The fescues??

[jasonleonard]

Our local calfpool got an order for lightweight calves headed to Missouri, but only from predominately fescue pastures.
My question...Is orchard grass, perennial ryegrass, or timothy classified as fescue? Most of the local pastures are mostly og, ryegrass, and several other tall native grasses that I always called fescue.(And some red and white clovers).
Another question, does the resistance to the toxins in fescue pass from the cow to the calf??
These calves that are about to have their zip code changed from WV to MO are still sucking their mothers.

 

[TennesseeTuxedo]

Fescue is fescue. The others are there own species.

 

[dun]

I don;t know if it's passed through the milk but the DNA (in my opinion) has a lot to do with it. Maybe the time in the oven also helps imart some tolerance. I do know that our cows that handle it well also have calves that do. Those that just can;t seem to adpat have calves that are always substandard.

 

[inyati13]

Our local calfpool got an order for lightweight calves headed to Missouri, but only from predominately fescue pastures.
My question...Is orchard grass, perennial ryegrass, or timothy classified as fescue? Most of the local pastures are mostly og, ryegrass, and several other tall native grasses that I always called fescue.(And some red and white clovers).
Another question, does the resistance to the toxins in fescue pass from the cow to the calf??
These calves that are about to have their zip code changed from WV to MO are still sucking their mothers.

Hey jasonleonard, I had a Ph D in forage science at the farm last week. I ask him about native grasses. He said there was only one native grass in the State of KY before it was settled and that was a variety of Bluegrass albeit not the one used today as forage. Orchard grass, fescue, timothy, ryegrass are all introduced species. I was curious what the native bison foraged on. He figured that is why they constantly stayed on the move and foraged on a variety of plants and scrubs.

 

[Banjo]

Our local calfpool got an order for lightweight calves headed to Missouri, but only from predominately fescue pastures.
My question...Is orchard grass, perennial ryegrass, or timothy classified as fescue? Most of the local pastures are mostly og, ryegrass, and several other tall native grasses that I always called fescue.(And some red and white clovers).
Another question, does the resistance to the toxins in fescue pass from the cow to the calf??
These calves that are about to have their zip code changed from WV to MO are still sucking their mothers.

TT is right. Only fescue is fescue, KY 31 is the most well known and most prolific, but there are different types of fescue. But OG, RG, Timothy along with fescue are all considered cool season grasses. OG,RG,Timothy doesn't have endophyte issues to my knowledge. The endophyte fungus is primarily what makes fescue so resilient.

 

[skyhightree1]

The only fact i can tell yall is if it wasnt for ky31 my cattle would starve.

 

[Bigfoot]

I have never owned a cow, or bought a calf that seemed to not get along with fescue. I bought some bred brangus heifers out of Mississippi once a few years ago. I am assuming they never had fescue before. I had to feed them sweet feed to keep them going. The next spring they were fine. I have always herd cattle can leave fescue, and be fine. They can't go to fescue. There must be something to that. My only experience with bringing them in was expensive on feed.

 

[Chris H]

The only fact i can tell yall is if it wasnt for ky31 my cattle would starve.

That is true on our farm, but if they come here from a farm where they've never had fescue, they look worse than starved. They lose weight, tail switches drop off, have hoof issues, and calves don't grow.

 

[jasonleonard]

Thank you all for all of the good info. I have been helping to fill the calfpool orders, and we have been trying extra-hard to send feeders out that will perform well; whether in a feedlot or turned out to pasture.
Inyati..I really need to go to a forage field day sometime. Either Penn State or WVA university would be handy for me. I started using rotational grazing, and frost seeding some clover with amazing results. Makes me think what other tricks I could learn.

 

[inyati13]

Thank you all for all of the good info. I have been helping to fill the calfpool orders, and we have been trying extra-hard to send feeders out that will perform well; whether in a feedlot or turned out to pasture.
Inyati..I really need to go to a forage field day sometime. Either Penn State or WVA university would be handy for me. I started using rotational grazing, and frost seeding some clover with amazing results. Makes me think what other tricks I could learn.

Tell me, what clover are you using, white (ledino) or red. And how are you doing the frost seeding? I need to think about keeping my clover going. The forage specialist said it will fade out in just a few years.

 

[jasonleonard]

I mixed white clover (Kopo 2) and red clover (Dynamite) with fertilizer at the batch plant.
I put this mix in a rented auger wagon ( like you would tend a big corn planter with) and then augered into a Baltic 3 point spreader because I can't get a buggy on my pastures to frost seed in late Feb.
I soil tested a year ago and my tests were mid to low for p and k. I have learned to crank up the p and go easy on the n, when trying to get a legume to take. I grazed down to nothing the previous fall, then mixed this clover seed with 5-24-10, and spun it on.
My soil ph was about a 6.8, and I don't know exactly how many lbs of seed and fertilizer that I actually applied to each acre.
After I get a good stand, I hit it with chicken litter (maybe 2 tons to the acre) . NO UREA buggies in my clover stands. The local sop is to spread urea like a crazy man on your hayfields and pasture, with usually no soil test but I can see now urea is hard on your ph and your legume percentages. I know this is crude way to seed down, but it worked for me.

 

[Banjo]

The general consensus is that heavy fertilization especially N causes your grasses to outgrow and choke out the clover. But also it suppresses the naturally occurring bacteria that clover needs to thrive.