Ran across this old thread looking for some more information. I am not an expert, but I do have some knowledge on some of the forages brought up in this thread. I am in central Alabama and much of my experience is in the Black Belt prairie. I would like to share my experiences with certain forages. As already stated, Johnson grass is the highest quality grass grown in the south, as evidenced by the desire for cows to graze it. It can be grazed out under continuous grazing, for that exact reason. If you have it, you should encourage it. It loves periodic tillage. Because it is listed as a noxious weed in several states, due to its invasion of crop land, seed is hard to find. However, bale grazing or rolling out Johnson grass hay can spread the forage to your pastures. Dallisgrass seed, due to the difficulty in harvesting it, is also hard to find. It is probably, behind Johnson grass, the second most nutritious forage in the south. It should be warmly welcomed if it shows up in your pastures. Both of these grasses are perennials, and will be available year after year, unless you manage to graze them out. They are not as tolerant of drought as bahia or Bermuda, but are considerably better quality. Crabgrass, though not a perennial like the other two, is an aggressive reseeder, just ask the row crop guys. It tries to fill in any open spaces that bahia and Bermuda leave behind. Seed is readily available from RL Dalrymple in Ardmore, Ok. It does like occasional tillage to keep the annual seed drop active. These are the top warm season forages in the south, and should be welcomed and encouraged to grow and not sprayed out.
