Many farmers neglect to calibrate their alfalfa seeder as they begin seeding in the spring.
In doing so they are failing to take into account differences in seed size and may be seeding at higher rates than necessary. Over several years Gary Vondracheck collected information on seeding rate of different varieties through farmers seeders left at the same setting. The results are showin in the following tables which each column heading indication the location of the farm and type of seeder used. The results show that large differences in seeding rate can occur when a seeder is not calibrated with each new lot of seed. In addition to seeding rate differences seed lots also vary in seed size from 190,000 to 230,000 seeds per pound.