"Improved" pasture stand longevity ?

[Stocker Steve]

i am doing some work to increase my productive stand life to 6 to 8 years. I am avoiding orchard grass and tall fescue due to previous winter kill issues. Sounds like post grazing residue and soil fertility are both key. Do you have any other tips on how to keep meadow fescue, meadow brome, or reed canary stands going?

 

[dun]

Managment of grazing, fertility, climate adapted grass and the type of grass would be the keys. The grazing managment would be partially the post grazing residue, leaving enough so that the grass doesn;t lose viability due to root/crown weakness. Also stopping grazing before the stuff goes dormant so that it can store nutrients in the root/crown so that it will be stronger in the spring and start growing sooner. I can understand OG winter killing, but tall fescue, if the KY31 type, I don;t understand winter kill. I don;t doubt that you had a problem with it but I just don;t understand what would cause it. Granted we don;t have prolonged winters (although some years they seem like it, but I've not seen any other grass that can be grazed down to almost bare dirt and come back with a little warm weather and rain. The stand would be weaker, I see that all around me, but it wouldn't die.

 

[Bigfoot]

Obviously, I've never managed a stand of grass in your country. Here it's key to not overgraze. You never want grass coming back from the root, just the leaf. Also keep the weeds out, and the grass will spread.

 

[ANAZAZI]

Well my first two things to advice is grow Orchard grass and tall fescue...

 

[AllForage]

Well my first two things to advice is grow Orchard grass and tall fescue...

Exactly, I have not had a problem.

 

[Lucky_P]

Steve,
OG/fescue/clover/lespedeza(and various assorted 'volunteers, like crabgrass, Johnsongrass, buckhorn plantain, etc.) here.

Some of the universities are finally doing some 'grazing persistence' trials on forage varieties.
It's all well and good to report % stand, yield/acre on small test plots that are optimally managed and clipped to measure T/acre... but in the real world, you need to know if Variety X will tolerate grazing and last more than a year or two... Some that are 'more productive' lose their edge when it comes to 'lasting' in a real-world, grazing setting.

Made the mistake of planting some endophyte-free fescue 15 years ago in some reclaimed corn/bean ground. Looked great, got a good stand. Lasted 1, maybe 2 years. Could not hold up to grazing or drought conditions. OG varieties planted at that same time must have been pretty unpalatable, as they were absolutely the last thing the cows would eat.
Max-Q fescue and Persist OG have done well here in in the interim.

 

[Douglas]

Fescue persists for years here if you don't graze it.

 

[Stocker Steve]

I can understand OG winter killing, but tall fescue, if the KY31 type, I don;t understand winter kill. I don;t doubt that you had a problem with it but I just don;t understand what would cause it. Granted we don;t have prolonged winters (although some years they seem like it, but I've not seen any other grass that can be grazed down to almost bare dirt and come back with a little warm weather and rain. The stand would be weaker, I see that all around me, but it wouldn't die.

- We usually rest "improved" pastures from late August till a killing frost, before grazing the stock pile. Not grazing in the fall may have helped a little by moderating temperature.
- It is well known that alfalfa will not persist w/o great fertility. We have been grid testing and building up P and K.
- Barnenburg is the biggest seed supplier. No K31 here. Other than that I am sure they sell the same improved seed in Missouri, Iowa, and Minnesota. I don't think they have factered in what it takes to survive an open winter at -30 F.
- I found some Wisconsin hardiness data by variety. Fescues and OGs were 2s and 3s. Native grasses were 1s (best) and 2s... Looks like you need to be #1 when the site is exposed, dry, and cold.

 

[dun]

I can understand OG winter killing, but tall fescue, if the KY31 type, I don;t understand winter kill. I don;t doubt that you had a problem with it but I just don;t understand what would cause it. Granted we don;t have prolonged winters (although some years they seem like it, but I've not seen any other grass that can be grazed down to almost bare dirt and come back with a little warm weather and rain. The stand would be weaker, I see that all around me, but it wouldn't die.

- We usually rest "improved" pastures from late August till a killing frost, before grazing the stock pile. Not grazing in the fall may have helped a little by moderating temperature.
- It is well known that alfalfa will not persist w/o great fertility. We have been grid testing and building up P and K.
- Barnenburg is the biggest seed supplier. No K31 here. Other than that I am sure they sell the same improved seed in Missouri, Iowa, and Minnesota. I don't think they have factered in what it takes to survive an open winter at -30 F.
- I found some Wisconsin hardiness data by variety. Fescues and OGs were 2s and 3s. Native grasses were 1s (best) and 2s... Looks like you need to be #1 when the site is exposed, dry, and cold.

The best seed for your area is seed that isgathered off your own farm. That's all we've used for years and it persists no matter what unlike the neighbors that is always buying seed (it's usually from Oregon) and it doesn;t persist well at all. Thatss the reason he is reseeding every year or 2.

 

[Stocker Steve]

Sounds like most grass seed comes from Oregon, because the productivity is high there.
I bought some seed out of ND last year, and that did make it thru the open arctic vortex winter. I just ordered some more.