new grass variety

[houstoncutter]

Anybody had any dealings with this new bahia grass variety called riata...Thanks

 

[JustSimmental]

http://raganandmassey.com/docs/RiataPressRelease.pdf

 

[LRTX1]

It sounds promising. Maybe too good to be true.

 

[gberry]

It was developed near hear and I have spoken with Ann Blount who is one of the developers of Riata. She says it should begin to grow ~3 weeks earlier and grow ~3 weeks longer than Tifton 9. Also spoke to a gentleman who grows certified seed and he basically agreed with her. We bought some Tifton 9 seed from him the week after he harvested the Riata seed and drove by his seed field. It was pretty impressive. About thigh deep and thick as dog hair, but he's pretty good at growing grass. We went with T-9 due to the cost difference, but will probably try some Riata when the price comes down.

 

[b2b ranch]

Bahia grows when nothing else will grow and take over a field of Coastal that is not taken care of. Not knocking bahia just leading to a question about the new variety. In the past when I was in the hay business I didn't want to cut any field of bahia because my blades would last about a 1/4 of the time as they did in our pure coastal fields. Is the new variety as wirey and rough on equipment as the older varieties? Again not saying the grass is not good, just saying it was hard on hay equipment.

 

[houstoncutter]

It was developed near hear and I have spoken with Ann Blount who is one of the developers of Riata. She says it should begin to grow ~3 weeks earlier and grow ~3 weeks longer than Tifton 9. Also spoke to a gentleman who grows certified seed and he basically agreed with her. We bought some Tifton 9 seed from him the week after he harvested the Riata seed and drove by his seed field. It was pretty impressive. About thigh deep and thick as dog hair, but he's pretty good at growing grass. We went with T-9 due to the cost difference, but will probably try some Riata when the price comes down.

Thanks GBerry, i figured someone on this board would have some imput.... What are the normal temperature averages for where ur at?

 

[gberry]

Summertime highs in the 90's with lows in 70's. Winter highs in 50's-60's with lows in 30's. This is average according to some website. Seems hotter in summer and somewhat cooler in winter. We're about 40 miles from the gulf coast. If you want, you could call Ann Blount at the Marianna, FL research station and talk to her. No one knows more about the grass. She's pretty helpful.

 

[JustSimmental]

When I first started in the cow business all there was available for seed was Pensacola bahia which was some awful stuff and we killed it in every pasture.

Its gone now, forever, but I think the more important thing about pastures is a greater diversity of plants within your pasture. (legumes/grass).

It's odd to me, really, why anyone from the Balcones line in TX; thru the South (including FL); to Coastal VA would be that dependent on warm season grasses anyway. We should all be Fall calvers by taking advantage of cooler weather to raise calves.

Fall calving (October) allows us, in the southlands, to manipulate our forage base; e.g. using annual rye for grazing from Thanksgiving to March, which is higher in CP and TDN than most warm season grasses in our area, anyway. It is also cheaper to plant rye annually and shoot some N on it than it is to maintain a permanent pasture. The economics of maintaining permanent pastures just isn't there.

Also by grazing rye in the winter it cuts down on the need for high protein hay resources, because those lactating cows are getting their daily nutritional needs met from the Rye grazing and not a warm season grass resource.

Calving in a cooler season just makes better sense because there are fewer parasites; breeding in a cooler season allows conception rates to vastly improve; By May 1st, we are weaning calves and those dry cows have the lowest nutritional requirement of the year-- turn her out on unfertilized native grass or

if she does need some extra conditioning before calving time arrives again: plant some tiff leaf 3 millet behind your rye in April; TL3 will out perform any warm season grass variety in our area and is cheaper to grow than maintaining a permanent pasture. TL3, when limit grazed, will carry 6 dry cows per acre --easy--- no other permanent pasture will do it

Also with commercial fertilizer being a petroleum product -- which rises and falls along with petro prices, we all should be thinking about the economics of production. But,

I would be interested to find out what the crude protein and TDN is for Riata for "fresh" and "dry".

I would be interested to find out what pH is best for optimal production.

I would be interested to find out what its' fertilizer requirements are for both grazing and hay production.

JS

 

[houstoncutter]

Just simmental, the big problem with fall calving, can be stated in one word. Weather........You might have the prettiest patch of annual ryegrass and clover and not be able to graze it....Most winters along the Gulf Coast are very wet. The soils where I am at, are a clay sand mix, but many have a heavy clay. Really wet soils will mean that u cant graze the pasture. Futhermore due to wet that we have in the spring "normally I mean", you are not able to make hay off the pasture as well.... I agree as you go futher inland that a fall calving system make more sense...due to the difference in soils.

So the idea of a grass that would graze for two extra months, would be a godsend

 

[JustSimmental]

Yes i know about the wet--- 12 months ago it rained 11 inches in 3 days in April-- here. On pastures I aerated you could drive across it and not leave ruts after 2 days. In years past, without aeration it would have been 30 days.. just a thought.

JS

Just simmental, the big problem with fall calving, can be stated in one word. Weather........You might have the prettiest patch of annual ryegrass and clover and not be able to graze it....Most winters along the Gulf Coast are very wet. The soils where I am at, are a clay sand mix, but many have a heavy clay. Really wet soils will mean that u cant graze the pasture. Futhermore due to wet that we have in the spring "normally I mean", you are not able to make hay off the pasture as well.... I agree as you go futher inland that a fall calving system make more sense...due to the difference in soils.

So the idea of a grass that would graze for two extra months, would be a godsend

 

[dieselbeef]

Summertime highs in the 90's with lows in 70's. Winter highs in 50's-60's with lows in 30's. This is average according to some website. Seems hotter in summer and somewhat cooler in winter. We're about 40 miles from the gulf coast. If you want, you could call Ann Blount at the Marianna, FL research station and talk to her. No one knows more about the grass. She's pretty helpful.

you must be near me somewhere

 

[gberry]

not sure where Myakka City is diesel, we are in the panhandle.

Just Sims, we haven't found annual grasses such as rye or ryegrass to be cheaper to grow than permanent pasture. Seems like it takes a lot of fertilizer and I sure would have hated to have a bunch of wet cows this winter when we really had no grazing until February due to lack of rain and very cold (for us) temps. We do plant ryegrass every year, but we like to limit graze it with dry cows and allow the weaned calves access as much as possible to put some weight on them.

 

[Gators Rule]

I just planted 18 acres of UF Riata, and currently getting some info assistance from the cattle test station in Ona, FL for some weed issues. Dieselbeef, I'm in Wauchula. One of the developers is a friend/client of mine, and he turned me on to it... I'm hoping he is correct, as it is pricey grass seed at $5.00 per pound!!!

 

[Ruark]

When I first started in the cow business all there was available for seed was Pensacola bahia which was some awful stuff and we killed it in every pasture.

I'm just curious why you say it was "awful." I personally don't have any, but I see it for sale all over the place around here (central/north-central Texas). What specifically was the problem?

 

[1982vett]

No matter what......if something is supposedly better.....the former becomes awful....

 

[novatech]

When I first started in the cow business all there was available for seed was Pensacola bahia which was some awful stuff and we killed it in every pasture.

Its gone now, forever, but I think the more important thing about pastures is a greater diversity of plants within your pasture. (legumes/grass).

It's odd to me, really, why anyone from the Balcones line in TX; thru the South (including FL); to Coastal VA would be that dependent on warm season grasses anyway. We should all be Fall calvers by taking advantage of cooler weather to raise calves.

Fall calving (October) allows us, in the southlands, to manipulate our forage base; e.g. using annual rye for grazing from Thanksgiving to March, which is higher in CP and TDN than most warm season grasses in our area, anyway. It is also cheaper to plant rye annually and shoot some N on it than it is to maintain a permanent pasture. The economics of maintaining permanent pastures just isn't there.

Also by grazing rye in the winter it cuts down on the need for high protein hay resources, because those lactating cows are getting their daily nutritional needs met from the Rye grazing and not a warm season grass resource.

Calving in a cooler season just makes better sense because there are fewer parasites; breeding in a cooler season allows conception rates to vastly improve; By May 1st, we are weaning calves and those dry cows have the lowest nutritional requirement of the year-- turn her out on unfertilized native grass or

if she does need some extra conditioning before calving time arrives again: plant some tiff leaf 3 millet behind your rye in April; TL3 will out perform any warm season grass variety in our area and is cheaper to grow than maintaining a permanent pasture. TL3, when limit grazed, will carry 6 dry cows per acre --easy--- no other permanent pasture will do it

Also with commercial fertilizer being a petroleum product -- which rises and falls along with petro prices, we all should be thinking about the economics of production. But,

I would be interested to find out what the crude protein and TDN is for Riata for "fresh" and "dry".

I would be interested to find out what pH is best for optimal production.

I would be interested to find out what its' fertilizer requirements are for both grazing and hay production.

JS

I don't understand. You state that diversity is better then you recommend planting rye and later millet. You also say to fertilize the rye and later state that fertilizer is to high.
You also state that maintaining a permanent pasture is to costly. My permanent pasture (some not all but I am working on it)has annual rye, which is allowed to reseed, legumes,clover,and a warm season mix of warm season good TDN permanent grasses. I rarely have to fertilize and I never have to replant. What are the maintenance costs you are referring to for permanent pasture vs. the costs incurred with your system of replanting every season?
I find that a good diversity of forage and proper rotational grazing that permanent pasture are te least expensive to operate.
Sorry about diverting away from the main topic.
The Riata may be worth looking into but I would also like to know the nutritional value.