July Timely Tips Preparing your pastures for winter, in July

July Timely Tips Preparing your pastures for winter, in July

Preparing your pastures for winter

In South Central Kentucky, we are getting plentiful rain, and the grass is growing wonderfully, but the weeds/forbs are growing too. The following are some things covered in this note to consider this time of year.

·       Mowing to prepare for stockpiling grass and to reset pastures for fall growth

·        Fly numbers are increasing, and internal parasites thrive in warm moist weather.  

·        Water for livestock

·        Shift focus from seeding warm-season forages to cool-season forages.

·       Timing your introduction of rams and bullies

·    Livestock selection criteria

·    Upcoming grazing events

MOWING AND STOCKPILING GRASS FOR WINTER

Now through September 15th is the most important time to clip pastures. This is an important time to return forage to a vegetative state before stockpiling grass for winter. Only mow fields that need a reset; don’t mow down good grass, it may not rain, and any standing grass is better than none. Graze more mature grass first while allowing more vegetative grass to grow. Short-duration high-density grazing reduces mowing, but sometimes there are old stools of grass with brown leaves shading green leaves or plants, shading desirable grass that needs light to grow and last longer for stockpiling grass. Broadleaf plants like wingstem and ironweed shade desirable grass and can reduce grass production. Clipping pastures to a 5” height may also help reduce pink eye.

FLY CONTROL

Peak fly season is now through September, be diligent in controlling flies. In addition to the measures I mentioned in the last timely tips (garlic powder in mineral, mineral oil, fly paper) mop type back rubbers filled with mineral oil works well. A mop tank is superior to sock-type back rubbers because they tend to slick over and not release the oil. Cedar oil added to the mineral oil can enhance fly control. Sometimes I cut a cedar tree for cattle to rub on.

WATER

Additional water sources can improve cattle performance. When using a surface pipeline, let some vegetation grow over the pipe to keep the water cooler. Supplemental water also can improve pasture utilization and water intake, increasing animal performance.

Drain and clean water troughs at least every three months and sniff the water for any off smells. Dirty water can harbor some diseases like leptospirosis, e. coli, and others. Livestock sometimes sniff the water, and I’ve heard they take advantage of Oxygen from the water; they should normally take about 20 gulps at the tank.  

Maintaining gravel around the tank is important. Avoid large stones mixed with small ones since this can cause hoof problems, especially when stones are carried in mud onto concrete. A lime pile between the concrete and mud can reduce this issue.

 When my garlic powder clumps up when it’s been exposed to moist air, I place those in the water trough.

SEEDING

The very best time to seed cool-season grass pastures is fall ( one and a half months before the first killing frost). Pasture fields to consider for reseeding will have less than a 50% of desirable grass or be warm-season grass pastures. I prefer to seed into warm-season forages at the end of September (about 15 days before a killing frost). When seeding a perennial stand of grass like tall fescue, seed only perennials since annuals grow faster, they can reduce the stand of perennials. If seeding annuals, consider a mix of small grains like triticale, barley, oats, wheat, or rye with annual ryegrass. A mix of about 150 pounds of small grain with 20 pounds of annual ryegrass gives full cool season production. If seeded early, you may get early winter grazing; if seeded later, you will likely get early spring grazing through June.

GRAZING

Now’s the time to step up your grazing management. This is the most important time to grow and conserve grass for winter.

Rotating pastures and maintaining good residual height will allow you to stockpile every field for winter. If you rotate off fields, maintaining 4” to 6” height cattle won’t be as likely to graze into the more mature forage next grazing so that you can save it for use later in the winter. In the meantime, you will be rewarded with more pasture growth, better soil, and healthier livestock.

SMALL RUMINANTS

If you don’t have shelter for sheep and goats, birthing time is the most important consideration since goats are very prone to hypothermia, and lambs are not as tolerant of cold as calves. Late March and April are good times for lambing or kidding. If they are born in June, internal parasites are a real concern.

My current management is to pull the rams and bucks when I don’t want births. The months I don’t want them to birth small ruminants are January, February, June, July, August, or September. The gestation period is five months, so calculate it back five months from the listed dates to pull rams and bucks. I’m pulling my Rams and Bucks in late July. The problem with exposing ewes and nannies multiple times a year is that it’s much harder to keep good records of who birthed and raised them. Another issue is dealing with lambs and higher nutritional requirements over a longer period.

Now’s the time for the highest availability of goats and sheep. 

LIVESTOCK SELECTION CRITERIA

When selecting livestock, whether it’s cattle, sheep, goats, or pigs, I use the same selection criteria. I want the animal’s height to be 2/3 body (e.g., a 3’ tall animal would have 2’ of body and 1’ of leg), wide (barrel-shaped), have a flat top, good feet, and a wide muzzle. A healthy goat will have its tail up, and a healthy pig’s tail will be curly. With goats and sheep, check FAMACHA. FAMACHA is a technique to check for anemia, most likely due to barber pole worms. Pull back the bottom eyelid, and it should be pink.  Cherry red is best. If the eyelid isn’t at least pink, don’t buy them, they need deworming. Goats’ eyelids aren’t as red as sheep.

SUMMARY

Even though we’re living through mid-summer, our thoughts need to be on the coming winter.  Strive for each grazing to be better!

EVENTS

October 19, Big Spring Farm Pasture Walk, Adolphus, KY; Preregister events@gregbrann.com

October 31, Kentucky Grazing Conference, Low-Stress Livestock Handling, Elizabethtown, KY, UKForageExtension@uky.edu

November 1, Kentucky Grazing Conference, Low-Stress Livestock Handling, Lexington, KY, UKForageExtension@uky.edu

February 16, Grazing for Profit, Harriman, TN (865) 248-3159,

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July Timely Tips Preparing your pastures for winter, in July

June Timely Tips Summer Mowing, Controlling Flies, and Pasture Condition Scoring

Summer Mowing, Controling Flies, and Pasture Condition Scoring

GREETINGS

Weather conditions vary a good bit across the region, but rain is always welcome in summer, and luckily, we’ve had just enough every time it’s been needed. Although moisture is needed to grow grass, the result will be a green-up without growth unless grazing height, plant residue, and recovery time are respected. Over 90% of grass growth occurs by managing residual height, air, sunshine, and rainfall. 

MOWING

The common question is, “Should I mow, and if so, how high?” Of course, it depends; mowing costs around $25/ac, so we need to be sure the cost can be recouped. Grazing at high densities of around 40,000 pounds or higher of livestock per acre lays down a lot of the grass, greatly reducing or eliminating the need for mowing. Laying down residual grass also benefits soil health, creating more ground cover and feed for underground livestock. A rule of thumb is to keep light to desirable plants and shade out undesirable plants. Another commonly agreed practice is to control vegetation when weeds occupy 20% or more of a pasture. If I am going to mow, I prefer to mow after grazing and not mow over 20% of the total pasture acreage at one time. Mowing low has more impact on weeds, but remember another principle, manage for what you want, not what you don’t want. Another rule of thumb is to mow 2” into the leaf of grass. Typically, I mow to a 5” height. If the pasture is mostly weeds with little desirable grass, you’ll want to mow low but don’t mow lower than 3” on tall fescue-dominated pastures.

FLY CONTROL

I use several different methods of fly control. The economic threshold for flies is 200 per cow. My favorite fly control is one or more pounds of garlic powder mixed with 50 pounds of mineral. I get my garlic from webrestaurantstore.com. Keep the garlic sealed till you use it, or it will harden and ball up.

As pictured, I also use 12” fly paper wrapped around an old protein tub. After I caught several birds on the paper, I added chicken wire. The birds were likely eating more flies than I was catching. I am thrilled to see birds pick flies off the paper without getting stuck, which is a win-win. I place these around facilities like water and mineral sites. Sometimes I mop vegetable or mineral oil on cattle to reduce flies for about a week. I also have a walk-through fly trap that works best in a lane. We use it for our dairy. Plans for the walk-through fly trap are available online.

Fly Trap Instuctions

WATER

Water is the most important nutrient. Livestock consumes up to twice as much water if they don’t have shade. Production of meat and milk is higher with higher water consumption. Additional water points can improve consumption, availability, grazing, and nutrient distribution. Mobile water can be used in addition to a permanent water source. I like the Jobe Mega Flow valve plumbed into a 40 to 50-gallon trough. Place a hot wire across the trough to prevent cattle from stepping on the valve. If you are not getting water to a high point on the landscape, you will most likely need more pressure. Pressure switches cost about $100, so it is an easy fix. The pressure needed is one psi for every 2.31’ of elevation. For example, a 100’ elevation difference needs 44 psi or more. There is some pressure loss for distance, but most loss is due to elevation. Watch float settings and connections. Leaky water troughs cost water loss and make a puggy mess.

SEEDING

Generally, it is best to manage the grass you have, but bare ground is terrible. It’s getting a little late to seed warm-season forage, but it can work with moisture. Now is the best time to sow if you are seeding into cool season forage like thin, tall fescue because cool seasons go dormant in warm, dry conditions. Crabgrass is a reseeding annual, so I prefer it to other options like sudangrass or millets. There are several improved types of crabgrass: red river, quick and Big, mojo, and others; they are all good. Crabgrass sets you up nicely to seed tall fescue or orchardgrass in September. Annual Lespedeza is a good companion with crabgrass and reseeds well. Bermudagrass is a good option if you feed in the same area yearly.

These two photos show the pasture before turning in, and after grazing.

Here’s that same pasture after using short-duration high-density grazing with ~50,000 pounds of livestock per acre. This can reduce the need for mowing.

GRAZING

If you haven’t tried top-third grazing, I encourage you to try it. An example of top-third grazing is to turn in when the grass is 9” tall and grazing down to 6” or turning in at 6” tall and out at 4”. Regrowth is much faster, and the stock is consuming the best forage but not overgrazing the best plants. It works best with high-density, short-duration grazing. Some folks think stomped-down forage is wasted, but it has many benefits. First off, it is energy (carbon) stored for the future. Other benefits are moisture conservation, weed control, and feed for the below-ground herd, which will, in turn, make water-stable soil aggregates which improves poor space and water infiltration, among other benefits.

The featured photo at the top of this post was a degraded pasture, brought back to life.  I unrolled plenty of hay, applied some needed lime, and utilized top third grazing.  

EVALUATING PASTURES

The best time to evaluate pastures is just before grazing. Look straight down at the pasture evaluating the following indicators.

Pasture Condition Scoring (PCS) involves rating 10 Indicators: Percent of Desirable Plants, Percent of Legume, Live Plant Cover (includes dormant), Plant Diversity, Plant Residue (Litter) as Soil Cover, Grazing Utilization and Severity, Livestock Concentration Areas, Soil Compaction and Soil Regenerative Factors, Plant Vigor, Erosion (Sheet and Rill, Streambank, Shoreline, Gullies.) All these factors are important; determining the weak link in your operation is key to your success. Once you determine the weak link on a pasture, you can focus on it for the biggest return on investment of time and money. Another similar assessment, Determining Indicators of Pastureland Health (DIPH), involves 22 indicators.

SARE Pasture Condition Score PDF
Indicators for Pasture Health

SMALL RUMINANTS

Sheep are grazers, and goats are browsers. The common question is, what ratio of small ruminants to cattle do you prefer? As usual, it depends primarily on the vegetation you have. Goats have a very different diet than cattle, so you can stock up to two goats for every cow and not affect cattle grazing. You may even improve it because the thorny species are out of the way. On the other hand, sheep eat a very similar diet to cattle, so one sheep for every couple of cows is probably best. You can push that up a little bit if you keep your forage vegetative. Lambs don’t do well in tall grass. Animal unit equivalents to a 1000-pound cattle are five sheep or six goats. Training small ruminants to respect electric fences will make your life easier.

SUMMARY

Manage what you have by keeping more leaf on your grass and strive to keep it vegetative. Maintain quality water, rotate stock when the pasture is soiled, and mow if you need to reset mature grass and make it more vegetative or if weeds are greater than 20% of the pasture. And lastly, control flies. Over 200 flies per animal diminish your bottom line by causing weight loss and spreading disease.

Remember that if you want to “turn on your pastures,” you must feed the livestock below ground.

Strive for each grazing to be better!

 

Greg Brann

Synergistic Grazing Management

EVENTS

October 19, Big Spring Farm Pasture Walk, Adolphus, KY

October 31, Kentucky Grazing Conference, Low-Stress Livestock Handling, Elizabethtown, KY.

November 1, Kentucky Grazing Conference, Low-Stress Livestock Handling, Lexington, KY.

February 15, Grazing for Profit, Harriman, TN (865) 248-3159,

Timely Tips – February 2022 Winter Grazing, Mud, and Seeding

Timely Tips – February 2022 Winter Grazing, Mud, and Seeding


Winter Grazing:

Mud and Seeding

 

It’s been a long, cold, wet winter in Tennessee/Kentucky, and this inevitably brings on the potential for lots of mud. Hay feeding strategies and maintaining cover are crucial to reducing mud and compaction. Seeding areas denuded from feeding will increase production, reduce weeds, and improve soil health.

Mud Management

Here are a few considerations to reduce the impacts of mud

  • Number One – maintaining good vegetation
  • Stockpile pastures intended for winter feeding
  • Feeding away from travel areas
  • Unroll hay on areas to build fertility and weedy areas (48-14-48/ton N, P2O5 & K2O)
  • No hay ring around good hay with 20 plus cattle
  • Where possible, bring in hay from the side of the field that has more cover, not through the cattle
  • Feed over the fence
  • Move hay feeding location each feeding
  • Set out hay when dry or when the ground’s frozen
  • Ration bale grazing with polywire
  • Fenceline feeders and manger feeders used only in wet, muddy conditions
  • Use these conditions to your advantage, pug out undesirable vegetation
  • Reseed areas lacking cover 

ips for Winter Seeding

      • Frost seed in February, ideally on frozen ground or snow
      • Ideal time to seed legumes 
      • Drill or harrow in March
      • Cool season grass, ideally drilled in September
      • Warm season grass like crabgrass broadcast seeded on lightly tilled soil in Ma

        Seeding Feeding areas

      • Persistent use areas, seed bermudagrass or tall fescue
      • Seed something to utilize excess nutrients and reduce weeds, annuals are fast and reduce weed issues
      • 2-4-8 Renovate! 2lbs white clover, 4lbs red clover, 8lbs annual lespedeza on thinner soils. If cost is a concern, use this ratio, reduced.
      • Pelletized lime works well to bulk up the seed mix.
Hay Feeding Strategies

Hay Feeding Strategies

Hay Feeding 101, 201, and 301

Here is where Debbie lets me nerd out about hay feeding.  In this post, you’ll find tips for hay feeding in fall, winter, and Spring and why, if the conditions are right, I prefer to feed in the fall and stockpile my grass while it’s growing.  I’ll also walk you through how to calculate your hay needs for the winter, but a warning is appropriate here, it’s not for the faint of heart!  We’ll also delve into the different types of feeding options.  So, let’s go.  

 

The place to start when trying to calculate your hay needs is with plenty of numbers, but if you plan to guess or if you know your needs based on previous years, please feel free to scroll down to the different hay feeding techniques.   

Bear with me on this because there are lots of numbers.  Each time you do a calculation, ask yourself if this sounds reasonable.  

– One animal unit (1,000-pound animal) consumes 30 pounds per day

– An acre inch of good grass weighs 300 pounds per acre inch

– Animals waste 50% of standing forage. 

– Five sheep equals one animal unit

– Six goats equals one animal unit

Inventory the number of animals or animal units to feed grass or hay.  Since I run multispecies, it’s easiest for me to convert everything to animal units.  After the calf reaches 300 pounds, count the calf’s needs in addition to the cow’s needs.  The default animal demand is 3% of their body weight.  It will vary from 2% to over 3%, but there are losses, so I usually just use 3% for easy calculations.  It’s just an estimate, anyway.   

So, let’s do an example of round numbers for easy math: 10 cows (@ 1,000 pounds) with young calves and 20 ewes (@ 120 pounds), 12 nanny goats (@ 90 pounds), one bull (@ 2,000 pounds), one ram (@ 200 pounds) and one buck (@ 200 pounds).  

Animal units

10 AU cattle, 2 AU sheep, and 2 AU goats plus 2 AU for the bull, .2 AU for a ram, and 0.2 AU for the buck.  This brings the total animal units to 16.4; now multiply this by 1,000 pounds to get 16,400 pounds times 0.03 consumed per animal unit equals 492 pounds of grass needed per day,  but let’s round up to 500 pounds just to be safe.

Inventory pastures and standing grass and estimated grazing days.  Add up all the grazable acres of standing grass you have on the farm.  An example would be inches across all fields: 4”, 6”, 8”, 10”, 5”, and 7”, equaling a total of 40”.  For purposes of example, let’s assume all the fields are the same size, 5 acres per field for a total of 30 acres.  

The average weight of dry grass per acre inch in a productive field with thick grass is 300 pounds.  So 40” forage x 300 (pounds per acre inch) x 5 acres = 60,000 pounds of dry matter standing, but only 50% of this will be consumed by livestock due to stomping, laying, defecation, and urination on forage.  So, really, we can only count on 30,000 pounds of actual dry matter consumed.  

Now, to calculate how long this will last, divide by animal demand of 500 pounds of dry matter per day.  Meaning the standing pasture will last 60 days.  If the pasture didn’t grow anymore, we would be out of the grass in two months.  This time of year, with moisture, grass will grow 20- 40 pounds per acre per day through October and will continue slower growth through early December.  So, sixty days x 30 pounds per day x 30 acres = 54,000 pounds grown x 50 % loss = 27,000 pounds predicted to grow again divided by animal demand of 500 pounds per day = 54 additional days of grazing for a total of 114 days, so we predict grazing through mid-December.  

Hay will be needed through March, so 3.5 months (let’s call it four months). So, 120 days x 500 pounds needed per day = 60,000 pounds of hay needed, but there are losses with hay, too, so let’s add 20% for losses from handling and feeding.  That brings your hay needed to purchase to 72,000 pounds.  Hay will keep in the barn with very little loss over time, so it is good insurance.

 

One Location feeding.

If one hay-feeding site is used, choose that site wisely. It should be 300’ or more from drainage ways and other water areas, away from sinks and ditches, and be on a slope of 5% or less. If feeding is done near sensitive areas, it’s potentially an environmental disaster and a contributor to poor water quality and disease. If animals spend their days in mud, their energy needs are increased as much as 2x.

These areas need to be sown in something like bermudagrass or tall fescue to reduce weeds and take advantage of nutrients.

The idea here is to reduce impacts on the pasture, which is understandable but not a good plan for profit. The manure value is $20/1000 lb. roll of hay and the cost of reseeding an acre is less than $50/ac, so it’s ideal to feed hay on your most infertile ground. The manure is worth 10 x more than the cost of reseeding the small area impacted by feeding hay across a pasture.

Supplemental hay feeding square bales on a fence line. Flaking them out will allow all stock to get a bite of high-quality hay.

Fenceline feeders are an improvement on one-location feeding because the tractor doesn’t have to enter the field, creating tracks and compacting it. However, it is still a method of one-site feeding, which has some downfalls.

Although this looks bad, with a recovery of 90 or more days in the growing season, it was much better grass and clover than the previous year. Sometimes, in rainy times, I don’t use a hay ring, reducing the mud.

Accumulated waste should be gathered and ideally covered by a roof until it is spread on the land. If you have a pad, concrete is the easiest to scrape.  If using a gravel pad, you should leave a couple of inches of manure on the pad to keep from scraping up gravel and spreading it on fields. Since the cost of spreading usually equals the value of the manure, it isn’t a great value at this point, and we call it waste. Since most of the nitrogen comes from the urine, you’ll lose it to leaching if the manure is left in one place.

Fall feeding:

I prefer to feed hay in the fall when I can grow grass. This allows me to feed much less hay. It is possible to grow as much as five times the grass than hay fed in the fall, but there are many variables to consider.

Decent soil fertility and properly managed grazing heights will grow more grass. Fall hay feeding can dramatically improve fields with weed problems and low fertility.  Ideally, allow sacrifice areas substantial recovery time before winter, and you’ll see quick spring green-ups.

The minimum recommended grazing height for cool-season grasses, such as tall fescue, is 4” during the growing season. I don’t like to see it taken below 2” in the winter.

 

Bale Grazing.   There are many different ways to do bale grazing. It’s important to place the bales in the field when the soil is dry or frozen and place the bales strategically to accomplish the desired nutrient distribution.  The cows will cycle 80 to 90 percent of the hay back onto the pasture as nutrients; therefore, if you want to increase fertility, you may want to place the rolls as close together as 30’ apart, which is equivalent to 24 tons of hay biomass/ac. If you are looking to maintain fertility, place the rolls approximately 80’ apart, which equals about 3.5 tons of hay/ac.

Ideally, stockpiled grass would be available along with hay, which would be rationed with a temporary wire fence like polywire. You would paddock off an estimated amount of hay needed for 3 days or less. Example: 30 cows weighing 1200 pounds x 0.03 (percent of body wt. consumed per day) x 3 days = 3240 pounds. So, provide them access to 3 rolls. If the available grass is substantial, reduce the quantity of hay accordingly. Good grass is typically about 300 lb/acre inch.  However, only approximately 50% is consumed. Example: 8” grass x 300 lb/ac. In. x 0.50 (grazing efficiency) = 1200 lb, so reduce hay feeding by about one roll/day for every acre of grazing when available grass is substantial.

Hay can be placed behind a high hot wire, providing calves or other stock the ability to forward-graze to more or better hay.

The biggest advantage to bale grazing is labor savings over unrolling hay.

 

Unrolling hay. I like this method best, but to do it right, it’s labor-intensive. It really should be done once or twice a day, unrolling half of the animals’ needs in the morning and the other half in the afternoon to simulate grazing. They need to clean up most of the hay before feeding again. All hay isn’t equal, so don’t make them clean up junk hay.

One big advantage to unrolling hay is that all animals are on a more equal playing field, with everyone having more access to hay. Hay rings can limit access, and animals at the bottom of the pecking order, like young calves and sheep, won’t have equal access to the hay in a ring. Unrolling hay has great strategic manure placement.

Feeding in rings versus not using rings.  This may be controversial, but there’s no doubt that although rings will conserve hay, the mud-out is much worse with a ring than without it.  My experience is if you have enough stock to clean up the hay in a day or less,  the hay waste is minimal, but if the hay is there for multiple days, a ring is going to be your best bet.

Remember, grazing is half the cost of hay. If you feed 3- 1000 lb rolls a day, and hay cost is $40/roll, every day you graze instead of feeding hay will save you $120 since the nutrients (N-P-K) in those three rolls are worth about $60.

Spring Hay Feeding – Don’t stop too early!

I want to encourage everyone to feed hay a little longer in the spring to let the grass get a good start. Spring grass is washy with high water content and some hay fed along with it helps to slow the rate of passage, improving digestibility. Also, allowing the grass to get a good start gives you a buffer of extra grass through the year. Typically, I will feed hay into early April.

Wishing you the best, if you have questions, concerns, or rebuttals about anything I have presented respond to me at gregbrann5@gmail.com.  There are many ways to accomplish regenerative grazing.

Timely Tips – June

Timely Tips – June

We are at the change of seasons.  A time to contemplate and plan for summer forage. Note in the graph above, as temperatures hit 80 degrees F. or higher cool season forage production decreases and warm seasons forages kick in high gear.  I encourage you to make warm season and drought management decisions prior to the end of the recommended seeding date for warm season forages, July 1.

 Options:

  • Stockpile cool season forage into summer
  • Graze a field hard to release the seed bank for natural regeneration
  • Seed summer annuals
  • Seed summer perennials
  • Fertilization to improve warm season production

Stockpile cool season forage into summer. 

Although I think it is wise to carry some cool season growth into summer, the quality of it will be dependent on temperature and rainfall.  It may hold all summer but if it gets hot and dry it will just be some carbon to lay down and forage quality will be very poor.  Red clover and annual lespedeza will extend growth into summer.

Graze a field hard to release the seed bank for natural regeneration

It’s a lot like rolling the dice.  Unless you know the field well you may release some warm season species you don’t want. This technique works extremely well for release of bermudagrass, crabgrass and dallisgrass.  Other plants that are also likely to grow white clover (if it is cool and moist), ragweed, lambsquarter (both test like alfalfa but stock don’t always consume them), spiny amaranth (weed due to spines other amaranths are palatable and high quality), cocklebur (bad weed, big canopy, sometimes consumed), nimblewill (terrible grass weed that looks like bermudagrass, not readily grazed). Grazing 20% of the pastures low May –June is a decent strategy.

Seed summer annuals. 

Crabgrass, cowpeas and lablab are the only species that UT recommend planting as late as July 1.  Forage & Field Crop Seeding Guide For Tennessee

Crabgrass Improved Variety Options Crabgrass improved variety options:

Quick and Big and Red River.

Quick and Big is fast growth and Red River has a longer growing season.  You may want to seed a blend of the two, sometimes folks add annual lespedeza to the mix.

The seeding rate of crabgrass is 3 to 5 lb/ac.  If you add annual lespedeza 8 to 10 lb/ac.  Crabgrass is a reseeding annual that responds to disturbance at least once a year.  Cowpeas, high quality drought tolerant legume which makes a good smother crop if you have an undesirable weed you are trying to control.  Even though it is a little late for millet you may want to add 10-20 lb/ac. of pearl or browntop millet with the cowpeas.  Lablab is typically grown for wildlife food plots but is good forage for ruminants too best used in a mix.

 

Seed summer perennials

Bermudagrass is the only plant UT recommends planting as late as July 1.  I usually just recommend bermudagrass on areas that are planned for heavy use areas or where nutrients are going to be high.  Bermudagrass has some issues, stem maggot (it kills the primary stem tip reducing production) which most spray an insecticide for control, grazing could be used to reduce impacts also bermudagrass does best where nutrients are high.  There are several improved bermudagrass varieties: Cheyenne II (highest producing seeded type); Laredo (Allied seed variety, blend of Mohawk , KF-194, & Rancher; Wrangler (most cold tolerant).  You can also establish bermudagrass with clippings using Vaughn’s No. 1 which is typically thought of as the Cadillac of bermudagrasses for our area. Bermudagrass can produce high tonnage, be used hard and overseeded with clovers and winter annuals the second year after establishment.

Another warm season grass option although it is too late to seed now is native warm season grass (NWSG) it’s best sown when seed are exposed to a couple of cold chills (vernalization). Now is the time to start planning for it.  I like NWSG sown on lower fertility soils so weed competition is less. On low production you are not giving up much production while the natives are establishing for a couple of years. Usually herbicides are used to establish NWSG however an option to establish it without herbicides would be to terminate existing vegetation with tillage plant a summer annual leaving most of the biomass on the soil surface then no-tilling in cereal rye.  Dormant planting NWSG in December – April into cereal rye.  Rolling down the cereal rye in early April for weed control.  Natives will emerge through the residue in the spring.

Fertilization to improve warm season production

Applying nutrients to grass May – July increases warm season production.  Nitrogen has the biggest impact on forage production, nitrogen also increases protein content in the grass.  Typically no more than 60 lb of nitrogen is recommended in one application and typically applications should be scheduled 30 or more days apart. I personally don’t like over 45 lb of nitrogen in one application because if it turns off dry, high rates of nitrogen can cause forage to accumulate nitrates.

Timely Tips – January

Timely Tips – January

It is hard to believe but it’s time to order seed for frost seeding in February.  Producers should inventory fields and determine legumes and grass needed.

 

Seed that are suited well to frost seeding:

red clover, white clover and annual lespedeza (on thin less productive ground).  Don’t seed annual lespedeza on productive soils it doesn’t compete well with other species.

Lesser used species that also frost seed well are:

arrowleaf clover, crimson clover, hairy vetch (these are reseeding annuals which are typically seeded in the fall but can work in the spring for producers willing to manage grazing heights.  Hairy vetch is an underutilized species, adapted for to all soil types wet or droughty. Great for grazing but slow to get going needs minimum of 90 days growth.  Reseeds very well it is already present in most fields but doesn’t amount to much because livestock graze it out before it produces any quantity. Brassicas can also be seeded in February they will last one year if we have mild summer.  Grasses that establish easily: Prairie bromegrass, annual ryegrass (5 lb or less in a mix).  Annual ryegrass has shown excellent results in controlling spiny amaranth emergence.

 

Feed hay on infertile or weedy land.  Unrolling hay is a good practice for improving land. Hay needs to be cleaned up by stock daily.  Another option is bale grazing: setting out hay when the ground is dry or frozen then allow animals access to  hay in paddocks.

Timely Tips – January – Forage

Timely Tips – January – Forage

Planning: Winter is a great time to reflect on our management this past year and what changes we plan for the upcoming year.  Stocking rate, feeding, sacrifice area, culling, grazing management, seeding, etc.

Stocking rate has the biggest impact on resource management and our bottom line.  In this high rainfall area we typically think 1 animal unit (AU, 1,000 lb. cow with up to a 300 lb. calf) per 2 acres and this is where my operation is currently stocked with 90 to 120 days of hay feeding. This is too high and too many days of hay feeding, Greg Halich, University of KY Agriculture Economist, recently estimated with current cattle prices and moderate to low. Low cow cost operators can reasonably feed 60 days.  Acres per animal unit depends on lots of variables: soil fertility, soil type, residual grazing height, rotation days of grass recovery, and lots of other factors. Very few farms: have optimum soil fertility, manage to not graze below minimum residual heights (e.g. 3” for tall fescue), provide time for grass to recover and regrow.  Most excellent grazers that feed no hay are stocked at 1 AU per 4 or 5 acres and rotate every day or more often.  A reasonable stocking rate for most operations that is 3 acres per animal unit.  Remember that stockpiled tall fescue is better than hay all the way till March. Sometimes you have to take a step back to make two steps forward.

Feeding strategies for profit, ultimately don’t feed hay in one location the same way year to year or even in wet and dry times.  Like all grazing management it is best to not lock into one strategy.  If it is wet and soil is prone to compaction consider feeding hay in rings.  If you have a hay manger to feed out of or a hay feeding pad this is the time to use them. When the ground is dry or frozen it is a good time to unroll hay daily.  Feeding hay in rings in combination with unrolling at the same time typically doesn’t work so well because stock don’t clean up the unrolled hay soon enough. Best areas to target when feeding hay are fields with low fertility or lots of undesirable forage. Each ton of hay contains 60-13-48 of N-P2O5-K2O.  Unrolling hay on a low fertility field in combination with liming i can change it to a high producing field in about 3 years.

Equipment to consider, not an endorsement of vendors: Hay B Gone, hay unroller can be pulled with a UTV; Spin off, a hydraulic driven hay unroller for the tractor that spins both ways and works well for flatter terrain; hay saver feeder is good for permanent hay feeding site but too heavy for rotational feeding and there are some reports of incidence of calves being hung in them.  Plastic hay rings very light but hold up well.

Convenience is feeding near the barn, it is easy, less traffic compaction by equipment but poor utilization of nutrients in the hay and manure.  Expect weeds like spiny amaranth on land with excessive nutrients.

 

Unrolling hay, takes some management and requires being done daily.  If done correctly, Texas A & M found that one third less hay was needed.  Other studies have shown as much as half of the hay can be wasted (it’s not waste if it returns to the soil) if not done timely/properly.  Poor quality hay is more prone to avoidance and if your unrolled hay gets rained on it is less palatable.  Advantages of unrolling hay is more stock have access to hay and calves are less likely to be stepped on, lower cost than lots of hay rings and manure, biomass and trampling are strategically placed. Typically don’t need to reseed after unrolling hay. Caution any form of hay feeding can bring in weed seeds.

 Bale Grazing, is where you spread bales across a paddock in the fall or winter and move a temporary wire to allow access to more hay.  Ideally you would move hay rings to control loss.  Round rolls should be a minimum of 30’ apart and most likely you will need to seed the area after feeding so feeding them in somewhat of a straight line make reseeding easier.  You can also creep bale graze allowing calves access to higher quality hay under a high electric wire.

Places not to feed: on the creek or other water areas unless you are trying to seal a pond.  Don’t store hay or feed hay in the drip line of trees unless you are trying to control some weeds.  Nutrients from the hay and manure are best spread across the pasture by the animals.  Don’t feed on waterways unless it is already gullied and you have a plan to seed it soon after feeding. Also avoid feeding in depressions or near sinkholes.

Sacrifice areas, not many farms have good designated sacrifice areas.  These areas are for use when pastures are grazed down to minimum recommended heights.  I used to think it was ok to graze down to 2” height in winter but in order to optimize grass production maintain 3” or more height on pastures.  Location of a sacrifice area: fence off an area that is high on the landscape centrally located (the hub of the operation) and an area that doesn’t have any sensitive areas like water bodies, drainageways or karst areas.  If it does have sensitive areas NRCS recommends fencing those areas out.  If sensitive areas are present it is best to have a 35’ wide or wider vegetative filter where water enters these areas. Single wire electric temporary fence can be used to accomplish all this. 

Grazing management: Continue to feed hay into the spring till grass is 6-8” tall this will allow the grass to become stronger and set you up for grazing an extended time. Ideally some fall grown grass mixed with springs lush grass is best.  If grass gets ahead of you in the spring defer grazing some fields till August, it is not likely to be high quality in August however it will return that biomass to the ground at a time when cool season grasses typically break dormancy allowing you to grow additional stockpiled grass for winter.

               Manage minimum grazing heights of 3- 4” or higher for cool season grasses

               Allow plants to recover growing to 8” or taller before re-grazing.

Additional management strategies:

  • Limit exposure to hay to reduce consumption and waste however monitor cattle body condition score, much of the hay is low quality
  • Unroll hay daily for more animal access and to distribute animal impact and manure where you desire
  • Develop more paddocks to stretch forage supplies next year
  • Plant warm season forage
  • Stockpile grass as a reserve for drought and winter.
  • UT Extension recommendations: http://utbeef.com/

 Next month’s timely tips will be on frost seeding but if you need to order seed consider this:

               Common recommendation:

                              Species                up to pounds/acre

White clover                     2

Red clover                         4

Annual lespedeza            8   on less productive soil

 

Optional additions

Forage turnips                  1

Arrowleaf clover               1

Hairy vetch                        2  ideally sown in the fall but will improve diversity

Annual ryegrass                2  not recommended by university forage agronomist too competitive

Matua or Persister

Bromegrass                      2   ideally sown in the fall but establishes easy particularly adapted to high fertility shady areas

 

Timely Tips August – Cool Season Planting Mixes

Timely Tips August – Cool Season Planting Mixes

Good to have rain over most of the state.  It is time to start planning for winter: seeding, stockpiling and managing grass for the transition of seasons.  The normal recommended seeding date for most cool season forages is August 15 to October 1.  Yes, I think it is reasonable to go ahead and plant now.  Remember typically it is best to manage what you have.  It is amazing what: managing grass height, recovery time and nutrient management can do for a plant community.

 

Typical recommendation for managing fall growth for winter “stockpiling” is to graze or clip tall fescue to 3” now and apply up to 60 lb of N/ac (130 lb of protected urea/ac.) then let it recover and grow till Thanksgiving or later before grazing.  Then ration it out starting with a paddock near the water tank.  Starting with a temporary fenced paddock near the water point and move the temp fence every 3 days or less allowing livestock access to water. A single wire electric fence with polywire (9 strand), a geared reel, and step in post works well for cattle for sheep you typically need 3 wire temporary fence.  Stockpiling is good even if you don’t apply N (every pound of N with rain should grow an additional 30 pounds of forage). I often feed hay in the fall when growth is good to grow forage while I am feeding hay because when you feed hay in January you are not growing grass.  More on this next month.

 

The best fields to drill into are fields that are predominantly warm season grass like crabgrass, dallisgrass, bermudagrass, johnsongrass or even broomsedge or where you have a thin stand with 50% stand of cool season grass.  But i wouldn’t drill into warm season grass till mid-September and definitely don’t apply Nitrogen till then.  Broomsedge is an indicator that soil fertility is out of balance so adjusting nutrients is needed, take a University of TN soil test for recommended nutrient application. If nutrients are out of balance or lacking you likely will not be rewarded for your seeding and management as fast as you would like.

 

Mixes, composition and planting considerations

Seeding too high of a rate of fast growing species in a mix can dominate the stand by shading and competition with slower growing species reducing their establishment. If included low rates of annuals are recommended in perennial mixes. Annuals are faster establishing than perennials.   I don’t like over 20% of annuals in a perennial mix.  Fast growing annuals can have the same impact in an annual mix.  Another concern is broadleaf species typically shade more than grass species this is why in perennial cool season mixes grasses are typically recommended to be planted first in the fall followed by legumes in late winter. When drilling I typically recommend going ahead and planting grasses and legumes but not too much legume.  Brassicas are very fast growing in early fall too so they can outcompete other species thus the lower recommended seeding rates in the following mixes.  Annual ryegrass is the most competitive cool season grass but doesn’t grow that fast in the fall. In a perennial mix i don’t like over 3 lb/ac. of annual ryegrass. In annual mixes it works as a great smother plant for spring when plants like broomsedge are emerging. Management needed for late May and June if you don’t use herbicide is to allow annual ryegrass to remain above the broomsedge. The annual ryegrass will brownout in June so plan on no-till drilling a warm season annual mix in the ryegrass in late May or early June. Crabgrass, Johnsongrass or a mix of Pearl millet and cowpeas no-till drilled into the ryegrass will provide an additional high quality summer smother crop.

 

Cool season mixes for a warm season pasture or thin cool season pastures, (if there is a program payment involved follow local guidelines)

seeding dates August 15 through Oct. 1

 

Annual Mix for fall and spring forage (good for shading undesirable cool and warm season plants)

 Species                                   Pounds/Ac

Cereal rye                               20 – 75

Annual ryegrass                      15 – 25

Turnips                                    1

Optional additions

Hairy Vetch                            4

Red clover                               2

Crimson clover                       2

Drop the following from mix after September 10

Radish                                     0.5

Sunflower                               1

Buckwheat                              1

 

 

Crazy Annual Cool Season Soil Health Mix for grazing

 Species                                   Pounds/Ac

Cereal rye                               25

Triticale                                  20

Barley                                     20

Wheat                                      10

Annual ryegrass                      15

Turnips                                    1

Crimson clover                       4

Hairy vetch                             4

After September 10 drop the following species.

Radish                                     0.5

Sunflower                               1

Buckwheat                              1

Browntop millet                      3

 

Perennial Cool Season Mix where soil is not productive and nutrients are out of balance

Tall fescue                              18

Annual ryegrass                      3 (no more)

White clover                           2 (legumes typically recommended to be frost seeded in February or drilled into grass in March add annual lespedeza 8 lb/ac then)

Red clover                               4

Hairy vetch                             4 (best seeded in the fall)

Optional if a herbicide is used or weed competition is not expected and seeding is done prior to Sept. 10.

Sunflower                               1

Buckwheat                              1

Browntop millet                      1

 

Perennial Cool Season Mix where soil is productive, nutrients are in balance and minimum grazing height of 4” or higher will be maintained.

Tall fescue                              15

Orchardgrass                           10

Prairie bromegrass                  3 (Hogan seed and Nixa Hardware and Seed are a couple of suppliers)

Annual ryegrass                      3 (no more than 3 lb)

White clover                           2 (legumes typically recommended to be frost seeded in February or drilled into grass in March, add annual lespedeza 8 lb/ac then)

Red clover                               4

Forage turnip                          1

Optional if a herbicide is used or weed competition is not expected and seeding is done prior to Sept. 10.

Radish                                     0.5

Sunflower                               1

Buckwheat                              1