Lucky_P
Well-known member
We renovated a 45-acre corn/soybean field to endophyte-free fescue (I've forgotten the variety... maybe 'Duo', which is actually a festulolium -a fescue/ryegrass hybrid) + Benchmark orchardgrass & mix of red & Ladino clovers, back in 2000. Got a GREAT stand! But... the second year, we hit a drought situation, and it turned toes-up. And, the cows would hardly even touch the Benchmark... it would be the very last thing they would graze off.
Re-drilled a blend of Max-Q(novel endophyte fescue) and Persist orchardgrass to replace it. Did OK; the Max-Q is still hanging in there, Persist has thinned and needs 'thickening' up, but IDK if the kid who's cutting hay these days is up to paying for more seed and dragging the drill across the fields... I'm not gonna do it for him. We rotationally-grazed that field - and the rest of the farm - moving to a new paddock every 1-3 days, depending upon conditions, for nearly 20 years, and it still looks good. Cows came off the pastures about the end of October, and went back out, usually in April... or whenever we ran out of hay.
Had 45 acres of poor upland ground that had a decent stand of KY-31 on about half of it. Killed it off to plant the mix of MaxQ and Persist around the same time we reclaimed the creekbottom field. I've regretted killing the KY-31 off the 'topside' pastures almost every day. Yeah, I got some MaxQ growing, but it never came in as thick as the KY-31 was. If it had that to do over.... I'd just spend more $$ on legumes and lime.
I have not tested any fields to see if high-endophyte KY-31 re-introduced itself.
Red clover, IMO, is for hayfields. Ladino is good in a grazing setting. If it's poor, upland, ground, with lower pH than is optimal for clover... annual lespedeza is good... cows like it, and it puts on the bulk of its growth in July/Aug, when clovers and cool-season grasses are slumping.
I have quite a bit of dallisgrass, crabgrass, and johnsongrass in the sward, which provided good summer grazing, and now contributes significantly to second-cutting hay.
Re-drilled a blend of Max-Q(novel endophyte fescue) and Persist orchardgrass to replace it. Did OK; the Max-Q is still hanging in there, Persist has thinned and needs 'thickening' up, but IDK if the kid who's cutting hay these days is up to paying for more seed and dragging the drill across the fields... I'm not gonna do it for him. We rotationally-grazed that field - and the rest of the farm - moving to a new paddock every 1-3 days, depending upon conditions, for nearly 20 years, and it still looks good. Cows came off the pastures about the end of October, and went back out, usually in April... or whenever we ran out of hay.
Had 45 acres of poor upland ground that had a decent stand of KY-31 on about half of it. Killed it off to plant the mix of MaxQ and Persist around the same time we reclaimed the creekbottom field. I've regretted killing the KY-31 off the 'topside' pastures almost every day. Yeah, I got some MaxQ growing, but it never came in as thick as the KY-31 was. If it had that to do over.... I'd just spend more $$ on legumes and lime.
I have not tested any fields to see if high-endophyte KY-31 re-introduced itself.
Red clover, IMO, is for hayfields. Ladino is good in a grazing setting. If it's poor, upland, ground, with lower pH than is optimal for clover... annual lespedeza is good... cows like it, and it puts on the bulk of its growth in July/Aug, when clovers and cool-season grasses are slumping.
I have quite a bit of dallisgrass, crabgrass, and johnsongrass in the sward, which provided good summer grazing, and now contributes significantly to second-cutting hay.
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