I think I found the answer I though stockpiled fescue meant stockpiled in hay barns. Duh I guess it was a pretty stupid question.
An Economic Analysis of Stockpiled Fescue
Farm Business Management Update, June 2001
By Bill Whittle
Stockpiling fescue, the practice of accumulating growth in the field for winter grazing, is a well-researched management tool for feeding cattle during much of the winter. Typically, stockpiled fescue is of higher quality than grass hays and provides high quality feed to beef cattle at a reasonable cost. Yearly variable cash expenses to maintain a cow range from $180 to over $500, with feed costs representing the bulk of these expenses. Practices that reduce this expense keep money in the cattleman's pocket.
The decision to use stockpiled fescue is generally based on the availability of fescue fields. Stockpiled fescue is not a separate grazing operation, but an add-on to an existing forage program that utilizes the unique production and quality characteristics of fescue. Management is based on the following time-tested management rules-of-thumb adjusted for a specific farm situation:
Apply 75 pounds of nitrogen in early August to grazed or mowed field.
Withhold all grazing until after hard frost.
Stockpiled fescue typically makes 1 _ - 2 tons of hay equivalent feed allowing one acre to provide grazing for one cow for 120 days or 4 cows for 30 days.
Grazing from Nov 1-Jan 30 has minimal reduction in forage quality.
Stockpiled fescue does not reduce spring hay or early summer grazing.
Stockpiled fescue works best if you limit access by controlled grazing.
A method of evaluating the feasibility of a program such as stockpiling fescue is the use of partial budgeting. A partial budget allows you to look only at the change being considered. It gives you a process to work through the financial and management consequences the change will have on your operation. As you consider a change, you would identify every item associated with the change that might influence the farm and then quantify the effect by assigning dollar amounts to each.
If the field already has a productive use such as hay or spring grazing, a reasonable practice is to attribute to the add-on Stockpiled Fescue only those expenses that are needed for stockpiling and grazing. These expenses include nitrogen, spreading costs, additional lime, and perimeter and temporary internal cross fencing if not already in place.
Central Fl Cracker
