Legumes & nitrogen

[Stocker Steve]

I think I get it. So I let the forage get taller, flatten it with mob density, take a shallow 3" deep sample including as much litter as possible, and then brag about my OM. ;-)

On a more serious note, one of the reasons given for the typical forage production decline a couple years after tillage - - is that the OM exposed by mechanical tillage has been consumed.

I think 9 times out of 10 it is simply a matter of grazing management that doesn't allow the newly seeded pasture crop to thrive. i.e. not managing for optimal leaf area for solar energy capture. Almost every pasture I have ever seeded has only gotten better over time.

Depends... I know my alfalfa stands do not improve after the second year, but I think you are right about grass most stands. People take them down too short and that really hurts the regrowth.

Nebraska did a study by grass type and usually the most DM/acre/year was from a 5.75" stubble height. I don't see many folks cutting or clipping that high.

 

[dun]

Nebraska did a study by grass type and usually the most DM/acre/year was from a 5.75" stubble height. I don't see many folks cutting or clipping that high.

It also depends on the type of grass. Fescue clipped fairly close does fiene, do the same thing to OG and you'll kill it out in a year or 2
Our WSG we cut at aorund 6 inches and it just gets better every year

 

[novatech]

Nebraska did a study by grass type and usually the most DM/acre/year was from a 5.75" stubble height. I don't see many folks cutting or clipping that high.

It also depends on the type of grass. Fescue clipped fairly close does fiene, do the same thing to OG and you'll kill it out in a year or 2
Our WSG we cut at aorund 6 inches and it just gets better every year

After you tell me I will probable think I should have known. But if I do, I cannot recall. The same reason I don't do texting on my phone or read it for that mater.
What the heck is OG and WSG.


Maybe some should post a list of abbreviations for all of us to go to when we don't want to sound ignorant by asking.

 

[dun]

Nebraska did a study by grass type and usually the most DM/acre/year was from a 5.75" stubble height. I don't see many folks cutting or clipping that high.

It also depends on the type of grass. Fescue clipped fairly close does fiene, do the same thing to OG and you'll kill it out in a year or 2
Our WSG we cut at aorund 6 inches and it just gets better every year

After you tell me I will probable think I should have known. But if I do, I cannot recall. The same reason I don't do texting on my phone or read it for that mater.
What the heck is OG and WSG.


Maybe some should post a list of abbreviations for all of us to go to when we don't want to sound ignorant by asking.

Orchard Grass
Warm Season Grass which around her are things like the perennial big and little bluestem, indian grass, sideoats grama, etc.

 

[Stocker Steve]

Nebraska did a study by grass type and usually the most DM/acre/year was from a 5.75" stubble height. I don't see many folks cutting or clipping that high.

It also depends on the type of grass. Fescue clipped fairly close does fiene, do the same thing to OG and you'll kill it out in a year or 2
Our WSG we cut at aorund 6 inches and it just gets better every year

What do you cut with at 6"??

 

[dun]

We made raised shoes for the disk mower that replace the low ones. It's kind of a pain to rake with a side delivery rake but it works good and the baler doesn;t have any problems with that length stubble.

 

[Stocker Steve]

We made raised shoes for the disk mower that replace the low ones. It's kind of a pain to rake with a side delivery rake but it works good and the baler doesn;t have any problems with that length stubble.

Good idea. My custom cutter goes low and fast so the only time he hits 6" is right after a dead furrow.

Have you compared fescue recovery or yield at the different cutting heights?

 

[dun]

Have you compared fescue recovery or yield at the different cutting heights?

We've never cut the fescu ano higher then about 2-3 inches. Based on the fall grazing on the hay fields they seem to provide about the same as the pastures that we don;t graze as short.
Last year I had the mower misadjusted for half of one field, then I caught it and lowered it down. Within a couple of weeks I couldn;t tell that they had been cut at different heights
All anecdotal because I haven;t done a scientific analysis

 

[novatech]

I read a recomended cutting height for eastern gamma is 8 inches. I would sure hate to drive over that stuff. Seems like a shoe woud float over the top of the large stubble making for a very uneven cut.

 

[dun]

I read a recomended cutting height for eastern gamma is 8 inches. I would sure hate to drive over that stuff. Seems like a shoe woud float over the top of the large stubble making for a very uneven cut.

Eastern Gamma is just a pain in butt. It gets so clumpy and lumpy that you can hardly walk acrossed it without turning an ankle. Driving across at more then an idle you better have a seat belt on. I hate the stuff

 

[novatech]

I read a recomended cutting height for eastern gamma is 8 inches. I would sure hate to drive over that stuff. Seems like a shoe woud float over the top of the large stubble making for a very uneven cut.

Eastern Gamma is just a pain in butt. It gets so clumpy and lumpy that you can hardly walk acrossed it without turning an ankle. Driving across at more then an idle you better have a seat belt on. I hate the stuff

I guess everything has its downside. There is a guy here that bales his. He has never added fertilizer and maintains 8% protein, as per an article in a local paper. In last years drought it was the only grass still producing.

 

[dun]

I read a recomended cutting height for eastern gamma is 8 inches. I would sure hate to drive over that stuff. Seems like a shoe woud float over the top of the large stubble making for a very uneven cut.

Eastern Gamma is just a pain in butt. It gets so clumpy and lumpy that you can hardly walk acrossed it without turning an ankle. Driving across at more then an idle you better have a seat belt on. I hate the stuff

I guess everything has its downside. There is a guy here that bales his. He has never added fertilizer and maintains 8% protein, as per an article in a local paper. In last years drought it was the only grass still producing.

ONCE, I cut/raked and baled a 20 acre field that had been in production for about 15 years. Pretty well convinced me that any of the other WSG would be a better option. All of the prairie type grasses get clumpy, after all they are bunch grasses, but I've never seen anything that gets clumps as tall as EG

 

[Stocker Steve]

Found some Wisconsin Barolex tall fescue data.

Average DM over two years on a 3 cut system:
2" stubble - 100%
4" stubble - 72%

Average DM over two years on a 6 cut system:
2" stubbble - 100%
4" stubble - 75%

My 2010 plan for older improved (and weedy) stands is to manure once, spring graze once, hay the weeds off once, and then fall graze once. No sense clippin when you could be hayin :banana:

The thing that surprised me was that they were showing a 48:1 DM:N response at 60#/acre rates...

 

[John Holmquist]

how fast the nitrogen will be available will also depend on the Carbon to Nitrogen ratio. the lower the ration the faster it will become available

 

[hayray]

The leafs that fall off the legume and decay provide the plant available nitrogen. At least this is what was presented at the Forage Technology Conference at Michigan State last year. This makes sense since we know that atmospheric N is not directly plant available.

 

[novatech]

The leafs that fall off the legume and decay provide the plant available nitrogen. At least this is what was presented at the Forage Technology Conference at Michigan State last year. This makes sense since we know that atmospheric N is not directly plant available.

Here is the tichnical version.
http://www.visionlearning.com/library/m ... php?mid=98