Ky 31 Fescue Pastures

[Lawson Farms]

What is you recommendation for how to handle and existing stand of KY 31 Fescue? I just attended a class regarding the use of beneficial endophyte fescue such as MaxQ, but I'm not sure I've got the finances to change everything right now. Should I just forget the ability to bale any and keep the seed heads mowed off and graze it?

BL

 

[dun]

Seed in clover so that around 50% of the pasture growth is clover. That will dilute the endophyte to the point that it's affects will be minimized. Also select replacements with thier doing ability on fescue. Takes a while but before too long you won;t really be able to tell if the endophyte may be casing problems or not. Another reason for keeping your own replacements rather then buying them in.

 

[Lawson Farms]

Should I pretty much give up on the idea of fescue hay production and just fence it in and make it pasture?

 

[dun]

Should I pretty much give up on the idea of fescue hay production and just fence it in and make it pasture?

If I remember correctly the enophyte decreases after cutting. If you're going to pasture it dilute it with clover if you're going to hay it dilute it with OG and some clover. We've fed nothing but hot fescue for years and haven;t had any issues that I can attribute to the fescue.

 

[tripleBfarms]

Should I pretty much give up on the idea of fescue hay production and just fence it in and make it pasture?

If I remember correctly the enophyte decreases after cutting. If you're going to pasture it dilute it with clover if you're going to hay it dilute it with OG and some clover. We've fed nothing but hot fescue for years and haven;t had any issues that I can attribute to the fescue.

Same Here. Graze it, roll it, embrace it

 

[dwa]

Should I pretty much give up on the idea of fescue hay production and just fence it in and make it pasture?

Fescue is great. Like they said, clovers will dilute it. I've heard the endophyte free fescues are having trouble in droughts because of overgrazing. The endophyte in KY 31 helps keeping cattle from overgrazing.

If you have the ability to fence in the fescue hay fields, I would. It makes great winter stockpile. Why cut, rake, bale, haul to barn, then haul to cows when you could just go strip it with polywire once a day through the winter? Electric fence and polywire is a lot cheaper and easier to maintain than baling equipment.

 

[Red Bull Breeder]

Use a good mineral with CTC, it will help a lot.

 

[skyhightree1]

Should I pretty much give up on the idea of fescue hay production and just fence it in and make it pasture?

If I remember correctly the enophyte decreases after cutting. If you're going to pasture it dilute it with clover if you're going to hay it dilute it with OG and some clover. We've fed nothing but hot fescue for years and haven;t had any issues that I can attribute to the fescue.

all of my pastures mostly consist of 40% orchard 40% ky31 20% of clovers no issues...

 

[Fire Sweep Ranch]

Should I pretty much give up on the idea of fescue hay production and just fence it in and make it pasture?

If I remember correctly the enophyte decreases after cutting. If you're going to pasture it dilute it with clover if you're going to hay it dilute it with OG and some clover. We've fed nothing but hot fescue for years and haven;t had any issues that I can attribute to the fescue.

Same Here. Graze it, roll it, embrace it

Love this quote! I might have to use it. We live in the fescue kingdom here. We had a fellow rancher kill all his K31 and replace it with MaxQ. He took several years. He did a bunch of talks for the extension on his improved gains and benefits, he is an outstanding record keeper. Last year with the drought, he had to move some cows to a new field he had rented and not converted yet. The pictures of the cows affected were horrible! Several lost their hooves, and he had to put several down. To me, the loss of those few cows can not compensate for the gains he got by converting. If our cows do not make it on fescue, they go. I have a few that I think are borderline, they still have not shed their hair and are the first to the water to cool off, but they still give me a good calf every year so they stay.

 

[Banjo]

Love this quote! I might have to use it. We live in the fescue kingdom here. We had a fellow rancher kill all his K31 and replace it with MaxQ. He took several years. He did a bunch of talks for the extension on his improved gains and benefits, he is an outstanding record keeper. Last year with the drought, he had to move some cows to a new field he had rented and not converted yet. The pictures of the cows affected were horrible! Several lost their hooves, and he had to put several down. To me, the loss of those few cows can not compensate for the gains he got by converting. If our cows do not make it on fescue, they go. I have a few that I think are borderline, they still have not shed their hair and are the first to the water to cool off, but they still give me a good calf every year so they stay.

I'm still in the dark.....he had to move them to a field that had Ky 31 fescue and they couldn't handle it? Explain.

 

[danl]

Some cattle are resistant to K31, his had never been exposed. I try to keep as much clover and orchard grass as possible but my cows probably get 70 % k31 and it doesn't bother them. I have got rid of the ones that seemed to go down hill in the summer.

 

[Fire Sweep Ranch]

Love this quote! I might have to use it. We live in the fescue kingdom here. We had a fellow rancher kill all his K31 and replace it with MaxQ. He took several years. He did a bunch of talks for the extension on his improved gains and benefits, he is an outstanding record keeper. Last year with the drought, he had to move some cows to a new field he had rented and not converted yet. The pictures of the cows affected were horrible! Several lost their hooves, and he had to put several down. To me, the loss of those few cows can not compensate for the gains he got by converting. If our cows do not make it on fescue, they go. I have a few that I think are borderline, they still have not shed their hair and are the first to the water to cool off, but they still give me a good calf every year so they stay.

I'm still in the dark.....he had to move them to a field that had Ky 31 fescue and they couldn't handle it? Explain.

Because he had converted his pastures to a novel free fescue, his cattle, I assume, lost the resistance to ergovaline that K31 produces. If I remember correctly, the cattle that were affected the worst were newer heifers, just two year old females nursing calves, so they had not been previously exposed to K31 since the pastures had been converted for a few years already. When they were moved from a endophyte free pasture to a hot pasture, they could not handle it and lost switches and a few lost their feet. It is a vaso-restrictor, so it causes the blood vessels to restrict, which is the worst thing in summer. One of the first signs you see is the cattle are tender footed when they first get up, like their feet are asleep. They soon walk out of it, so one thinks it is nothing. But it slowly gets worse. I am not sure if he had any other grasses in the field, but considering it was a dry year with a severe drought for MO, I am pretty darn sure there was no to very little clover. I had the same problem last year, lost most of my clover, but I had rye and OG out there to help water down the fescue. I can tell you that the fescue was about the only thing that survived the drought, and I had to go back and put in a bunch more clover, OG and rye last fall to get the mix I want. People who graze fescue have a love-hate relationship with it. You just have to manage it.

 

[Red Bull Breeder]

If he had been smart enough to load them up on a good mineral with CTC his cows would have been fine. Some cows never adapt, but with the right help they can still be productive.

 

[Banjo]

Love this quote! I might have to use it. We live in the fescue kingdom here. We had a fellow rancher kill all his K31 and replace it with MaxQ. He took several years. He did a bunch of talks for the extension on his improved gains and benefits, he is an outstanding record keeper. Last year with the drought, he had to move some cows to a new field he had rented and not converted yet. The pictures of the cows affected were horrible! Several lost their hooves, and he had to put several down. To me, the loss of those few cows can not compensate for the gains he got by converting. If our cows do not make it on fescue, they go. I have a few that I think are borderline, they still have not shed their hair and are the first to the water to cool off, but they still give me a good calf every year so they stay.

I'm still in the dark.....he had to move them to a field that had Ky 31 fescue and they couldn't handle it? Explain.

Because he had converted his pastures to a novel free fescue, his cattle, I assume, lost the resistance to ergovaline that K31 produces. If I remember correctly, the cattle that were affected the worst were newer heifers, just two year old females nursing calves, so they had not been previously exposed to K31 since the pastures had been converted for a few years already. When they were moved from a endophyte free pasture to a hot pasture, they could not handle it and lost switches and a few lost their feet. It is a vaso-restrictor, so it causes the blood vessels to restrict, which is the worst thing in summer. One of the first signs you see is the cattle are tender footed when they first get up, like their feet are asleep. They soon walk out of it, so one thinks it is nothing. But it slowly gets worse. I am not sure if he had any other grasses in the field, but considering it was a dry year with a severe drought for MO, I am pretty darn sure there was no to very little clover. I had the same problem last year, lost most of my clover, but I had rye and OG out there to help water down the fescue. I can tell you that the fescue was about the only thing that survived the drought, and I had to go back and put in a bunch more clover, OG and rye last fall to get the mix I want. People who graze fescue have a love-hate relationship with it. You just have to manage it.

I understand. I have a few that limp for 2 or 3 weeks in the spring. I have kept them up till now and its the same ones each year.... I plan on culling those this fall when their calf is big enough to wean.