Stockpiling question

[Jogeephus]

In my area no one stockpiles forages. I've read about it and have seen it done with fescue and it sounds like a dream come true. However, I am too far south to grow fescue but can grow bermuda. Have heard about stockpiling bermuda but it is still not done here. I've asked why this is the case at the grazing station and the answer I got was the bermuda deterioates too fast to be of much nutritional value and you are better off bailing it at 14% than feeding it stockpiled at 6% or less.

What are the winter conditions at where you can successfully stockpile forages? Are they dry and cold? Here, its mild and wet. Just wondering.

 

[Stepper]

Jogeephus,

What is stock pileing grass ? Would that be just letting a hay meadow or pasture grow and then graze in throught the winter months ?

 

[Nowland Farms]

Jo, I'm a bit north and west of you. About the same location as Atlanta but 95 miles west.
I stockpile Fescue for the cows. After I cut the bermuda the last time around late August early September, I put the cows on the remains of the bermuda until the 1st Frost which is usually around the last of October or closer to mid-November it it is a hot year. Around the 1st of October, I hit the fescue with a shot of nitrogen to jump start the fall growth.

When the bermuda browns off I turn the cows in on the fescue and they eat green grass all winter till around the middle of February when I put them back in the bermuda field and start feeding hay. This allows the fescue to regrow some and rest before I fertlizer in late February or mid March for hay growth.

This year I plan on drilling some ryegrass in the bermuda in October. My plan is that the rye will grow enough so when the cows are moved back in February, they will have green grass to eat til spring when the bermuda greens up. My plan is to get away with feeding no hay while making sure the "Ladies" keep their figures. This may or may not work but it is a goal that I am willing to check out to see if it can be done. I'll have hay in the barn just in case.

 

[Jogeephus]

I think that's right Stepper. I've read where some are able to raise cattle throughout the year and feed little if any hay. That would be a dream.

Nowland, I think that sounds like a sound plan. From what I've read it can be done with fescue. I read one book where a guy claimed he did it with bermuda. I just don't see how but I'd like to learn how if it is possible.

You don't know how far south fescue will grow do you?

 

[KNERSIE]

Can't help much with the fescue, but I do know that it doesn't survive our summers.

For me the crisis is late summer and fall and if its a really late rain year like this year the grazing problems lasts till deep in the winter. What I have done succesfully in the past is stockpiling oats. I plant it late winter so that the bulk of the growth is in the spring and early summer, once it has gone to seed I graze the top few inches off to prevent all the grain from falling on the ground, then take the cattle out and graze the remainder in the fall. That way the oats isn't tall enough to fall over and rot if it rains and it keeps well and the cattle who are mostly dry at the time gain weight on the oats stubble.

I have seen the same done with rhye grass with good results.

Don't know how much would be applicable in your climate, but thought I'll give my little experience with stockpiling as well for what its worth.

 

[dun]

You don't know how far south fescue will grow do you?

It would probably "grow" clear to south america, but it wouldn;t grow well. Fescue is a cool season grass that stops or at least slows it's growth significantly any time the day time temps approach 80 and the night's stay in the high 60s. In our area we get great growth (if we have the moisture) from early march through about early to mid june then again around late september into late october or early november. The latter depends on the freeze period. That's one of the reasons fescue is so popular in some areas. Stockpiling is no more then maximizing that fall growth and deferring grazing until winter. A couple of years ago it was suggested by the U of MO @ Columbia, that it may be better to feed hay in the fall/early winter and feed the stockpiled fescue during the colder part of the winter when the endophyte is at it's lowest in the stockpile and the animals have more problems loosing appendages from the cold and the lack of blood flow caused by the endophyte.

 

[Texas Gal]

In my area no one stockpiles forages. I've read about it and have seen it done with fescue and it sounds like a dream come true. However, I am too far south to grow fescue but can grow bermuda. Have heard about stockpiling bermuda but it is still not done here. I've asked why this is the case at the grazing station and the answer I got was the bermuda deterioates too fast to be of much nutritional value and you are better off bailing it at 14% than feeding it stockpiled at 6% or less.

What are the winter conditions at where you can successfully stockpile forages? Are they dry and cold? Here, its mild and wet. Just wondering.

http://www.noble.org/Storefront/AgStore ... F-FO-00-16

Here's a link to the Noble Foundations' study on such a situation. The study was conducted in the Ardmore, OK area.

 

[I luv herfrds]

We cut crested wheat grass, native and blue grass. We bale it up into 4x5 round bales and then stack it.
It gets pretty cold up here. Some winters are open and nice and some are cold and snow. Never know what you are going to get til you get it.

I'm thinking where you are at there might be a problem with rain rotting the bales unless they are covered.

 

[Outrigger2]

i am trying to stockpile fescue, but it hasn't rained much lately. stockpiled fescue is a big help when you have it. i don't think fescue grows well below Macon.

 

[C HOLLAND]

I think that's right Stepper. I've read where some are able to raise cattle throughout the year and feed little if any hay. That would be a dream.

Nowland, I think that sounds like a sound plan. From what I've read it can be done with fescue. I read one book where a guy claimed he did it with bermuda. I just don't see how but I'd like to learn how if it is possible.

You don't know how far south fescue will grow do you?

Jog, I am planning to get 1 of my Bahia field cut and rolled in about 5-6 weeks if we keep getting the rain. I had a local man tell me to just let it grow and and not bale it and let them graze it this winter and just add a protein tub. He said it's cheaper than rolling the hay and cheaper than over seeding rye for winter grazing. I need the hay though and will cut it and plant rye for the winter.

 

[FlaAngus]

Holland,
How well does the rye do, we have never seeded it over grass as we have cropland that we plant for winter grazing. I've been arguing with dad for years now about planting rye on bahia.

 

[Jogeephus]

Thanks for your replies. I guess stockpiling is not going to work for me then if it doesn't do well south of Macongo and the winter rains leach out the food value.

Has anyone heard of a fescue that will grow in the warmer areas. Seems I read something about research on a heat tolerant variety being developed at Texas A&M. (We only had a heat index of 110 today)

 

[C HOLLAND]

Holland,
How well does the rye do, we have never seeded it over grass as we have cropland that we plant for winter grazing. I've been arguing with dad for years now about planting rye on bahia.

I have good luck seeding winter rye on my Bahia fields, I broadcast the seed and then set my disk straight and go over the pasture, this allows the seed to fall in the grooves made by the disk and it works good for me.

Make sure the pasture has been grazed down low or you bush hog the pasture before you broadcast or drill the seed.

 

[Arkieman]

Holland,
How well does the rye do, we have never seeded it over grass as we have cropland that we plant for winter grazing. I've been arguing with dad for years now about planting rye on bahia.

I have good luck seeding winter rye on my Bahia fields, I broadcast the seed and then set my disk straight and go over the pasture, this allows the seed to fall in the grooves made by the disk and it works good for me.

Make sure the pasture has been grazed down low or you bush hog the pasture before you broadcast or drill the seed.

Holland, I see you're in S. Alabama. I was wondering why you chose to seed rye instead of wheat/oats?
Thanks

 

[C HOLLAND]

Holland,
How well does the rye do, we have never seeded it over grass as we have cropland that we plant for winter grazing. I've been arguing with dad for years now about planting rye on bahia.

I have good luck seeding winter rye on my Bahia fields, I broadcast the seed and then set my disk straight and go over the pasture, this allows the seed to fall in the grooves made by the disk and it works good for me.

Make sure the pasture has been grazed down low or you bush hog the pasture before you broadcast or drill the seed.

Holland, I see you're in S. Alabama. I was wondering why you chose to seed rye instead of wheat/oats?
Thanks

I do plant some oats also, but most of the pastures are planted in winter rye (not rye grass)

 

[BC]

Jo,
Check out this publication:
http://forages.tamu.edu/PDF/stockpiled.pdf

Stockpiling bermuda and bahia can cut out some hay feeding. We can reduce haying to January to mid February or about 45 to 50 days.

 

[BC]

Jo,
Check out this publication:
http://forages.tamu.edu/PDF/stockpiled.pdf

Stockpiling bermuda and bahia can cut out some hay feeding. We can reduce haying to January to mid February or about 45 to 50 days.

 

[KenB]

Jo,
Check out this publication:
http://forages.tamu.edu/PDF/stockpiled.pdf

Stockpiling bermuda and bahia can cut out some hay feeding. We can reduce haying to January to mid February or about 45 to 50 days.

BC,
Thanks for the link, good info.

 

[Texas PaPaw]

In my area no one stockpiles forages. I've read about it and have seen it done with fescue and it sounds like a dream come true. However, I am too far south to grow fescue but can grow bermuda. Have heard about stockpiling bermuda but it is still not done here. I've asked why this is the case at the grazing station and the answer I got was the bermuda deterioates too fast to be of much nutritional value and you are better off bailing it at 14% than feeding it stockpiled at 6% or less.

What are the winter conditions at where you can successfully stockpile forages? Are they dry and cold? Here, its mild and wet. Just wondering.

http://www.noble.org/Storefront/AgStore ... F-FO-00-16

Here's a link to the Noble Foundations' study on such a situation. The study was conducted in the Ardmore, OK area.

Jogeephus

This is a good publication on stockpiling for winter grazing. It covers all aspects of stockpiling and effectively utilizing the stockpile. If you follow the Noble reccomendations you can substantially extend your grazing season and possibly make it thru most of the winter before having to feed hay. How far into the winter you can graze is highly weather dependent. The more rainfall you get the faster the grass deterioriates and the sooner you may need to start supplementing protein or feeding hay.

I'm about 70 miles south of Ft Worth and graze dry, bred cows on stockpiled coastal bermuda. Some years I can make it to March 1 when the volunteer ryegrass kicks in with no hay and some years not. After about December 1, I feed supplemental protein. Start feeding about 1/2 lb crude protein/day and increase to about 1 lb/day as winter progresses. Most of the time I only feed 3 times a week. In this situation, I feed 1/3 of a weeks feed each time. Have used cottonseed meal cubes, corn gluten pellets and whole cottonseed, just depends on the cheapest per lb of protein. I use twice weekly moves with portable poly wire electric fences for strip grazing. Limited access grazing is critical to keep the cows from tromping, pooping & peeing on more grass than they eat. It also limits their consumption. As CB and other have mentioned a cow will eat a lot more than she needs and strip grazing will put them on a diet and ration out the grass. I have found that moving the portable fence is quicker, easier and cheaper than feeding hay. You can set up several wires in advance when the weather is better and/or more time is available. It only takes a very few minutes to pull the posts and reel up the wire to give the cows a fresh strip.

Hope you find this helpful. Just my 2 cents worth

 

[Jogeephus]

Thanks for all the links on stockpiling. I'm interested in trying it along with my winter grazing program and now I think I got something to study on anyhow. Thanks again.