Chicory Monoculture for Summer Grazing

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Stocker Steve

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I have been looking into chicory for a summer paddock The recommendation is to plant it as a monoculture to allow you to easily manage the bolts.

Have you tried this, and did you see any advantage over a deep rooted legume like alfalfa?
 
All as I heard was that it needs high fertility and is sensitive to over-grazing but it has really high weight gains. Let me how it goes if you plant some. I was thinking of giving it a try in a spot or two also.
 
Don't have any experience with it myself but a dairyman friend said when it was you and vegative the cows loved it but when it went south as far as maturity goes they wouldn't touch it.
 
The only experience I have with chicory is as a wildlife plot. In my experience, you will raise more wild turkeys than you have ever had. The whole brood survives. Turkeys get so intense grazing it they will ignore you rather than leave it (takes some of the fun away from hunting) Cows will chow down on it if they get access.
 
I spoke with the LaCrosse rep Friday. His input was a chicory with clover mix is good for well drained areas like hill sides, but most folks only use it for deer plots because it does not make good hay and they do not want to clip or chop it to keep it from bolting.

I put a lot of line and K into seeding alfalfa on a big ridge last year. In hindsight I should have paid less for inputs and put part of it into a chicory clover mix. Chicory does need N but that has really come down in price.

LaCrosse Forage (Wadena CPS supplier), Barnenburg (Leaf River Ag supplier), Welter Seed (Iowa 1-800-470-3325) all offer chicory. It runs about $7.25 per pound but it is a small seed.
 

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