Sick and tired of fescue but, what else?

[DoubleK]

I am sick and tired of fescue and was wanting some opinions on what is the best thing to replace it with.

I am in SW Missouri and would like to plant something that will provide the most hay production.

I believe there is a market for horse quality hay and I have the equipment to make small square bales and store them.

Stocky, Dun and anyone else that has an opinion, I would love to hear it.

I am only talking about 10 acres or so but would love to try something new and exciting that hasn't been done here before.


Dub

 

[Running Arrow Bill]

Probably best is to check with grass that grown in your area. Otherwise:

• 1. Fescue is considered a "cool season grass" (at least in Texas).
  2. Fescue has a very high water requirement.
  3. Possible alternative: Annual or Perennial Ryegrass.
  4. Possible alternative: A "pasture mixture" that is appropriate in your area--your seed suppliers should have more info.
  

 

[dun]

You might try festulolium. A couple of years ago Barenburg was going to do a 25 acre test plot here, then the local rep moved on and that was the end of that.

dun

 

[msscamp]

I believe there is a market for horse quality hay and I have the equipment to make small square bales and store them.

Dub

If your area is anything like ours, there is definitely a market for horse quality hay and the number one grass for horse hay (at least according to our research) is Timothy. You might want to do a little research to see if it would work where you are. Brome and Orchard also does very well for hay where horse people are concerned, and we also sell a good amount of various varieties of wheatgrass/brome mix.

 

[DoubleK]

You might try festulolium. A couple of years ago Barenburg was going to do a 25 acre test plot here, then the local rep moved on and that was the end of that.

dun

Thanks Dun and Msscamp

I was reading on the Mizzou web site about the festulolium and I think that is worth looking into.

I wasn't sure about orchard grass hay for the horse market so, thanks for that tip as well.

I will continue to research as I would like to do this in a couple of months.

Thanks again you two.


Dub

 

[El_Putzo]

A neighbor of mine (dairy man) has converted most of his pastures over to Marshall ryegrass. It seems to produce as much if not more than the fescue he had. It also seems to be just as hardy and drought tolerant (considering the lack of rain we've had in the last 2 yrs.). According to his records, Milk production has risen as well.

Just a little snippet as an example of what my neighbor has seen: He was telling me just a couple of weeks ago that he had turned his cows into a fescue hay field that had been previously cut. The fescue that remained around the edge of the field that couldn't be cut was, in his estimate, less than half an acre. He turned his holsteins in and immediately they started stripping the fescue heads. He claims on his next milk run, which I believe is every other day, he lost nearly 500 lbs of production. On 45 cows, that would come out to about 5.5 lbs of milk production lost per day. I realize this is a small scale with only 45 or so cows, but the cost to someone milking 200 or more cows, could be pretty devistating.

If the affects of fescue on dairy cows is this noticeable, it is surely affecting our beef cows as well. Dun, what does the dairy in your neighborhood do with fescue? I know you are a proponent of making your cows work on fescue, just curious what the neighbors are doing.

 

[dun]

Dun, what does the dairy in your neighborhood do with fescue? I know you are a proponent of making your cows work on fescue, just curious what the neighbors are doing.

They feed it just like everyone else does. Buttheir diets also consist of a significant ration of grain which probably helps some. One dairy tried feeding alfalfa and alfalfa mixed with fescue. Produciton came up some, costs went up a lot. One of those cases of trading dollars. He made more money but with the higher costs he lost money.
A number of dairys don;t feed any fescue but they have equipment costs to plant and harvest the silage that they may not make any more profit then the ones that feed fescue.

dun
dun