Bahiagrass?

Help Support CattleToday:

A

Anonymous

Can you stockpile bahiagrass for winter use like you can fescue and bermudagrass?
 
Campground Cattle":2pja9ve1 said:
The only way I found to stockpile it is in 1500 lb round bales.
LOL, that is the only way that I found so far to do it. My tight wad self is tryin' to find a way to utilize my bahia pastures other than payin' a contract hay baler to bale it because I am about to tie up all my cattle in my newly planted bermuda pastures so they can keep the crabrass and volunteer millet knocked back.
 
Copenhagen & Shiner Bock":17zv5aug said:
Campground Cattle":17zv5aug said:
The only way I found to stockpile it is in 1500 lb round bales.
LOL, that is the only way that I found so far to do it. My tight wad self is tryin' to find a way to utilize my bahia pastures other than payin' a contract hay baler to bale it because I am about to tie up all my cattle in my newly planted bermuda pastures so they can keep the crabrass and volunteer millet knocked back.

How you gonna teach 'em to eat the crabgrass and millet, and leave the "newly planted bermuda" alone????
 
I guess this is one of the advantages of having your on hay equipment. I tried it both ways. We had five guys in the county that custom baled, one died and the other retired. It got to we were losing fields by waiting to long to cut (protien). It was a big expense, now I only have to worry about the weather, and not trying to get someone to bale it.
 
Campground Cattle":3603tbis said:
I guess this is one of the advantages of having your on hay equipment. I tried it both ways. We had five guys in the county that custom baled, one died and the other retired. It got to we were losing fields by waiting to long to cut (protien). It was a big expense, now I only have to worry about the weather, and not trying to get someone to bale it.

You are absolutely correct on the advantages. The thing that bothers me, besides the initial investment, is the $600 worth of parts this week, the rake hand that doesn't show up tomorrow, the new hand that forgot to grease something, followed by the $3,500 breakdown next week.......
 
Texan":2gr7h1pq said:
Campground Cattle":2gr7h1pq said:
I guess this is one of the advantages of having your on hay equipment. I tried it both ways. We had five guys in the county that custom baled, one died and the other retired. It got to we were losing fields by waiting to long to cut (protien). It was a big expense, now I only have to worry about the weather, and not trying to get someone to bale it.

You are absolutely correct on the advantages. The thing that bothers me, besides the initial investment, is the $600 worth of parts this week, the rake hand that doesn't show up tomorrow, the new hand that forgot to grease something, followed by the $3,500 breakdown next week.......

Your right that the reason I cut I rake and bale. And I still have breakdowns. Had it not been for buying the guys equipment that retired I don't know if I would have got into it. But I bought a 2 year old krone baler and 8'cutter all the rakes for 10,000. I just couldn't pass it up.
 
Texan":1ssaiiwr said:
Copenhagen & Shiner Bock":1ssaiiwr said:
Campground Cattle":1ssaiiwr said:
The only way I found to stockpile it is in 1500 lb round bales.
LOL, that is the only way that I found so far to do it. My tight wad self is tryin' to find a way to utilize my bahia pastures other than payin' a contract hay baler to bale it because I am about to tie up all my cattle in my newly planted bermuda pastures so they can keep the crabrass and volunteer millet knocked back.

How you gonna teach 'em to eat the crabgrass and millet, and leave the "newly planted bermuda" alone????
Well in my sudex(sorghum sudan cross) pastures my cows always go after the crabgrass first before they hit the sudex. The common bermuda in my sudex pastures which is heavy around the fringes and in bare spots is the last thing touched. My cows seem to prefer crabgrass when it is availible over everything else. They also seem to prefer bahia and fescue over bermuda in my mixed pastures.
 
Seems like ours prefer whatever they perceive to be the most tender at the time. Often that is crabgrass (what little we have.)

I guess I have a bad habit of wanting anything we try to establish to get some roots in the ground before we take a chance on grazing it. It's not necessarily what they bite off, but what they pull up and tromp down that hurts a stand.

I'm afraid that "newly planted bermuda" could end up being a mighty expensive treat for mine!
 
Texan":1rh0weqv said:
I guess I have a bad habit of wanting anything we try to establish to get some roots in the ground before we take a chance on grazing it. It's not necessarily what they bite off, but what they pull up and tromp down that hurts a stand.

I'm afraid that "newly planted bermuda" could end up being a mighty expensive treat for mine!
Well I planted one patch with Texas Tough seeded bermudagrass and another with common bermudagrass. I planted both patches on 16 April and they are like 18 inches tall now counting the volunteer millet and crabgrass. You must be talking about sprigged bermuda as being a mighty expensive treat for your cows because seeded bermudagrass doesnt cost much to establish. The crabgrass has took over the common bermuda patch and I have to graze off the crabgrass or lose my bermuda.
 
Copenhagen & Shiner Bock":2ycwfgb6 said:
Texan":2ycwfgb6 said:
I guess I have a bad habit of wanting anything we try to establish to get some roots in the ground before we take a chance on grazing it. It's not necessarily what they bite off, but what they pull up and tromp down that hurts a stand.

I'm afraid that "newly planted bermuda" could end up being a mighty expensive treat for mine!
Well I planted one patch with Texas Tough seeded bermudagrass and another with common bermudagrass. I planted both patches on 16 April and they are like 18 inches tall now counting the volunteer millet and crabgrass. You must be talking about sprigged bermuda as being a mighty expensive treat for your cows because seeded bermudagrass doesnt cost much to establish. The crabgrass has took over the common bermuda patch and I have to graze off the crabgrass or lose my bermuda.

Well actually, Cope, I consider every improvement I make as expensive, even if I just mix seed with the fertilizer and dust it in. However, I wasn't thinking about newly planted bermuda being 18" tall. That sounds pretty good. Do you notice any difference in the common and Texas Tough?

On the crabgrass, seems like I see more of it this year than ever before. We've got it in places I've never seen it including pastures, meadows, yard and garden. You might have to try a chemical control on it to save your stand because as you say, it is very invasive.

On your original question. I have never tried to stockpile the Bahia, but it seems to burn back closer to the ground after frost than the bermuda. Not a very scientific study, but my observation is that it shrivels more, or loses more dry matter after frost than many of the other grasses.
 
Texan":1s2jqqxt said:
Copenhagen & Shiner Bock":1s2jqqxt said:
Texan":1s2jqqxt said:
I guess I have a bad habit of wanting anything we try to establish to get some roots in the ground before we take a chance on grazing it. It's not necessarily what they bite off, but what they pull up and tromp down that hurts a stand.

I'm afraid that "newly planted bermuda" could end up being a mighty expensive treat for mine!
Well I planted one patch with Texas Tough seeded bermudagrass and another with common bermudagrass. I planted both patches on 16 April and they are like 18 inches tall now counting the volunteer millet and crabgrass. You must be talking about sprigged bermuda as being a mighty expensive treat for your cows because seeded bermudagrass doesnt cost much to establish. The crabgrass has took over the common bermuda patch and I have to graze off the crabgrass or lose my bermuda.

Well actually, Cope, I consider every improvement I make as expensive, even if I just mix seed with the fertilizer and dust it in. However, I wasn't thinking about newly planted bermuda being 18" tall. That sounds pretty good. Do you notice any difference in the common and Texas Tough?
Well the Texas Tough is outperforming the common bermuda by 8 to 12 inches and I planted both on the same day. The Giant (NK 37) bermudagrass componet of the Texas Tough is what is really growing, but I do not know if it can withstand the cold winters that we get in South Carolina sometimes. The common patch has a greater crabgrass problem though.
 
Beefy":3rb682u5 said:
ours like crabgrass, then bermuda, then bahia.

mine love the crabgrass, and it seems i have more and more of it taking over... it has taken over some of my bermuda and i dont like that because the crabgrass is not nearly as tolerant to drought/heat. it will die out in aug, sept around here.

but, i dont know what to do about it. i like the bermuda better than bahia, but the bahia holds its own better.

i suspect my problem is that my ground is not what it needs to be in the areas that the crabgrass has taken over. it is relatively new pasture ground and it takes awhile to get it like you want it.

it seems to be a constant battle, and maybe over the years i will get it to where i want it.

to address the original question, i have another pasture with bahia on it. late in the year it will be grown up more than my other pastures, but over the winter the cows will nibble on it until by spring, there is not much height left in most areas. however, i cant tell you if it stockpiles as well as bermuda.


jt
 
One of my neighbors is an 85 year old man and he stockpiles a pasture of Argentine Bahia for his cattle each fall and they seem to do just fine with it. One of the knocks on Bahia has always been that it gets very tough as it gets old, hence a lot of guys clip it during spring & summer if the growth gets ahead of their cattle and they don't hay it. But this old fellow doesn't do ANY hay feeding in the "winter" and therefore his cows are't too proud to eat the stockpiled Bahia --- it's either eat it or starve! Our winters tend to be very rainy (which shortens the "life" of a stockpiled pasture) but very rarely do we get down to 32 degrees of colder. Have no idea how Pensacola, Tifton or Paraguay Bahia might perform in a stockpile program, but probably just about the same as with Argentine.
 

Latest posts

Top