It's time to plan fall pasture renovations. What are yours?

[Steve Wilson]

We mostly have old K-31 tall fescue; with a spattering of orchard grass, timothy and red clover. A few areas are really thin and we have been spreading manure on them lately. They were too poor to cut for hay. More short weeds than grass. Last year, we put a lot of manure on one hill and it really turned it around. Likely, it was the addition of organic matter that was mostly responsible. Lots of manure left, so we are putting it on the other two small hillside areas. We are only talking about a few acres of poor grass. All in all, the pastures are healthy, with a thick stand of fescue. But they still need improving to boost nutrition levels and tonnage of the pasture and hay crops.

I'm thinking to divide this improvement into two programs. One will be lightly disked to disturb 50-70% of the fescue, ran over with a flex tine harrow and reseeded with a no till drill, the other will just be no till seeded. The worst sections will recieve the disking.

For a seed mixture, I'm thinking to use winter wheat, an edophyte free fescue, orchard grass and red clover. I still have to puzzle out what amounts of each to use for my mixture but I plan on a very healthy dose of red clover. In the 5 or 6 pounds per acre range and 1 1/2 pounds of ladino clover added for good measure. I also have to talk to the guy that rents the county's Great Plains no till drill to find out if I can put wheat in the front box, grass seed in the middle one and clover in the rear small seed box and come up with a combination of gear box, sprockets and seed settings to make this a one pass operation.

I would love to be able to overseed the entire farm, but finances will restrict it to around a third of it, at best. I'll have to see how the soil tests come back and how the other ammendments limit the available funds. Farming ain't cheap no more. :help:

Given the high price of nitrogen these days, I have become an outspoken advocate of high seeding rates of clovers.

Well, that is my plan. What is yours?

PS: I will likely have to edit this post; once it dawns on me how badly I messed up this one.

Jump in with whatever advice you have.

Thanks,

 

[dun]

2 questions, why disk the fescue and are you planning on seeding friendly endophyte fescue into existing KY31 stands?

 

[Steve Wilson]

Dun,

I'm asking myself why I want do disk and haven't come up with a good reason yet. But it seemed good at the time. As to the endophyte free fescue. Yes, I will be planting it into K-31. My concern is the cross pollination, and if the K-31 will corrupt the friendly fescue and breed bad plants again. That would be bad.

 

[1982vett]

No rain, No renovation. :?

If we can get some moisture, 60 acres oats, the land is already broke so I guess I will suck up the fertilizer and seed costs one more year. Would like to try to pasture drill some arrowleaf or ball clover with some ryegrass into some pastures, again depends on the probablility of getting adequate moisture at the appropriate time.

 

[dun]

Dun,

I'm asking myself why I want do disk and haven't come up with a good reason yet. But it seemed good at the time. As to the endophyte free fescue. Yes, I will be planting it into K-31. My concern is the cross pollination, and if the K-31 will corrupt the friendly fescue and breed bad plants again. That would be bad.

It isn;t so much a cross pollination deal as it is that the KY31 will just out compete the other fescue. If the intention is to dilute the endophyte, OG will help som, but the fescue will choke it out. But at least OG seed is a whole lot cheaper then the friendly endophyte fescue seed. Clover is a better bet, eaiser to seed and cheaper then any of the other alternatives. But maybe I'm just cheap and stuck in a rut.

 

[Boss Cow]

I have been told you cannot put edophyte free fescue in with regular fescue or it will not make.
(the thought was the original fescue would take it over eventually)
My extension agent said it would be a waste of money.
Do any of you know different ?

 

[john250]

Last fall I drilled wheat in 70 acres for quick relief. Drought relief.
Overall, I'm pleased with the results. I got some grazing last fall, and a tremendous hay crop this spring.
I have a very good stand of grass on those acres now, with no additional seed added. Sept 1 last year you would have sworn it was all dead.
This is worth what you are paying, but I would put limited funds into fertilizer and bet there is a seed bank of good stuff wanting to sprout. If you have Ky31 Fescue, it never goes away. Clover is the same, at least alsike clover.
Just a thought.

 

[dun]

People say that fescue causes abortions etc. The only problem I have observed on it is that the cows eat early in the morning. Lay in the shade for a good part of the day and then graze again late afternoon.

The endophyte in KY31 can cause a lot of different problems but most stem from an increase in body temp and poor blood circulation. It causes abortions in horses but and that may be a subtle side affect in cattle, but with the millions of bred cows that eat the stuff if it was a significant problm there would be a more data on it. Mostly during the summer when it's heading out the problem noted is a decrease in gain on calves and poorer milk production in cows. Summer slump. Diluting it with clover or other grasses can mitigate a substantial amount of the problem. When we added clover to straight fescue pastures 10 years ago our weaning weights went up around 15%.
MU extension jokingly said that what we should do is feed the hay in the fall and graze stockpiled fescue during the winter and early spring. Loss of feet and tails are about the most severe problems I've persoanlly seen from fescue toxicity and that was during the winter when the decreased blood flow to the extremities is a more serious problem.

 

[tnextensionagent]

People say that fescue causes abortions etc. The only problem I have observed on it is that the cows eat early in the morning. Lay in the shade for a good part of the day and then graze again late afternoon.

It is not necessarily that it causes abortions in cattle but the fact that it raises the body temperature in cattle which could cause breeding problems. Recently (within the past year) some professors have identified that there is a trait that can be managed that will decrease the effects of toxic fescue on cattle. Many cattleman that have culled fairly aggressively have probably selected cattle that are not affected by the toxic fescue and not even known it.

 

[dun]

People say that fescue causes abortions etc. The only problem I have observed on it is that the cows eat early in the morning. Lay in the shade for a good part of the day and then graze again late afternoon.

It is not necessarily that it causes abortions in cattle but the fact that it raises the body temperature in cattle which could cause breeding problems. Recently (within the past year) some professors have identified that there is a trait that can be managed that will decrease the effects of toxic fescue on cattle. Many cattleman that have culled fairly aggressively have probably selected cattle that are not affected by the toxic fescue and not even known it.

Glad to see science is catching up with the real world. If you're on old long established fescue like ours that was put in 75 years ago, you can pretty well bet that it's awfully hot. By selecting over the years for easy keeping fertile cattle that raise a good calf on the stuff, you've pretty well selected for the genetics that tolerate it.

 

[J. T.]

The discussion of the endophyte KY 31 has been revived many times. As I have said before, an extension agent told me that it was next to impossible to rid a farm of infected fescue. He said that to have the best chance of ridding yourself of it is to poison the grass on your farm and along the ditches and shoulders of the road at least ten feet from your pastures, AND get your neighbors to do the same. Otherwise, the infected grass takes over the non-infected grass and within a few years you will have a thick stand of endophyte infected KY 31 tall fescue once again.