Drought Observations

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Thought I'd throw this question out here. Reading noble foundation about chisolm summer dormant fescue. Sounds promising has anyone tried it to reduce hay feeding?
 
Fire Sweep Ranch said:
We are bad here too, in D3 quickly moving to D4. No rain, to speak of, all summer. We are feeding hay already, usually do not start until Christmas. To add insult to injury, we bought 2 loads of hay (28 4 x 5 rounds) a few weeks ago from a place we bought another 70 from in the spring. Nice people who run a poultry farm raising broilers for Tyson. Anyway, we always test our hay, since no one else seems to care and I am feeding fall pairs so I need extra nutrition if the bales are low protein (which they are). So, Friday we went on full hay (out of pasture -except the one that has a bunch of Johnson grass, which is toxic right now). We dropped 2 bales of the newer stuff we just bought, and one of our good hay we put up ourselves. I get the test results later that day; they hay is deadly high in Nitrogen and needs to be pulled immediately. They ate 2/3 of one bale, and not much of the other. No cows died, but now we have to watch for abortions and weak calves being born! That, and when I notified the seller they did not offer reimbursement ($70 each round). We are retesting another batch on Monday, to make sure. The first sample only included 5 bales, so on Monday we will pull at least 10 core samples from different bales. Regardless, the entire issue was not fun. I did unroll one of our good, candy like bales, to dilute what they had already eaten. They gobbled that stuff up! But that stuff is in short supply, and finding hay right now is nearly impossible. The high nitrate hay was likely caused by the drought (3rd cutting according to seller), and chicken litter applied and not able to dilute without rain.
We need another 50 tp 60 rounds to make it through the winter. Not sure where we will find it...
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Check craigslist regularly. Some people have been selling their cow's and selling their hay for $45 to 70 a bale and sometimes less
 
I'm in NE Alabama. Fuel , fertilizer , net wrap and herbicide prices what they are my son figured up we had $40 in a 4x5 net wrapped roll of hay this year. Not figuring in wear and tear on tractors and hay equipment. I couldn't sleep at night charging double or triple for my hay . The Lord has blessed us with what we have this year . Culled some cows and have a couple to cull after they wean calves so I think we have enough .
 
BC said:
For those that question being able to stockpile bermuda or bahia, it can be done, Check out: http://forages.tamu.edu/PDF/SCS 2006 13 Stockpiling Bermudagrass.pdf
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That is an interesting article. It has two weak points for my operation. The first being in mentions east Texas ranch which makes sense because the rye grass pasture it mentions for early spring grazing doesn't work that well alot of years in this area. Rye grass doesn't begin to grow much till late feb or mid march. It mentions that the stockpiled grass needs to be grazed by mid January which still leaves a lot of hay to be fed to get you to that rye grass. The second problem is sometimes it's been cheaper to buy and feed hay than spread the rye grass. Cost of fertilizer and rainfall can make the rye grass plan cost more pretty quick. Rye also seems to compete more with the Bermuda come may. We've seen better results with over seeding oats and wheat even though it cost more to no till it in than spread the rye grass.
 
Brute 23 said:
Tifton is by far the best bermuda I've seen through the winter. If you keep it thick enough it will stay green for us toward the bottom.
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That's interesting. Tifton seems to be hit or miss in this area. I've got a neighbor with two tifton fields that corners almost touch across the county road. Both irrigated and get plenty of fertilizer and water. One makes 4-5,000 pounds per cutting and the other maybe half that. Part of it is tryin to die out and the common bermuda is taking over. The soil is similar but enough different it makes a huge difference. Another neighbor sprigged some jiggs this spring. Be interesting to see how it does next year. I know some of the dairys have good luke with jiggs.
 
Otha said:
That is an interesting article. It has two weak points for my operation. The first being in mentions east Texas ranch which makes sense because the rye grass pasture it mentions for early spring grazing doesn't work that well alot of years in this area. Rye grass doesn't begin to grow much till late feb or mid march. It mentions that the stockpiled grass needs to be grazed by mid January which still leaves a lot of hay to be fed to get you to that rye grass. The second problem is sometimes it's been cheaper to buy and feed hay than spread the rye grass. Cost of fertilizer and rainfall can make the rye grass plan cost more pretty quick. Rye also seems to compete more with the Bermuda come may. We've seen better results with over seeding oats and wheat even though it cost more to no till it in than spread the rye grass.
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Very good post. Spot on.
Ryegrass can be great some years but I've decided I don't want it in my Bermuda. Although I wouldn't have any Bermuda if it wasn't for the overvalued price it brings as hay. There's a lot better grasses with lower input cost.
I sprayed the ryegrass in my Bermuda hayfield in February. I'll blame a new spray rig for the missed strips. It was a real eye opener as to the difference of growth in the ryegrass mix versus no ryegrass. I think in a wet year it wouldn't be so bad . But this last spring the difference was shocking. I've used crimson clover no tilled in as well and I like it better in the Bermuda. The usual spring grazon gets it out of the way and adds some nitrogen they say.
 
Otha said:
That's interesting. Tifton seems to be hit or miss in this area. I've got a neighbor with two tifton fields that corners almost touch across the county road. Both irrigated and get plenty of fertilizer and water. One makes 4-5,000 pounds per cutting and the other maybe half that. Part of it is tryin to die out and the common bermuda is taking over. The soil is similar but enough different it makes a huge difference. Another neighbor sprigged some jiggs this spring. Be interesting to see how it does next year. I know some of the dairys have good luke with jiggs.
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Usually when I see that the ground needs to be worked. Tifton likes to be disked every couple years.
 
callmefence said:
Very good post. Spot on.
Ryegrass can be great some years but I've decided I don't want it in my Bermuda. Although I wouldn't have any Bermuda if it wasn't for the overvalued price it brings as hay. There's a lot better grasses with lower input cost.
I sprayed the ryegrass in my Bermuda hayfield in February. I'll blame a new spray rig for the missed strips. It was a real eye opener as to the difference of growth in the ryegrass mix versus no ryegrass. I think in a wet year it wouldn't be so bad . But this last spring the difference was shocking. I've used crimson clover no tilled in as well and I like it better in the Bermuda. The usual spring grazon gets it out of the way and adds some nitrogen they say.
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When I was a kid we planted rye grass ever year. We had the same issue. One year we ran it through the coastal fields after a late cut. My dad said never again. We thought it was great because no disking. Our grain drill would put it right in the sandy soil.
 
callmefence said:
Very good post. Spot on.
Ryegrass can be great some years but I've decided I don't want it in my Bermuda. Although I wouldn't have any Bermuda if it wasn't for the overvalued price it brings as hay. There's a lot better grasses with lower input cost.
I sprayed the ryegrass in my Bermuda hayfield in February. I'll blame a new spray rig for the missed strips. It was a real eye opener as to the difference of growth in the ryegrass mix versus no ryegrass. I think in a wet year it wouldn't be so bad . But this last spring the difference was shocking. I've used crimson clover no tilled in as well and I like it better in the Bermuda. The usual spring grazon gets it out of the way and adds some nitrogen they say.
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I agree. I don't so much mind it in the pasture because the cows keep it in check.
What's the trick on getting the clover going? I've not been able to get much of it to even come up. Ph is boarder line low but I figured some would still come up? We haven't sprayed any weed killer in years so I know it's not that holding it back. Properly managing the wheat and eats and such in the field has seemed to help keep the weeds at bay. Always something growing and plenty of fertilizer so the weeds never have much of a chance.
 
Otha said:
I agree. I don't so much mind it in the pasture because the cows keep it in check.
What's the trick on getting the clover going? I've not been able to get much of it to even come up. Ph is boarder line low but I figured some would still come up? We haven't sprayed any weed killer in years so I know it's not that holding it back. Properly managing the wheat and eats and such in the field has seemed to help keep the weeds at bay. Always something growing and plenty of fertilizer so the weeds never have much of a chance.
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Clovers do like phosphorous.

Ken
 
Some observations on my little place here NW of Ft Worth.
1. Drought and cooler temps turned my pasture with Giant Bermuda to straw. Lots of grass but just looks like winter already.
2. Pasture with Cheyenne Bermuda greened up with the recent rains, even this late. Past years show my Cheyenne will grow well into November, if we have some rain. I know it is no competition for Coastal overall but for a seeded variety, it extends my grazing by about two month each Spring and each Fall.
3. Annual Ryegrass is coming on good where I broadcast in thin places under my oak trees and in the Giant Bermuda pasture. With some moisture this winter, I may avoid these high hay prices this winter.
 
Where i live, if your ground goes into winter bare, you'll get a great stand of rye. We had a pond dry enough to get a island in the middle for the first time ever... a week after it appeared, it was covered in rye grass....... HOW?????
 
cowgirl8 said:
Where i live, if your ground goes into winter bare, you'll get a great stand of rye. We had a pond dry enough to get a island in the middle for the first time ever... a week after it appeared, it was covered in rye grass....... HOW?????
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Nature finds creative ways. There are over 10 years of seeds stored in the normal soil profile. Dufferent conditions bring up different plants. Birds are natures long-range seed movers as well.
 
rocfarm said:
Actually grew quite a bit of grass. From the recent rains in central Texas. But need more!
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Good looking pasture.

It's funny how when you have grass standing even though the weather may not be prime growing time a little rain will still bring it back to life and green it up.

If you have nothing standing, and you are out of growing season, rain doesn't really do all that much for you. Most probably runs off.
 

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