New Bermuda and Klein grass management.

[callmefence]

Giant Bermuda seeded early spring. Coming in pretty good just starting to see seed heads.
A little bit of Tifton was spriged into bare spots. Is thin but stuck.
Different end of same pasture Klein grass seeded last spring on freshly cleared ground.
Not a blade of grass came up last year, but a good stand this year. 3 foot tall with full seed heads.
What would be the best plan to help these grow and spread. I m in a good position right now with good soil moisture(so far) and I can do without this pasture until winter.

Graze it.
Mow it.
Let it go wild.(has been sprayed for weeds getting substantial competition from kr bluestem.)

 

[Brute 23]

Bale it would be #1. Cut it high.

Mow it would be #2 if you can cut it high and not leave a bunch of extra dead grass.

Graze it would be #3 but only if you divide it with some hot wire to graze the klein and giant bermuda. The longer you leave the cattle off the tifton the better.

 

[Rafter S]

I have a kleingrass hayfield that was planted probably 30 years ago and still has a good stand, and some in the pastures that came in from seed when feeding hay. It's a bunch grass, and will only spread by seed, so let it mature if you want it to spread. If you graze it, or cut it for hay before it's mature, it will maintain but not spread. It's a little slow to green up in spring, but stays green late in the fall.

I don't have much experience with the bermuda varieties (except a little with Jiggs).

 

[Cross-7]

Giant Bermuda seeded early spring. Coming in pretty good just starting to see seed heads.
A little bit of Tifton was spriged into bare spots. Is thin but stuck.
Different end of same pasture Klein grass seeded last spring on freshly cleared ground.
Not a blade of grass came up last year, but a good stand this year. 3 foot tall with full seed heads.
What would be the best plan to help these grow and spread. I m in a good position right now with good soil moisture(so far) and I can do without this pasture until winter.

Graze it.
Mow it.
Let it go wild.(has been sprayed for weeds getting substantial competition from kr bluestem.)

Only thing have add is I had a place a few years back in Klein grass and king ranch bluestem
The bluestem pretty much took over the Klein.
The cows preferred the Klein and would ignore the bluestem till they grazed the Klein down.
I tried to rotated them off so not to abuse the Klein but they'd seek out the new growth and never touch the bluestem.

 

[Brute 23]

Ya Klein is very tender when its young. Even deer will get on young Klein grass like it's oats. You have to be able to rotate on & off Klein.

Klein seed is amazing though. I dozed out a field of solid brush. It was just a thick waste land. After agitating the soil the Klein grass came out like crazy. The neighbors were asking if I planted it.

 

[Rafter S]

Brute,

I would like to disagree slightly. You do need to protect kleingrass when it's young and tender, but after the clumps get established it's pretty hardy. I had a hay field that I turned into pasture, so the cattle were never off of it, and it held up fine.

 

[Kingfisher]

The sooner you get that big field divided up and get some pure stands in each patch the better off you'll be. Drill a well or two while you can...

 

[Cross-7]

I would say in a pure stand and good management it's really good grass, but in an environment with a more aggressive and less desirable grass it doesn't do well. That's been my experience in dry west Texas. Might do better in a better suited climate

 

[Brute 23]

You must be living right Rafter S. Mine was still there but got pretty thin. The KRB started filling in the thin spots. After I disked that field good and starting letting it seed out it, it came back and filled out great. Just last week I cut 4.5 bales to the acre on that field with no fert.

 

[callmefence]

Thanks for the replies. The Bermuda is spotty but good where it is. Not worth haying at this point. The Klein is in pretty rough freshly cleared ground. The grass is good enough to a make a little hay but the ground is not. A lot of it is in senderos dozed through the cedar. And areas that were burned. I could mow it with a small shredder or let the cows make a quick pass. Would that be better than just letting it go for a year. ?

This is a 90 acre pasture about half and half open ground and brush. that I put a lot of cattle in during deer season. I m breaking off about 5 acres of the open ground every year and feeding hay on that block. Come spring I chisel and disc in the mess and put down some seed. Trying to eventually get it mostly in something besides kr b. Feeding hay on krb seems to be effective in killing it. And improves the sorry ground.

I'm all ears

 

[M-5]

if its rooted good I would graze it. But I know nothing about the grass you speak of except the Bermuda.

 

[Brute 23]

The cattle are going to go the most tender grass. It won't hurt to let them thin in out a bit for you. Then you can run a shredder over it to top what they didnt eat.

 

[Rafter S]

You must be living right Rafter S. Mine was still there but got pretty thin. The KRB started filling in the thin spots. After I disked that field good and starting letting it seed out it, it came back and filled out great. Just last week I cut 4.5 bales to the acre on that field with no fert.

Then I'm not the only one living right. KRB is good stuff.

 

[Brute 23]

King Ranch Bluestem is junk compared to Klein.

 

[Cross-7]

I'm no expert and learning in a new area where bermuda grows but from my experience it's more productive and can take more abuse that other clump type grasses, but here where it freezes most every night from November thru march. The cows won't touch from first freeze till spring green up.
The Klein will stockpile and a dry cow can survive the winter on it

 

[callmefence]

I compare Krb to the longhorn. Tough and reliable. Especially in hard times. But no matter how much you feed it it's still gonna lack quality.
Seems I can fertilize a portion of a krb pasture and you can't hardly tell the difference.
Fertilize a stand of Klein and you have to be careful or they will get to fat on ya.
We some dahl bluestem at lometa. It's a dam impressive forage

 

[Brute 23]

I compare Krb to the longhorn. Tough and reliable. Especially in hard times. But no matter how much you feed it it's still gonna lack quality.
Seems I can fertilize a portion of a krb pasture and you can't hardly tell the difference.
Fertilize a stand of Klein and you have to be careful or they will get to fat on ya.
We some dahl bluestem at lometa. It's a dam impressive forage

That is a analogy for KRB.

I've brought quite a few Klein patches back to life. It was planted all over this country. When I get a lease place set up to rotate pastures if you see a few stems come up that is all you need. Disk it up a bring that seed bed to the surface. Then just let it seed out good. Try to time it where you can turn the cows in when it rains. They will knock the seed off and stomp it in or eat it and poop it out. Either way is a win. Couple years later you will look up and have a heck of a stand of klein.

 

[Brute 23]

Plus it's great for wildlife. Deer, quail, turkeys all love it too.