RC for Improved Stand Life and Production ?

[Stocker Steve]

The dry year here is really highlighting differences between pasture mixes. Improved orchard grass or fescue mixes thin out after 4 to 7 years, and then low productivity bluegrass usually takes over. Reed canary grass mixes seem to last longer and yield better during the dry years. I know reed canary does not stockpile, but aside from that, is it the superior summer pasture grass in the north?

 

[Rydero]

No it's not. We find cows don't particularly like it. Funny you're seeing it have longevity and production in the dry years. Here it tends to grow well in low spots that don't drain and have water laying in them half the summer. Then it grows 4-6' high and really adds up but it's borderline bedding. In a pasture setting you'll often see 2-3' RC and everything else tabletop.

Idk if they're superior or not but most common grasses seeded are Timothy and Brome around here.

 

[Stocker Steve]

RC grows where it is wet or dry.

Palatability is not great, but improved varieties and cuttings on time make it work.

 

[Stocker Steve]

I am grazing red top and unimproved reed canary now, before it gets real course. Not great pasture but it is green.

We are in some boggy areas that have not been grazed in a decade. I increased grazing density 50% and they are cleaning it up.

 

[Nick Wagner]

Dad used to bale reed canary grass, was usually 10 feet high or more, then seal it under plastic with a barrel of water and trickle in anhydrous ammonia. About 30 ton of hay, one ton of anhydrous, and 55 gal of water. Cows loved it.

 

[chevytaHOE5674]

So dry here the RC grass is turning brown and wilting. Never seen that before.

 

[Ferd]

It keeps raining here. Most of the hay is still in the field getting tough

 

[chevytaHOE5674]

We had a few years of daily rain and making 1st cut hay in August and September. I would take that over drought and burning up in May anyday of the week.

 

[Rydero]

RC grows where it is wet or dry.

Palatability is not great, but improved varieties and cuttings on time make it work.

I am grazing red top and unimproved reed canary now, before it gets real course. Not great pasture but it is green.

We are in some boggy areas that have not been grazed in a decade. I increased grazing density 50% and they are cleaning it up.

It's a fine enough grass for what it's good at but it isn't superior or the answer to grazing in the North. Not great palatability, if cut/grazed on time can make it work, not great pasture, increased grazing density to get them to clean it up - If I made that many excuses for a cow you'd say take her to town.

So far legumes are coping better with the drier conditions but once they finish mining the deeper moisture they'll start suffering too.

 

[annmariemz23]

Reed Canary grass, (phalaris arundinacea) as far as I can tell, is related to Harding grass (phalaris aquatica) that used to be a favorite here because it would survive boggy conditions but also survived drought. Its roots break up our clay soil to a greater depth than the other grasses. We still have it in our fields. It is coarser than Timothy or Orchard Grass and not as palatable, but Timothy dies out here when we have drought conditions.

I just put a bunch of heifers on a piece using electric fence for strip grazing. They preferred the Harding Grass to all the annuals, annual rye, wild oats, and whatnot. But Harding Grass is classified as an invasive species here and you can't get the seed anymore. My neighbor had a hatred for it, and worked to eradicate it. His lessee only put cows on it after it had gotten coarse and his cows wouldn't eat it. (Hmm. My cows will eat it) What replaced it? Medusa Head, which doesn't grow in my field, and which he didn't mind. At least the Harding Grass chokes out the star thistle and medusa head. I don't think he noticed that the medusa head is just lying down and not actually being eaten. And don't get me started on star thistle.