KY31 eradication- a saga

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dun

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We have one 27 acre field that the previous owner double cropped for 5 years. Sudex and Marshall rye grass. Sudex was put up as baleage and the RG was grazed for a while then also put up as baleage. Field was bare except for weeds and misc. clumps of fescue. Before he bought the place it had been a fescue hay field. We disked it multiple ways and dragged it trying to get it smooth enough that you could at least walk across it wouthout turning an ankle. Apparantly disking at 30 mph was his standard mode and the field had 6-12 inch high ridges every 10 feet or so. We planted it in winter wheat, the next year we hayed the WW and did the spray smother deal with winter wheat again. The next year after the WW was baled we sprayed with journey and drilled in WSG. None of the WSG came up but the weeds and fescue did great. The next early spring we sprayed again and drilled WSG. The WSG did really well, but still about 10% of the field came up in fescue.
Under synonyms in the dictionary, with persistant they should have KY31 fescue.
In a couple of other fieldfs, even with no-tilling brome and OG every year the fescue get's even more dominant.
If I was going to spend the money on a novel/friendly endophyte fescue I would only do it in a field that has never had fescue.
 
dun":eobhpt21 said:
If I was going to spend the money on a novel/friendly endophyte fescue I would only do it in a field that has never had fescue.

What country would you find that in?
 
cfpinz":1gtx650c said:
dun":1gtx650c said:
If I was going to spend the money on a novel/friendly endophyte fescue I would only do it in a field that has never had fescue.

What country would you find that in?

Friend of mine in IL has feidls like that. 3 generations of bean and corn farmers.
 
When we first moved to MO I hated the stuff and was going to get rid of it all. After I removed my head from where it was parked I came to realize that without fescue therewould be a beef industry in MO. Diluting it with red clover and our weaning weights went up by anywhere from 25-40 lbs.
 
That an a good mineral. I also agree with you on finding genetics that will work with it. One reason i always try to raise my on replacements.
 
Red Bull Breeder":277gwmwk said:
That an a good mineral. I also agree with you on finding genetics that will work with it. One reason i always try to raise my on replacements.

We feed the minerals with CTC that's the reason we can;t sell into the natural market. Meyers beef will buy them if we discontinue the CTC but it's one of those deals like the elephant repellent.
 
dun":14bjzkm1 said:
cfpinz":14bjzkm1 said:
dun":14bjzkm1 said:
If I was going to spend the money on a novel/friendly endophyte fescue I would only do it in a field that has never had fescue.

What country would you find that in?

Friend of mine in IL has feidls like that. 3 generations of bean and corn farmers.

I bought one of those fields few years ago...does this mean I should not plant KY31? I have really thought about it.
 
donnaIL":4hp162f0 said:
dun":4hp162f0 said:
I bought one of those fields few years ago...does this mean I should not plant KY31? I have really thought about it.

I wouldn;t. I would go with one of the newer friendly endophyte cultavrs if I was going to plant fescue.
 
I don't get it. I renovated 15 acre of old fescue with the MaxQ variety and had some old fescue still around. If I have 5% of the old and 95% of the new, isn't that 95% better. As long as the fescue doesn't go to seed the balance should state close to 95/5 mix. The fungus is spread only by seed volunteering, if you keep the fescue clipped like you are supposed to anyway, you should be fine. Now if the MaxQ does not survive as well as the old fescue, over time the percentage may increase but so what? Well diluted old fescue is not a problem anyway. I know it cost more but should pay for itself over a long period.

Edit: Just read the other thread. I have trouble with the notion of fescue seed coming up years later. I sprayed roundup and disked during the summer and killed most volunteer seed the came up, unfortunately we had some rain the last time i disked and some survived. But fescue here does not come up well if planted very deep (over 1/2 inch), so without cultivation how can it come up years later.
 
Douglas":28o0z8u1 said:
But fescue here does not come up well if planted very deep (over 1/2 inch), so without cultivation how can it come up years later.

That's the 64 thousand dollar question. I had assumed that the seed that was buried or hadn;t germed would rot, sure doesn;t seem to.
 
dun":2du8m18j said:
Douglas":2du8m18j said:
But fescue here does not come up well if planted very deep (over 1/2 inch), so without cultivation how can it come up years later.

That's the 64 thousand dollar question. I had assumed that the seed that was buried or hadn;t germed would rot, sure doesn;t seem to.

Did inflation cause the depreciation from a million dollar question to a 64 thousand dollar question?
 
KNERSIE":20wiftsb said:
dun":20wiftsb said:
Douglas":20wiftsb said:
But fescue here does not come up well if planted very deep (over 1/2 inch), so without cultivation how can it come up years later.

That's the 64 thousand dollar question. I had assumed that the seed that was buried or hadn;t germed would rot, sure doesn;t seem to.

Did inflation cause the depreciation from a million dollar question to a 64 thousand dollar question?

64 thousand dollar question was an old quiz show that turned out to be crooked. Back then the only ones that used the number millions was the government
 
KNERSIE":28myz5ct said:
So it was actually the other way round?

That's what it was in the 50s. But with inflation today that would be the 64 dozen penny question
 
Personaly, I haven't tried to eradicate the K31, but I try to seed in other varities, keep my pH up, and never use Nitrogen fertilizer. I also try to force them to eat everything, including the fescue, before moving them to a new paddock. That seems to encourage legumes and other better grasses. Fescue isn't all that bad, as long as it doesn't make up that much of your forage.
 

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