fescue toxicity

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toxxie24

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does fescue toxicity effect fescue that is cut for hay? i am in north mississippi and i know that it is a problem with grazing cattle, but ive heard mixed answers about hay.
 
It don't bother mine either way, if it weren't for fescue around here the cows would starve to death.
 
Concentrates in seeds and seed heads, they say. Lasts a year in the seeds. I'd guess the same for stems. Better to cut without mature or near mature seedheads but that is not the way most do it.

Easier to select cattle that do well on KY31 fescue and motor on.
 
As the hay cures/ages the toxicity goes down. That's the reason that old saved seed has a poorer germination/survival rate when planted.
 
its hard to get hay cut early enough to avoid seedheads in fescue around here. but i have noticed that most of the heads shatter when cutting, and i assume when raking/baling as well. we dont have a lot of fescue on our ground but im looking at 25 acres that i can rent that will produce an amazing first cutting of fescue.
 
Same here. Hard to get good drying conditions before the fescue heads out, very rare. If you do get the weather, the ground is so wet it just wicks into the hay. You can allow another day for tedding, but by then the weather has changed again. If a guy could justify it, making baleage would be the way to go it seems. Those sileage balers are pricey though, takes a rig to twist it, heavy to handle, but sure smells sweet.
 

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