Fescue life span

[denoginnizer]

How long does/can a fescue plant live?

 

[George Monk]

You mean it actually dies on your place? We burn, spray, plow, overgraze, and cuss the stuff and it never goes away! I think it outlasts rocks.

 

[dun]

Lets see. This place was cleared 75 years or so ago and planted in fescue. It's still here.

dun

 

[MikeC]

I've seen KY 31 die out down here in droughts like we had last year but it is hard to rid it on tree rows and shady areas in prairie type soils.

Most of the old KY 31 stands around here have been replaced with the newer varieties now.

Some left when the soybean boom hit back in the 1970's.

Dallisgrass is the best thing going in permanent pastures here now.

 

[littleboss]

I would think that KY31 would last forever, the newer endophyte free ones probably 3-4 years

 

[MikeC]

I would think that KY31 would last forever, the newer endophyte free ones probably 3-4 years

The newest ones have endophytes also........They are just not detriminal to cattle.

They also subsist 80-90% as well as KY 31. The trials I read were done in North Ga. and Ark.

 

[dun]

I would think that KY31 would last forever, the newer endophyte free ones probably 3-4 years

The newest ones have endophytes also........They are just not detriminal to cattle.

They also subsist 80-90% as well as KY 31. The trials I read were done in North Ga. and Ark.

Of the newer types of fescue there are the novel endophyte varietys and the endophyte free varietys. The folks that planted the endophyte free stuff got robbed, the newer novel endophyte ones have pretty much laid the free ones to rest. Those were the ones that didn;t persist worth squat. Have a couple of neighbors that jumped on that free bandwagon, most of them have gone back to KY31, they had to have something for the cows to eat while the novel ones were being developed.

dun

 

[MikeC]

I would think that KY31 would last forever, the newer endophyte free ones probably 3-4 years

The newest ones have endophytes also........They are just not detriminal to cattle.

They also subsist 80-90% as well as KY 31. The trials I read were done in North Ga. and Ark.

Of the newer types of fescue there are the novel endophyte varietys and the endophyte free varietys. The folks that planted the endophyte free stuff got robbed, the newer novel endophyte ones have pretty much laid the free ones to rest. Those were the ones that didn;t persist worth squat. Have a couple of neighbors that jumped on that free bandwagon, most of them have gone back to KY31, they had to have something for the cows to eat while the novel ones were being developed.

dun

Correct. I have only seen one pasture with the novel endophyte variety. It looked great last fall and we had a very dry summer.

 

[western]

I would think that KY31 would last forever, the newer endophyte free ones probably 3-4 years

The newest ones have endophytes also........They are just not detriminal to cattle.

They also subsist 80-90% as well as KY 31. The trials I read were done in North Ga. and Ark.

Of the newer types of fescue there are the novel endophyte varietys and the endophyte free varietys. The folks that planted the endophyte free stuff got robbed, the newer novel endophyte ones have pretty much laid the free ones to rest. Those were the ones that didn;t persist worth squat. Have a couple of neighbors that jumped on that free bandwagon, most of them have gone back to KY31, they had to have something for the cows to eat while the novel ones were being developed.

dun

Correct. I have only seen one pasture with the novel endophyte variety. It looked great last fall and we had a very dry summer.

Can any of you guys present trial data where the "novel" endophyte fescue has persisted more then 4 or 5 years? I have not seen it yet. I have only heard bad reports on the novel endophyte fescues (from MO. to GA.). And have any of you noticed that all the trial data on the Novel Endophyte fescue is comparing it to K-31??? Of course cattle are going to gain 151% on the novel vs. K-31... I would like to see weight gain trial data comparing novel vs. endo free fescue.

 

[dun]

The novel endophyte fescues haven;t been readily available for much more then 4-5 years.
When we first moved to the fescue belt I was going to get rid of all that poisonous ky31 and plant real grass. Didn;t take long to descover that if it wasn;t for ky31 there wouldn;t be any beef cows in this area.
Now we have one small OG field that we hay in the early summer then graze once or twice, everything else is ky31 with a little oddball OG or timothy and a lot of clover. When I palnt anything other then in the one OG field, it's seed that we've combined or otherwise gathered from our own pastures.
With weaning weights in the mid 6s an occasioanlly the low 7s, how much better would we do with any of the other grasses?

dun

 

[MikeC]

The novel endophyte fescues haven;t been readily available for much more then 4-5 years.
When we first moved to the fescue belt I was going to get rid of all that poisonous ky31 and plant real grass. Didn;t take long to descover that if it wasn;t for ky31 there wouldn;t be any beef cows in this area.
Now we have one small OG field that we hay in the early summer then graze once or twice, everything else is ky31 with a little oddball OG or timothy and a lot of clover. When I palnt anything other then in the one OG field, it's seed that we've combined or otherwise gathered from our own pastures.
With weaning weights in the mid 6s an occasioanlly the low 7s, how much better would we do with any of the other grasses?

dun

I can see where KY 31 might work for you better than here.

Our heat and humidity is a big factor.