johnsongrass summer advice

[Allenw]

Round up in the late fall will knock the snot out of it, works good when the JG is burning up in a drought too. Found that out by accident had some round up mixed in a sprayer I wanted to empty and used it on a burned up patch I thought was too far gone for it to work. Had just a bit come up the next spring.

 

[Lucky_P]

I welcome every sprig of JG that pops up in my pastures. Good warm-season forage, preferred by cows, regrows rapidly - it's the first thing they eat when they hit a fresh paddock. We use almost no N fertilizer, so I have almost no concerns about NO3 toxicity, and only consider prussic acid(HCN) as an issue immediately after a killing frost.
If JG were as deadly as some of you folks seem to think... there wouldn't be many live cattle in the Southern US.
I sure wouldn't be trying to kill it out of my pastures... cows will graze it out of existence if you let them have continuous, unfettered access to it.

We'll never know, and I know I won't change FireSweep's mind... but I remember when she posted last year... I was thinking: that little clump of standing, undamaged JG didn't kill that cow; I've pulled and hand-fed to the old pet cow, more than that from spots around the barn/yard, outside the pasture fence, with no concerns.

 

[nocows]

In Missouri it is considered a noxious weed and the Mo department of Ag actually has control boards specifically for JG. I pulled this from the website.

"The Missouri Department of Agriculture provides assistance to landowners regarding chemical, mechanical and biological control of noxious weed species. The department also is responsible for appointing members to the state's various Johnson Grass Control Boards.

Enforcement of Missouri's noxious weed statutes is handled by the county prosecutor. The Missouri Department of Agriculture has no authority to deal with noxious weed violations but is happy to provide technical assistance to any landowner dealing with a noxious weed problem."

https://agriculture.mo.gov/plants/pdf/m ... ed-law.pdf

 

[M-5]

In Missouri it is considered a noxious weed and the Mo department of Ag actually has control boards specifically for JG. I pulled this from the website.

"The Missouri Department of Agriculture provides assistance to landowners regarding chemical, mechanical and biological control of noxious weed species. The department also is responsible for appointing members to the state's various Johnson Grass Control Boards.

Enforcement of Missouri's noxious weed statutes is handled by the county prosecutor. The Missouri Department of Agriculture has no authority to deal with noxious weed violations but is happy to provide technical assistance to any landowner dealing with a noxious weed problem."

https://agriculture.mo.gov/plants/pdf/m ... ed-law.pdf

typical bureaucracy trying to fix something that ain't broke.

 

[backhoeboogie]

Vet looked at her and said it was likely the JG. There is no good test for JG death, other than pulling fluid from the eyeball. I did not want to incur more expense, since she was dead. The rest of that year I just went ahead of the cows with the brush hog and knocked down all the stands before they moved in. Our patches have gone from a few blades here and there to all over! That happened over the summer last year, when we were shy on rain and everything was drying up. We had not fertilized, and that was the second time we were grazing that section for that season.
We shall see how the weed wiper works... it will be worth the expense if it takes out all of the JG, but that might take a few years.

I agree with your vet.

It has already been said, hungry cows on fresh pasture is the risk. I know of a case where chicken fertilizer was used and the Johnson Grass took off. It killed nearly a dozen when the cows were turned out on that pasture.

As far as getting rid of it, the cows will do that for you if you let them graze it. The absolute best was I know to rid of a pasture of JG is to let the cows graze it out. The prefer it over most other grasses.

 

[kentuckyguy]

We have johnsongrass in all of our hay fields on the second and third cutting. To be honest I welcome it. Many years when we have dry weather through the mud summer the johnsongrass really boost our hay production and the cows love it.

Also I will mention that we don't have any johnsongrass in our pasture fields which is due to the fact that the cattle eat it first. When they are turned into a area with some johnsongrass it's eaten up quick.

 

[pdubdo]

Interesting thread. I called the Noble foundation and here were their main points:
1. Fear of toxicity is high, but reports of actual kills are rare (someone already said this here)
2. Danger is in the new growth (prussic acid) and bottom of stalk (nitrates). So growth AFTER drought (first rainfall), summer mowing, or non-killing freeze results in higher concentrations.
3. Herbicide application results in higher prussic acid concentrations for up to a couple of weeks (I'm assuming that's if you get an incomplete kill, stress the plant, and it starts regrowing from the rhizomes?)

So I'm gonna graze away, not stress too much this summer, and pray I don't post pictures of dead cows in August!

 

[Allenw]

Once cattle are on the johnson grass they normally don't have any problems. They get used to it and don't have that desire to pig out on it that they do when you when first turned out.