Soil

Old Ranching Heritage Meets New Tech

Thu, 04 Dec 2025 16:30:46 GMT

In Kingsville, Texas, near the Mexico border, the only thing thicker than the accents is the ranching culture.

Natives call it the birthplace of American ranching.

“This is where European immigrants from Scotland, England and Ireland combined with a lot of the native peoples and the Spanish-descended settlers,” says James Clement.

Kingsville is his home, and he knows that heritage well.

“This is where the Catholic mission system and the Western European farming systems collided to create what is known as ranching,” he says.

Much of today’s ranching terminology and practices originated in this South Texas region, and Clement is quick to note that the tradition endures.

“You still see a lot of commitment by the people that own land in this part of the world to maintain large-scale ranches,” he says. “We call this region the last great habitat.”

With his well-worn and scuffed cowboy hat, Clement not only has ranching culture in his heart, it flows through his veins.

At the King Ranch Museum in downtown Kingsville, Clement traces his family’s lineage on a massive, framed portrait that hangs above a stone fireplace. Capt. Richard King and his wife, Henrietta, were Clement’s triple-great-grandparents. His family has all matriculated from the famed King Ranch, a major corporation of modern ranching that has expanded to include farming, luxury retail, recreational hunting and more.

Land of His Own

Though Clement maintains ties to King Ranch, he also now manages his own operation, Bloody Buckets Cattle Co., a ranch deeply steeped in family tradition.

“Our Clement family has been in American military service since the War of 1812, beginning with Sgt. Maj. Kay Clement and his son, Gen. John Clement,” he says. “Four of those generations (from 1812 to 1945), served in the 28^th Division of Pennsylvania.”

During World War II, Clement’s grandfather, Capt. James “Jim” Clement, fought with the division dubbed the Bloody Buckets Division by German forces due to its red keystone insignia

“My grandfather wore the bloody buckets patch on his left shoulder, and we still brand our cattle on the left hip with a brand that is modeled after that patch,” he says.

Bloody Buckets Cattle Co. uses King Ranch American Red genetics. All wear the Bloody Buckets brand on their left hip to pay homage to the ranch’s founder and the family’s military service record.

(Angie Stump Denton)

His grandfather, wounded in France, returned to South Texas as the recipient of a Purple Heart Medal and began a long career with King Ranch, ultimately serving as CEO from 1974 to 1988.

While living in South Texas, he founded Los Hermanos Ranch in 1967, which Clement now operates under the Bloody Buckets Cattle Co. brand. In the 1970s, his father, James “Jamey” Clement Jr., and his uncle, Martin “Martín” Clement II, assumed ownership and day-to-day responsibilities for Los Hermanos. Together, all three men shaped the ranch’s history while each spent his full-time career working for King Ranch.

Clement and his family have been exposed to 400 years of ranching in three operations. Clement’s mother came from the historic Beggs Cattle Company, established in 1876. They, along with their partners, have put that knowledge together and found a way to manage their land and cattle.

“We used the lessons learned from Beggs, King, the experience of our partners and the King Ranch Institute of paying attention to the land, natural resources and wildlife,” he says.

“As we were continuing to grow our operation, we were seeing that we were surviving droughts better, our wildlife quality and quantity was increasing, our water retention was improving and our business lines were growing,” he adds.

A New Approach

Now supporting those heritage practices on-ranch is a host of ag tech advancements. Certainly, they were not seen on his grandfather’s ranch, but Clement knows they are the way of the future, making practices more efficient and easier to accomplish with less labor and fewer man-hours.

He uses Ranchbot Monitoring Systems to keep an eye on his watering systems. Frontiers Market Artificial Intelligence gathers animal health data. On-vehicle cameras are helping to map his land and resources through Enriched Ag.

But his greatest passion lies below the surface in soil carbon capture, so much so that he works as senior vice president and general manager of grass and rangeland for EarthOptics , a company that uses the study of soil biology to predict agronomic outcomes and measure soil carbon. In the role, he helps landowners measure and monetize soil carbon through data-driven insights.

For Clement, it’s a business model that he likens to one he knows well.

“Using an oil and gas analogy, EarthOptics is the drilling company; other people sell the crude (soil carbon in this sense), but we find it.” he says. “What we’re trying to do is help people make more efficient decisions on their land, reduce cost and then potentially also look at additional cash flow streams through the sale of carbon credits.”

Clement calls himself “bullish on carbon” for one particular reason.

“This is really the first opportunity in ranching — first of the growing ecosystem markets — where large companies are paying people to make good stewardship decisions,” he says. “Historically, how did you judge other ranches against each other? Who was selling the most cattle for the most money, selling the most expensive hunts or had the most pump jacks? Now we can pay for taking care of the land and making long-term decisions.”

EarthOptics not only finds a way to quantify and qualify good land and soil stewardship, they validate the data in such a way that farmers and ranchers can capitalize on them.

“We’re at the crossroads of the industry,” Clement says. “EarthOptics is not selling the credits. We’re just advising the ranchers on how to partake in these markets and then also making the introductions and building the industry.”

In November, Bloody Buckets Cattle Company hosted the final 2025 stop in the Trust In Beef Sustainable Ranchers Tour. Owner James Clement III used the event to share the importance his operation places on heritage land stewardship and ag tech advancements for profitability.

(Trust In Beef)

New Land Equals an Accelerated Approach

Clement is broadening the scope of Bloody Buckets Cattle Co., buying additional land and leasing land with his partners, “Poncho” Ortega Sr. and “Poncho” Ortega Jr. They are currently ranching on six ranches in four different South Texas counties. Acquiring new ranches and leases means the work on some of the new land is just beginning.

“On the west side, we acquired some ranches in the last 20 years that had previously been farmed,” he says. “We spend most of our time and resources in the pastures with the worst conditions to build back soil health.”

By applying the same technology he’s helped develop and test elsewhere, Clement is accelerating the restoration process. Their ranching operation has become a testing ground for many of the new ag tech companies in the industry, seeing if these concepts can work in rough country and be beneficial to the operation.

“We’re on a mission to get each of these newer owned or leased properties back in better shape,” he says. “As we expand, we want to make sure that acre is productive.”

Trust In Beef™ works to secure the future of American ranching by providing the information ranchers need to make the decisions that impact the resiliency, profitability and resource management of their working lands. Learn more about Trust In Beef and their Sustainable Ranchers Tour by visiting www.trustinbeef.com

Your Next Read: Ranchers Make Tough Decisions to Weather Intense Southwest Drought

4 Ways to Boost Profitability Through Soil Health

Wed, 03 Dec 2025 13:25:46 GMT

In ranching, there are no easy buttons — certainly none exist to achieve overall profitability — but there may be one factor that can come close.

Adaptive grazing practices on ranch, which means using forage observations to determine the best time to move cattle, can be a key that unlocks higher productivity.

“Adaptive grazing to accomplish better grazing distribution across the ranch will almost always result in higher plant productivity, higher carrying capacity and higher profits,” says Josh Gaskamp, associate director of outreach and partnerships for Noble Research Institute.

Gaskamp has seen the practice in action on Noble’s ranches.

“On Noble’s ranches, bare ground averaged 13% in 2019 and is close to zero now,” he says. “We got 13% of a ranch for free, and now it is productive for our livestock.”

He adds: “It’s not always about finding the best forage, the best livestock or the best market; management for soil health does pay.”

Gaskamp says healthy soils can boost bottom-line productivity and profitability. He encourages producers to consider these tips and how some simple moves can translate to cost benefits on the ranch:

1. More Grass = More Cows + Less Feed Cost

Overgrazing, either through continuous grazing or not achieving full pasture recovery between grazing events, can limit a plant’s ability to grow.

“The ultimate result is less grass,” Gaskamp says. “When a rancher more closely follows the full potential of their forages’ growth across the growing season by implementing timely, intentional grazing, they not only put more of that grass in the cow, but they also grow more grass.”

It’s not hard to follow the direct line between more grass and more cows.

“Growing more grass means improving the carrying capacity of the ranch, and that means more money,” he says.

The significant savings, according to Gaskamp, comes in avoiding substitution feeding costs — feeding hay in times of the year when forage would normally be available. Improving your pastures’ ability to grow grass limits the amount of feed you purchase out of pocket.

2. More Ground = More Cows + Less Maintenance

Better-performing forage can be the key to gaining more “ground” on a ranch, but making the most of marginalized areas can boost productivity as well.

Certainly there are areas where cattle simply don’t want to be. Gaskamp says that adaptive grazing can be the investment those areas need to flip them to optimization.

“Underperforming areas of the ranch can often be improved by bringing livestock, nutrients, organic matter and proper recovery times to them,” he says.

Two ways to attract cattle to marginalized areas on ranch are:

Planting cover crops to graze
Bale grazing

“When followed by appropriate rest and recovery, these hotspots of organic matter and animal density are revitalized,” Gaskamp says.

“When energy is flowing through our soils through photosynthetic solar capture rather than coming out of them through overgrazing, soil is building and biological communities are thriving. It’s great that these impacts also come with greater forage production,” says Josh Gaskamp of the Noble Research Institute.

(Noble Research Institute)

3. More Diversity = More Cows + More Biodiversity

There are a variety of benefits to having diversity in forage.

“Diversity provides resilience to weather and climate extremes (with more days having living roots in the soil), and when cover crops are developed to complement available forages on the ranch, they drastically extend the number of grazing days,” Gaskamp says.

Many ranchers capitalize on diversity by implementing cover crops, especially in marginalized lands or in diversified operations. Pragmatically, cover crops can cover a lot of ground, including:

Keep supplementation costs down by extending grazing.
Break up compacted soil.
Finish livestock on high quality forages for human consumption.
Provide a supplemental forage that has good quality when other plans are dormant.
Provide habitat for wildlife.

4. More Investment = More Opportunity

While the goal is to use soil health as a profit-generating strategy in and of itself on-ranch, there are opportunities to cash in on healthy soils that can present additional opportunity to enhance the bottom line.

“There are a number of established ecosystem services and carbon markets that can help ranchers capture value from the improvements they make to the land under their management for soil health,” Gaskamp says. “These provide an opportunity for ranchers within the right context.”

These opportunities may not work for all, and Gaskamp recommends that you do your homework to find the right partner, but he considers them “icing on the cake” for the proper soil health investments.

Farm Journal’s Trust In Beef™ and Noble Research Institute partner to share information about how investing in your soil health can build profitability and legacy on your ranch. Visit www.TrustInBeef.com or www.Noble.org for additional resources or to tap into Noble’s education opportunities on this topic and others.

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New Partnership Supports Ranchers in Grazing Management and Soil Health

Fri, 18 Apr 2025 12:57:20 GMT

Trust In Beef empowers a more resilient future for America’s beef supply chain by leveraging the power of Farm Journal’s Trust In Food and Drovers brands with the ingenuity and innovation of private-sector and non-profit partners.

Entering the program’s third year, Trust In Beef welcomes two new partners, National Grazing Lands Coalition and EarthOptics , to bolster the technical expertise provided by the coalition’s existing partners – which include ABS, Merck Animal Health, Ducks Unlimited, National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, Enogen/Syngenta, Tyson Foods, U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, PowerFlex and Country Natural Beef.

“Trust In Beef is experiencing significant momentum in supporting a resilient future for our beef supply chain at a time when ranching is facing significant challenges,” says Andrew Lyon, director of technical assistance, Farm Journal. “Bringing partners like National Grazing Lands Coalition and EarthOptics to the table expands the technical expertise that we can use to meet ranchers where they are and provide tools to build resilience, productivity and legacy on the nation’s grazing lands.”

The mission of the National Grazing Lands Coalition (NatGLC) is dedicated to providing voluntarily ecologically and economically sound management of all grazing lands for their adaptive uses and multiple benefits to the environment and society through science-based technical assistance, research and education.

“At NatGLC, we believe resilient grazing lands are the foundation of a strong beef supply chain. While we have supported the mission of Trust In Beef since its formation, we are excited to formally partner and expand opportunities to provide ranchers with science-based technical support that enhances productivity, profitability and the overall benefits to society as a whole,” says Rob Cook, chairman. “Healthy grazing lands contribute to improved soil health, water quality and biodiversity, all while ensuring long-term viability for ranching families. We are excited to collaborate with Trust In Beef to bring practical, on-the-ground solutions to producers across the country.”

Through innovations in soil health analysis, EarthOptics tackles agriculture’s most elusive challenges: accurately measuring and mapping soil nutrients, soil compaction, biology and carbon with a solution that gives ranchers and farmers precise insights while reducing unnecessary input costs and promoting carbon retention for healthier soils. EarthOptics is committed to advancing sustainable ranching with a new level of data-driven insights from cutting-edge technology – at prices that deliver high, in-season ROIs.

“We’re thrilled to partner with Trust In Beef and join this impressive coalition of organizations working to secure a more resilient future for American ranchers,” says Lars Dyrud, EarthOptics CEO. “At EarthOptics, we believe advancing soil health through innovation can transform ranching and agriculture, and this partnership represents a powerful opportunity to bring our technology and insights directly to those who steward our grazing lands.”

“Ranchers are at the heart of sustainable grazing practices, and we’re proud to support their efforts with practical tools and data they can trust,” James Clement, EarthOptics vice president of grass and rangeland. “By helping producers better understand their soil health, we can work together to improve productivity, increase resilience and ensure the long-term viability of rangeland operations — so that today’s stewards can confidently pass their land on to the next generation.”

Trust In Beef provides technical resources, insights, data analysis and support to help empower beef producers to understand, value and implement conservation practices while also connecting consumers to the industry’s accomplishments in conservation.

To learn more about Trust In Beef and its partners, visit www.trustinbeef.com .

Research by University of Illinois Shows How Weather Mitigates Nitrogen Runoff

Thu, 26 Sep 2024 21:40:23 GMT

Livestock production is an important component of U.S. agriculture, with global demand for meat and dairy expected to double in the coming decades. This increase will lead to intensified grazing on U.S. grasslands, potentially exacerbating water quality degradation from livestock waste runoff into waterways.

A new study from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign examines the combined influence of grazing and climate on the outflow of nitrogen from pastures into water resources under different grazing schemes. The researchers conclude that climate conditions could mitigate the effects of grazing on water quality, and that producers should consider weather when making decisions about stocking rates and grazing continuity.

“The main goal of this research is to identify factors affecting the transport of nitrogen into our water bodies and determine the right combination of stocking rate, grazing duration, and precipitation to maximize production while minimizing nitrogen transport,” says corresponding author Maria Chu, an associate professor in the Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering (ABE), part of the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences and The Grainger College of Engineering at the U. of I.

The researchers developed a modeling framework that simulated nitrogen transport from livestock grazing under different climate conditions. They evaluated the model using data from the USDA-ARS Oklahoma and Central Plains Agricultural Research Center in El Reno, Oklahoma. They collected data on land use, soil moisture, precipitation, temperature, and evapotranspiration, as well as water quality in the area.

The framework featured seven different grazing schemes, including continuous and intermittent grazing implemented at low, recommended, and high stocking rates. The scenarios also included varying precipitation conditions at the time of grazing, from low to heavy rainfall events. The researchers estimated total nitrogen concentration in the overland flow for each scenario.

“Our results suggest the impact of grazing on nitrogen loss cannot be generalized. It is not always true that more cattle in the field leads to greater nutrient loss. That depends on the prevailing weather conditions in the pasture during grazing,” says Jeric Sadsad, a doctoral student in ABE and lead author of the paper.

While factors like stocking rate, grazing duration, and grazing frequency are critical, their influence on nutrient flows can be minimized if management decisions are aligned with the prevailing climatic and hydrologic conditions in the pasture, Sadsad notes.

“In the future, there will be an increasing demand for livestock production due to increasing population. Expected increases in heavy rainfall and other extreme climate events will also affect the transport of nitrogen into water bodies,” he says. “One application of our research is to implement flexible or adaptive grazing schemes that incorporate weather forecasting into the decision-making process. For example, if there is substantial rainfall, we should reduce the number of animal units that are allowed to graze in the area during that time to reduce nutrient runoff.”

The researchers recommend a strategy that matches grazing activities with prevailing weather patterns to increase livestock production while promoting environmental sustainability in pasture management.

“Management tools — such as the model that we developed — can help livestock producers achieve a sustainable balance, finding the optimal window where they can implement practices that maximize productivity while minimizing the environmental footprint,” Chu concludes.

The study is published online for more information.

The paper, “Transport of nitrogen in grassed watersheds accounting for the combined influence of grazing and climate,” is published in Ecological Modelling [DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2024.110827]. Authors are Jeric Sadsad, Maria Chu, Jorge Guzman, Daniel Moriasi, and Ann-Marie Fortuna. This project was funded under USDA-ARS, Cooperative Agreement No. 58-3070-2-229.

Cover Crops And Cattle Are Cash

Wed, 27 Jan 2021 20:10:43 GMT

Mikey Taylor felt like a slave to soil testing.

In a battle against hardened ground and poor soil quality on some of his east Arkansas farmland, Taylor turned to soil testing and NPK. But instead of answers, he found contradiction. Representative soil samples sent to multiple labs across the United States produced different results – separate and entirely unequal. Salvation in a soil sample? Not for Taylor.

He was chasing a remedy that put him on the trail of a cover crop solution. Initially planting cover crops solely for erosion protection, Taylor transitioned to soil health covers, and recently to grazing covers in tandem with cattle rotation. On Taylor’s ground in Phillips County, Ark., livestock are the vehicle to building high-potential soils.

Taylor, 38, farms with his father Mike at Long Lake Plantation -- a family operation dating to 1938. Taylor’s standard crop roster includes corn, cotton, grain sorghum, peanuts and soybeans. In 2010, he got an unexpected soil surprise after planting corn and soybeans on 250 acres of cleared, high-ground hardwood in three blocks. The dryland corn yielded 200-plus bu. per acre and the dryland soybeans tallied 80-plus bu. per acre. Directly across the road on old farming ground, the yields weren’t hitting such high rates.

For more on soil health, see Heart of Delta Hides Visionary Farmer

The first producers to clear ground at Long Lake followed the contours of soil types. The high ground never flooded and carried a presumption of inferiority. When Taylor first cleared the 250 acres, he decided to replant in hardwood and let his children reap the benefits. But safe from flooding, the high ground drove his decision to plant corn and soybeans. When the yields jumped, he strongly suspected the formerly wooded acreage was reaping the benefits of nature’s cover crop.

Producer Mikey Taylor, with son, Wells, and daughter, Merrie Leigh, is using cover crops in tandem with cattle rotation.

© Chris Benentt

Taylor had already put ground in cover crops for several years, initially planting cereal rye to keep soil down during winter rains and spring winds. His cover crop usage progressed toward building organic matter and maintaining soil health. In 2014, Taylor’s growing interest in cover benefits pushed him to seek out Doug Peterson , a soil health specialist for Iowa and Missouri, with the National Resources Conservation Service. “I came home from the meeting with Doug and sat down with a plan to implement a cattle and cover crop to soybean system,” Taylor says.

Grazing cover crops with cattle is an old practice. Cows faded out of the row crop picture, but with the integration of cover crops, cattle are returning. “You’re essentially turning the cover crops into a cash crop,” Peterson explains. “In this system, cover crops offer soil health benefits and manure that add a financial incentive to row crops, and they also turn into cash as livestock fodder.”

On June 16, 2015, the day after he began cutting wheat, Taylor planted a 13-way blend cover of legumes and grasses into the stubble. The cover combination grew phenomenally fast, and 45 days later it was head-high and ready for cattle rotation. Taylor runs 100-head of cattle on a single acre for 24 hours and moves the herd each day to a new acre. Once grazed, an acre is typically ready for rotation again in 40 days. “Keeping the cows on a single acre is key and spreads the manure evenly,” Taylor explains. “Turn 100 head loose on 150 acres and they’ll graze in patches. The ground will get uneven manure distribution.”

On a solitary acre, cattle eat in a concentrated pattern. The result is a 150-acre checkerboard field. Taylor moves cattle acre by acre until October, and then moves them to the opposite side of Long Lake on acreage with winter cover crops planted behind grain sorghum. On the land the herd has exited, Taylor plants cereal rye as a winter cover. He kills the cereal rye in spring and plants soybeans into the mat in April. The system constantly shifts ground over multiple years.

On fresh ground, the cattle transition from a warm season summer cover to a cool season winter cover. Because the cycle is bigger and the grass doesn’t last as long, Taylor breaks the system into 15-acre paddies over three days. “Some of it may be my laziness, but you don’t have to move them each day,” he says.

On its face, the continuous effort to move fence to accommodate cattle rotation is a logistical nightmare. Not so, explains Taylor. The cows anticipate fresh grass and move themselves to the gate, waiting for the next pasture. He runs a high-tensile electric fence around the block perimeter. The acreage cutoffs are done with temporary, highly visible polytape fencing on 660’ spools. “The white polytape basically spins off a big fishing reel and connects to posts 50’ apart. Total labor takes two men a couple of hours each day,” Taylor says.

Merrie Leigh Taylor follows her father, Mikey, and brother, Wells, to check on the herd at Long Lake Plantation, Phillips County, Ark.

© Chris Benentt

Once infrastructure and water are in place, labor is time consistent regardless of herd size, explains Peterson, who maintains a grazing operation in northern Missouri. “Most of this ground hasn’t had a livestock presence in decades, so water and fence systems have to be put in. But fencing technology has jumped dramatically and polywire’s braided conductivity and easy visibility makes it a great, simple product to contain livestock.”

In the off-season, the cover crop and cattle system increases organic matter and the potential for stronger row crops. The soil builds nutrients instead of lying idle and dormant. In Taylor’s case, crop fields have been exposed to years of tillage, resulting in reduced biological activity. But packed with biological organisms, cattle manure serves as an antidote, particularly with the consistent and even spread provided by the fencing system. In tandem with manure, cattle saliva releases biological activity into the ground as cows feed, according to Peterson. “This system is beneficial to the soil, but also to the animals. Giving them a fresh plate of grass every day ensures they’re at the highest level of health. Some farmers move them twice daily, enhancing health even more. Taken over the course of a season, the herd is drastically improved.”

For more on Taylor, see Field of Greens: Cover Crops Turn Into Picker Blessing

Prior to cattle rotation, Taylor was planting cool season covers at roughly $20 per acre. “We added to the quality and it’s now costing about $35-$40 for a winter-graze mix,” he says. For his warm season covers, Taylor’s seed company devised a mix specifically for Long Lake’s rotation. During summer, Taylor waters the warm season covers with pivots and polypipe. In fall 2015, he watered his winter cover with pivots during an eight-week drought.

Wells Taylor, and sister, Merrie Leigh, check on 200 head of cattle fenced in a 15-acre paddy planted with cereal rye and tillage radish.

© Chris Benentt

Livestock is a new facet of the Long Lake operation, and Taylor has learned on his feet. He buys cattle from Clayton Zeerschke, Batesville, Miss., who purchases the cows at auction and conditions them, before delivery to Taylor 38 to 45 days later. “I couldn’t manage my cattle without Clayton. I’m blessed with tremendous help. I’m also blessed to farm and involve my children in farming on a daily basis.”

Taylor’s cover journey has moved from erosion control and soil health to cash crop. “Livestock are the ultimate means to building high-potential soils,” he adds. “I treat my covers like row crops because my cows depend on them and so does my ground.”

Alfalfa’s Benefits to Livestock, Soil Worth the Work

Sun, 15 Nov 2020 21:25:00 GMT

Soil testing is a necessity to reap the benefits of growing alfalfa for hay, said Dirk Philipp, assistant professor with the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture.

“Modern production of alfalfa depends on improved varieties, well-defined harvesting schedules, and precise fertilization practices,” he said. The last-named is key because alfalfa grown as hay can remove substantial amounts of nutrients from the soil.

Published research shows that removed amount to be as much as 14 pounds of phosphate, 58 pounds of potash and 30 pounds of calcium per ton of dry matter of alfalfa.

The precision is worth the effort. Alfalfa has many advantages to hay producers, or livestock owners, including fixing nitrogen, improving the soil structure and producing high-quality forage for beef or dairy or haying operations. Alfalfa requires phosphorus and potassium in relatively high amounts. The phosphorus is needed for photosynthesis, energy transfer and creation and of carbohydrates and protein. The potassium is needed for enzyme activation, and opening and closing of the stomata, or leaf pores, and other essential activities.

Keeping nutrients in balance is important because “research has shown that nutrient imbalances may affect yield much more than no fertilization at all,” Philipp said.

A current soil test is critical to know what nutrients to add. Philipp recommends the following for annual fertilizer replacements:

Fertilizer should be applied after the first and third harvest.
Apply fertilizer immediately before regrowth sets in to avoid damaging the alfalfa crowns.
Stand winter hardiness may be increased by fertilizing later in the growing season -- early to late September based on latitude.
Don’t apply at times when soil is too soft and physical damage to plants may be likely.
Split the application if large amounts of fertilizer are required. This split can is can be avoided by keeping track of soil fertility status over time.
Keep in mind that soil test reports are provided for free by the University of Arkansas.
Monitoring soil fertility including liming requirements will safe costs in the long run and keep high-intensity crops such as alfalfa in optimum conditions.

Source: University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service