Warm Season Grass help...

[machslammer]

Currently, we cut 6 different fields for hay. 1 of those we own and 1 we can no till or do whatever we wish with, just keep it looking nice. Others we have no choice and just cut it.

On our field 19 acres worth, 2 yrs ago, we drilled in fescue, rye, and red clover. First year it did great for TN and made 60-80 rolls per cutting X 3 cuttings. This year on first cutting and may not get but 2, it made 45 rolls. The clover looks as though it has spread rapidly and our fescue has cut way back. We are going to go in and kill some/all of the clover, re-drill fescue and orchard grass, and we are wanting to put some sort of summer warm season grass in with it... Any suggestions? Switchgrass looks wonderful with little maintenance, but will it grow when planted in with other grasses. The field is pretty clean with no weeds but does have cool season grasses. Any suggestions? Drill in sudax every year? Need good opinions. Wont have a pasture with just it so need something that the cool season won't smother out or vice versa. Thanks in advance.

 

[turklilley]

My cows will not touch switchgrass. It makes a lot of forage, but my cows would starve before they would eat it.

 

[machslammer]

My cows will not touch switchgrass. It makes a lot of forage, but my cows would starve before they would eat it.

Really? Hmmm..Ours are the same way with Bermuda. They will leave it till there is nothing else anywhere. Well there goes that idea..

What about sorghum sudan/sudax? I know it's an annual. Anyone with it? Or Big/little blue stem? Grow in tonnage?

 

[cowgirl8]

Depends on when you cut switchgrass..Can make a ton of hay. But leave it for too long and it gets stemmy and will tear the heck out of your equipment tires. You cant let cattle graze it, they will take it to the ground and kill it. But if you cut it at the right time, it makes great hay. If you have a tub grinder even better.

 

[Red Bull Breeder]

Try Lespedeza or just plain old crab grass. It will take you a while the get the bluestem established and it will not compete with the fescue.

 

[machslammer]

Try Lespedeza or just plain old crab grass. It will take you a while the get the bluestem established and it will not compete with the fescue.

Don't have a tub grinder. Our Johnson grass is the same way with the stems if you wait too long. Will Lespedeza or crab grass compete with fescue in the warm months but not kill out the fescue? Thanks. And these are strictly hay fields with no cattle grazing.

 

[dun]

"Usually" fescue will out compete lespedeza and crabgrass. Usually. But usually it will also out copete clover. I woldn;t do anything about the existing clover, within a year or so the fescue will overcome it. There are just some years that are clover years. This year we have clover where it's never been before, at least in the past 15 years it hasn;t. If it's strictly for hay, mixing WSG and CSG in the same field rarely works out. The have such different managment. WSG should be cut no lower then 6 inches, most times fescue is cut much shorter then that. If I was going to palnt something with the intentions of haying it in a mixed field I would drill something like Marshall rye grass. After it's cut and baled the fescue would come back just fine. The drawback being that you would have to do it every year.

 

[pdfangus]

i am with Dun....

I am also pretty sure that the clover did not out compete the fescue....something else caused the fescue to fall off in production....

and the management for warm season grass should be totally different than for cool season grass.......

I just broadcast a few weeks ago, some Red River Crab Grass on some new ground that was too rough and stumpy to work....

just posted photos of it this morning on my blog and facebook

I aim to just let it go and grow and set seed this summer....maybe in the fall I will broadcast some ryegrass and clover over it....
Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/pdfangus#!...99190377229.1073741835.100001114634263&type=1

blog

http://pdfangus.com/2014/07/07/crabgrass-plot-and-other-shots-around-the-farm/

 

[machslammer]

How much crab grass seed per acre did you broadcast? Looking to ad something to my pasture as well with my fescue. Crabgrass around here will take over if your not careful.

 

[Red Bull Breeder]

Crabgrass should come after you cut the fescue for hay. I just broadcast 10 lb per acre on 70 acres a few days ago. Mixed the seed with fertilize.

 

[pdfangus]

it is about 2/3 to 3/4 of an acre by guestimation ....I have not measured it....I was able to get my hands on 7 lbs left over from someone elses order.....I mixed it with about a half rate of my summer cover crop seed and broad cast it all....so my crab grass rate was about ten lbs per acre....I mixed all of the seed with fertilier and lime and broadcast it all by hand with a shoulder bag seeder.....other than bush hog a week before I did nothing about supressing what was there.....really poor land so anything is better than what it was....

it was still wet when I put the seed out and had standing puddles and could not get on the land with a tractor....I figured what landed in the puddles was a waste but darned if that is not where I have the best stands now....might be because the competition was flooded out and it dried up the week after I broadcast....

 

[Red Bull Breeder]

The 70 acres I just done was a mix of the Red River and the Quick and Big Jim. Save a little of both to start a couple of test plots here at home.

 

[pdfangus]

I am thinking of trying a plot of Quick and Big next summer.....

 

[Red Bull Breeder]

What we done at work was a mix of the two Jim. I plan to have a test plot of each here at home.