Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

TIM'S TIPS

FORAGE OPTIONS -

TEMPORARY

WINTER PASTURES

Winter annual forages are used as important components of dairy and stocker forage programs. These can also play an important part of the forage program for beef cow-calf operations.

These annuals typically provide high quality forage for up to six months of the year, depending upon environmental conditions, location of the farm within the state and production and utilization practices.

Winter annuals that may be used include annual ryegrass, wheat, oats, rye, triticale and Matua alone or in combinations. Crimson, arrowleaf, berseem, white clovers and vetch are legumes that may be interseeded with the winter annuals mentioned.

Rye will generally grow in cooler weather, and, thus, will provide a little more winter grazing. Ryegrass and wheat provide spring grazing, which results in an extended grazing season after the rye begins to mature. Clovers and vetch increase the protein of the forage as well as the total amount of forage produced and the dry matter intake.

Preferred seeding dates for temporary winter pasture forages are typically from mid-September to the first week of October for south Arkansas. Seeding rates for the annual grasses are as follows:

Rye - two bushels per acre alone or one bushel per acre with wheat or ryegrass.

Wheat - two bushels per acre alone or one bushel with rye or ryegrass.

Ryegrass - 20 to 30 pounds per acre on a prepared seedbed or 30 to 40 pounds per acre overseeded on sod. Reduce seeding rate in half if seeded in combination with a cereal grain.

Oats - three to four bushels per acre alone or 1.5 to two bushels with ryegrass.

Matua - 25 pounds per acre seeded alone.

Seedbed preparation may vary from none to very complete. Complete seedbed preparation consists of breaking, heavy disking, followed by light disking and smoothing. Planting on a prepared seedbed allows two to three weeks earlier planting with less risk of stand failure particularly when compared to seed mixed with fertilizer and broadcast on top of the ground followed by only some shallow soil mixing. Generally, seeding can be done on prepared seedbed after September 1 in southern Arkansas.

Anything less than complete seedbed preparation is usually termed sod seeding or overseeding. This practice can provide excellent winter pasture when seeded in mid- to late-September if soil moisture is adequate. On permanent sods, any growth above two inches should be removed by close grazing or haying just before seeding. Sod seeders and grass drills are excellent tools for overseeding pastures.

The seed will germinate within 6 to 14 days in moist soil. Dry soil will not kill the seed. It is probably better to wait until spring if planting has not been accomplished by November 1.

Total production from winter annuals can be expected to range from one to 3.5 tons of dry forage per acre. The seasonal distribution depends primarily upon the species and variety. Weather conditions have a pronounced effect on seasonal distribution and total production. Wheat, triticale, and rye are well suited to fall and winter production, while ryegrass and oats make the most of their production in the spring.

Nitrogen fertilizers should be applied according to the conditions of the growing season. Fall production may range from none to a ton of dry forage per acre, while winter production usually ranges from less than 500 pounds to as much as a ton per acre. Spring production may vary from less than 1/2 to 3 tons per acre.

Grazing should not begin until the plants have developed the coronal or secondary root system. These are the roots which anchor the plant, making it difficult for cattle to pull up the young seedling. Stands are often reduced if grazing is allowed too soon or if the ground is extremely wet and boggy when fall grazing starts.

Furthermore, overgrazing cool-season annuals in the fall and winter will generally reduce the overall forage yields for the entire season. Prevention of overgrazing should be one of the main management concerns during this time.

From mid-spring through June, there is often more forage than the cattle can consume. During such times, having the acreage of these temporary forages divided into smaller pastures can be very beneficial for obtaining best utilization results. This can be accomplished with temporary electric fencing.

A controlled grazing program will offer at least two advantages over a continuous grazing system for winter annuals. First, forage waste will be reduced with controlled grazing and thereby allow higher stocking rates. Typically for winter annual forages stocking rates can be increased 20 to 30 percent due to improved forage utilization. The other major advantage for controlled grazing as opposed to continuous grazing is that during the spring when excess forage accumulates, some of the fenced-off acreage can be harvested as high quality hay when it is not needed for grazing.

Add magnesium blocks in the spring or feed a magnesium supplement to prevent grass tetany in cattle from fast growing spring grass.

TALL FESCUE PROVIDES COOL SEASON LAWN

If you're having trouble getting grass to grow in a shady area of your yard, your best option may be a cool season grass called tall fescue.

Tall fescue can be planted in the spring or fall, but the best time is in the fall between September 15 and November 1.

If you plant in the spring, the grass won't have enough time to develop a healthy root system before it has to deal with the summer heat. A fall planting will have fall, winter and spring to get up and become established. Although tall fescue is a cool season grass, it can survive summer if it is watered. If you can not water your tall fescue, do not plant it.

You should buy a turf-type tall fescue, not a pasture variety, such as Kentucky-31. K-31 grass tend to clump and it is coarse in texture.

New varieties of tall fescue come out every year, but in the studies I have seen, there is not that much difference between them. Some of the varieties you can choose from are Finelawn, Arid, Apache, Falcon, Hounddog and Rebel.

Prior to seeding, lightly till the soil. Remove as much debris and as many weeds as possible. I do not recommend using a herbicide this late in the year. You could use Roundup now and wait two weeks to seed, but most people who plant fescue have lots of trees in their yard.

If you don't get the grass established before all the leaves fall, you are going to have problems. The leaves will pack down, and you will not be able to rake them because you will have grass seedlings coming up. Or the leaves will shade the soil too much and the grass won't germinate.

So, if you have deciduous trees in your law