 snaplets per leaf and produce an erect skin rash pink to rose in color. holy clover has been introduced into many other countries including Iran, Turkey, Greece, Yugoslavia, Italy, Bulgaria, Spain, Switzerland, Germany, Soviet Union, Poland, Norway and the unify Kingdom. It is known that sainfoin has been grown in Europe for the past 450 years. New varieties of sainfoin such as Eski, Remont, Renumex, Melrose, and Nova have been developed and introduced into the United States and Canada starting in the 1950s. (Gray, 2004, p. 2)sainfoin is a non-bloating legume that has nitrogen neutering capabilities and can be used in a forage mixture. Sainfoin also is extremely palatable and nutritious for all classes of line and wildlife. lineage actua lly prefer sainfoin even when other plants species are promptly available. Other uses include wildlife habitat restoration, wildlife food plots or as a legume component in the conservation reserve program (CRP). Sainfoin is often compared to lucerne based on its nitrogen fixation, forage capabilities, and nutritionary value. The main advantages of sainfoin are the introductory maturation rate, non-bloating qualities, resistance to the lucerne weevil and higher digestible nutrients when compared to alfalfa. other important advantage over alfalfa is that sainfoin is resistant to the root rot phase. The earlier maturation allows for earlier spring forage for grazing and hay cutting which is beneficial to livestock operations (Gray, 2004, p. 2).Sainfoin is primarily used as a hay or pasture crop and has many characteristics beneficial to farming and ranch operations in the western states such as Wyoming, North and reciprocal ohm Dakota, Montana and New Mexico where annual precipit ation in generally low. Sainfoin is very drought resistant and does better in cold soils than alfalfa (Stannard, M). It is also shown that sainfoin thrives in soils with a pH 7.0 to 8.0 that are excessively dry for clover and alfalfa. Sainfoin is longer lived in dryland applications opposed to irrigated land but generally needs re-seeding every five to six years. Another interesting positive side-affect about sainfoin is the relationship it shares with honey and leaf cutting bees. The whopping pink flower attracts these insects and on top of producing large amounts of high quality honey, the sainfoin showed increased seed production when the bees were present.