Mixing grass with alfalfa

I have been told that mixing grass with the alfalfa will make the alfalfa easier to manage......easier to dry down and less problems with leaf shatter on the alfalfa so I'm going to give it a try. My current alfalfa customers DO NOT want a mix but I have never been afraid of trying a different type of hay and finding a market so I'm not too worried about marketability.

My question is what kind of grass should I mix with the alfalfa? It seems like orchard is the most popular choice but I'm having issues keeping a stand of orchard that I can't seem to resolve. If I can't keep a stand of orchard when taking 2-3 cuttings a year I don't see how it would stand up to being cut up to 5 times in an alfalfa mix.

Tall fescue would probably be the hardiest cool season grass to plant here but fescue is a dirty word to the horses hay buyers so that is a no go.....even if it is endophyte friendly.

With Timothy being pretty much a single cutting crop this far south that won't be a good option either.

That leaves me with brome......how would it preform in a mix with alfalfa? I have a pure stand of 'peak' smooth brome I planted this past spring and I have been pretty impressed with it so far. It appears to have done well here and has regrown very well. I have read though that brome does not tolerate frequent cutting so I'm not sure how it would last mixed with alfalfa.

Any other options I'm overlooking?

Hayden

Mixing grass with alfalfa