Grass experts

[cross_7]

What do you think about this ?
I have no experience with bermuda, but this is not what I have been told or believed
It doesn't state where the study was, probably not at Stillwater, so I guess it would depend where and the climate.
They say frost, but I'd like to see the protein levels after hard freezes in the same time frame
Reckon I could get a government grant for my study ?

 

[TexasBred]

Amazing it has such glowing numbers "stockpiled". Cut it and bale it and most of it won't test 9% protein.

 

[BC]

Here is a link to some work on stockpiling in East Texas.
http://forages.tamu.edu/PDF/stockpiled.pdf

Take notice that the grass is fertilized in the fall and allowed to grow.

 

[cross_7]

Here is a link to some work on stockpiling in East Texas.
http://forages.tamu.edu/PDF/stockpiled.pdf

Take notice that the grass is fertilized in the fall and allowed to grow.

That is similar to the OSU study
I winder how much ryegrass is in the samples ?

 

[dun]

The fertilizing is the point that most people miss when it comes to stockpiling. Just because it grows doesn;t mean it has high nutritional value unless it's been fertilized.

 

[1982vett]

Amazing it has such glowing numbers "stockpiled". Cut it and bale it and most of it won't test 9% protein.

All in how you manipulate your study.

I know it takes a hungry cow to eat stockpiled bermuda. I'd rather have it in a bale of hay. Even then I'd rather have prarie hay, ryegrass, or haygrazer.

Right now I don't have the dilemma, They got hungry and ate just about everything but the broom weed and ragweed.

 

[BC]

Here is a link to some work on stockpiling in East Texas.
http://forages.tamu.edu/PDF/stockpiled.pdf

Take notice that the grass is fertilized in the fall and allowed to grow.

That is similar to the OSU study
I winder how much ryegrass is in the samples ?

From what I was told, it was a straight Bermuda field that was managed for stockpiling. It was grazed down in August and early September, fertilized in early to mid September. Cattle turned on in early November. The key is to grow new growth going into the fall with the fertilizer. You need to plan to strip graze it to get best utilization. Unless you are on a prepared seedbed, ryegrass provides little grazing in East Texas until February.

 

[cross_7]

My very limited experience was with native if there is such a thing or maybe just common that showed up somehow, but as Vette said after a freeze you can't hardly get them to eat it.
Now if it's just a frost and is able to maintain some green which may be the case as the protein levels go up in Feb indicating it's growing and not dormant.
So environment would be a factor cause Feb here is one of the colder months and freezes most every night
But if I were in an area that didn't get so cold it would be worth a try and save the expense of hay

 

[CJohnson]

I have stockpiled bermudagrass in East Texas this way for the past 6 years or so. It does work and the cows eat it fine. You must graze it short, cut for hay, or shred before fertilizing. I usually put out the fertilizer end of August. Much into September and cool nights will limit how much you can stockpile. How good the quality hold up depends on how much rain we get in the fall. Last year September was wet for us and October and November were very dry. I had lots of volume and quality held up higher than normal. I was able to graze it until mid-January. Most years it is more like end of December. Sometimes you need to start supplementing in December if stools are stacking up. You can use cubes, high protein hay (peanut, alfalfa or similar), or protein tubs. Another thing I have done that works real well is to plant 1/3 of a field in cereal rye / ryegrass and fertilizer the other 2/3 as above for stockpiled bermudagrass. I save this pasture for last when the quality is going down. When I graze this, I give them a long narrow section that has 1/3 cereal rye and 2/3 bermudagrass. Your electric fence has to be hot and I don't push them very hard on grazing it short. I find this much cheaper than hay. In essence you cut out the harvesting cost and the cost of feeding it in the winter. I still have to feed hay in January and February until clover / ryegrass comes on.

 

[apical meristem]

CJohnson, in your experience has availability mattered in cattle's willingness to graze? From my experience, if they are not limited by smaller paddock or a hot wire they will tend to roam into the woods and look for something green. Their roaming decreases their intake and their intake decreasing is what decreases their body condition faster than the quality of the grass. One of the keys is to match life cycle with stockpile. It would be best for cows to be dry-pregnant for them to be grazing stockpile in the late fall and winter. Like you said, the amount of precipitation plays a big role in the stockpile and not the temperature or frost.

 

[CJohnson]

Most of my pastures are set up that they really can't roam much and don't have much woods. They start where the water is located and we strip graze with electric fencing with daily moves when on stockpile. I have only done this with dry pregnant cows. I think you would need to supplement a good bit if you had pairs on it.

 

[ncc220]

we have been doing this for a few years and it has worked pretty well for us, I like to fertilize in mid september and usually do not have to turn into it until early to mid november (I run a pretty tight hilf rotation but i stock somewhat conservatively) and they do quite well i have never gotten a forage test on it so not positive of the protein content but I will start supplementing when they start stacking piles like CJohnson said but it will usually carry us into late december dependent on when i have to turn in, i am running my grandfathers herd so i dont get all the say but if i could i would most definitely strip graze instead of manipulating grazing through water, mineral, and protein like i am doing now. As far as the stage of production we are usually running dry 5-6 months bred brood cows so as far as nutritional needs they will easily be met with light protein supplementation. Once stockpile is depleted we feed free choice hay and have about 25-30 acres of wheat, ryegrass,and turnips that we will turn in on for a few hours every couple days to allow for adequate protein consumption instead of supplementing with bought feed and allows for us to allow for cheaper costs of keeping up with the increasing needs of them as they near calving time. Usually we will feed until end of march to early april dependent on temp. and moisture to get the coastal going good. In my opinion you could run pairs on stockpiled forage but it will only pay if you can get protein supplements cheaper than say planting cool season annuals to run on or feeding good hay with annuals as a supplement.