Cost of Sprigging

[Chuckie]

I talked to my Extension Agent a few weeks ago. I asked him about sprigging and he said that Vaughn's was a good bermuda for this area. He also told me that it was very expensive to get established. He recommended that I purchase enough to sprig one acre, then let it get established, then cut sprigs from that acre to spread on the rest of the area that I wanted it on. He said that the cost an acre to establish Vaughn's was in the area of $750. All I could do was stand there with my mouth open in disbelief. Someone tell me that it isn't so!

 

[Mahoney Pursley Ranch]

Seed and fertilizer guy in town quoted me $44.00 acre to seed bermuda/rye mix with fertilzer. I"m buying a spreader for my tractor and doing it myself.

 

[Chuckie]

Mahoney Pursley Ranch, I have looked at it all. I had decided to plant Cheyenne bermuda, but looking at the production that you get from Vaughn's, make me want to find more about it. Vaughn's supposedly grows taller with more protein, and is more slender and dries better. It is supposed to produce more hay per acre than Cheyenne.
Of course, when I say sprigging, I do not mean someone come out and run a sprigger across my field. I am talking about taking a manure spreader and slinging it, then disking it in. I do the work myself.
I priced the Cheyenne seed. It is outrageous too. Right now, they are setting it up for the price to be out of sight. Seems the last price I saw was between $5 and $6 a pound. They recommend 15 lbs an acre. Right now they say they are out. They have all the other bermuda seed.
Common bermuda is sounding better every day. It doesn't get as tall nor does it grow as fast. So... I am trying to make a decision on which way to go. I have considered common bermuda before.
I could plant an acre of the Vaughn's and plant millet on the other acreage I am going to put more Vaughn's on until I get the one acre established. Then start moving the bermuda the next year. But it is going to take a long time to get the field established. Seems like a long time to get there and a lot of money to boot.

 

[Mahoney Pursley Ranch]

We have common burmuda growing in our garden (which I have let go to hell) that is knee high. What more could ya want for grazing?

 

[txag]

Chuckie,

do you know of anyone in the area with Vaughn's? i'm not familiar with it, but it might be a good idea to talk to someone who has tried it before diving in. you might also be able to buy some sprigs off of them cheaper than you're looking at.

 

[la4angus]

What more could ya want for grazing?

Probaly a hell of a lot more than you have in your garden unless you have a humongous garden.

 

[Mahoney Pursley Ranch]

What more could ya want for grazing?

Probaly a hell of a lot more than you have in your garden unless you have a humongous garden.

Was useing the garden as an example :roll: Have it in the pasture also. The point is common burmuda is cheap and grows well,even without much rain.

 

[Chuckie]

txag, the deal with Vaughn's, when you purchase it from an authorized dealer, you have to sign a contract that you will not cut any of the sprigs off of your land and sell to anyone to replant. You can only buy it from a dealer. You can move it around on your land, but, you cannot move it to another owner. That is all I know about it at this point. :roll:
If I were only planting it to graze, the common would be fine. But I am planting it for hay. So I want to get as much as I can per acre. I am trying to decide if the cost of the Vaughn's, with the production, vs the Cheyenne, vs the common is going to come out ahead in the long run. I guess not many people have all three bermudas in different pastures, and can tell me exactly what I need to know.

 

[Beefy]

$100 per acre to sprig Alicia, coastal, tift 85 i know. i assume about the same for other varieties.

 

[Chuckie]

Sounds like I need to go further than my extension agent to find more about the Vaughn's.
Vaughn's is supposed to be the best one in this area as far as growing potential. Seems Tifton is another, but I don't know of anyone who has it.

 

[ALACOWMAN]

txag, the deal with Vaughn's, when you purchase it from an authorized dealer, you have to sign a contract that you will not cut any of the sprigs off of your land and sell to anyone to replant. You can only buy it from a dealer. You can move it around on your land, but, you cannot move it to another owner. That is all I know about it at this point. :roll:
If I were only planting it to graze, the common would be fine. But I am planting it for hay. So I want to get as much as I can per acre. I am trying to decide if the cost of the Vaughn's, with the production, vs the Cheyenne, vs the common is going to come out ahead in the long run. I guess not many people have all three bermudas in different pastures, and can tell me exactly what I need to know.

No wonder it so high they want to hog the market.I woundnt get involved with an outfit i had to sign a contract with

 

[Tod Dague]

What more could ya want for grazing?

Probaly a hell of a lot more than you have in your garden unless you have a humongous garden.

Was useing the garden as an example :roll: Have it in the pasture also. The point is common burmuda is cheap and grows well,even without much rain.

I have common, Costal, and Tifton 85 on my tiny little place. There is a big difference between the common and Costal. There isn't as much difference with the Costal and Tifton 85, but the Tifton does out perform it and the cows will graze it first before moving to the other grasses.

 

[ALACOWMAN]

comman bermuda make decent hay.but tough for cattle to graze. mine usually wont really graze it till after frost or goes
dorment. this is just my observation.

 

[Chuckie]

Our cows do the same. The bermuda is the last thing they will graze. But it is common.
txag, I know a man that grows Vaughn's. I just have to get in touch with him. He was standing there the day the Extension man told me how high it was to get established. Either he agreed with the Ext. man or he just didn't want to contradict what he said in front of others.
I am off next week and I am going to do some investigating on it. I have two things on my agenda for sure that week. One is to go see the field of Vaughn's and see if I can find another variety like Tod mentioned. The more I read about Common bermuda, and the results, I am leaning toward the others. It might be a bit more expensive to start, but in the long run, it will pay off.
Oh, and the second thing on my agenda is to go look at a Gelbvieh cow in person.

 

[Arnold Ziffle]

Chuckie, FWIW my advice would be to start small if you decide to spend the big bucks on the Vaughn -- make sure you don't have the same sad situation of a lot of folks that fell for the Worldfeeder p.r. Be sure to find out directly from the guy you know, as well as others that are actually having such wonderful results (and preferably those that are not now growers/suppliers for Vaughn), their soil type, fertilization program, etc. You might not have similar soil types, etc. By the way, Worldfeeder was also restricted to propagation only on the same farm site. But, if Vaughn spreads like Jiggs does does down here, you can at least be comforted by the fact that your starter plot can generate some quick and exponential growth. With the right moisture, fertilizer and growing conditions you should be able to take several cuttings off of larger and larger nursery plots in the first few years. Good luck.

 

[icandoit]

I googled Vaughn Grass Seed and found this interesting article that I thought I would share. Does'nt have a cost factor though.

http://www.colostate.edu/Depts/CoopExt/ ... gsefrc.htm

Dick

 

[alabama]

It is my understanding that Cheyenne is a blend of Bermuda grasses with one type being "giant." For some reason the giant stand will only last for a few years before the entire stand will revert to common. Therefore, for pasture I would say that Cheyenne is fine but for hay, I recommend sprigging. Any of the costal verities will do but Russell seems to out perform most other types.
It has been my experience that with all maintenance inputs being the same you can make much more good quality hay with sprigged Bermuda than with anything else. I have a field of Russell and one of Bahia. I put the same thing into both fields including cutting cost and always make 3 to 4 times the hay off the costal. I can sell the costal for more per roll too. I still like the Bahia cut in the late dough stage to feed my cows. They stay slick all winter.

 

[Chuckie]

I loacated a field of Vaughn's and will go look at it this weekend. I like the idea of sprigging better the more I read. I didn't know that Cheyenne had Giant Bermuda in it. From everything I have read about Giant, it isn't a highly recommended grass.