What sort of pasture do you run?

[jaydill]

Hey all,

I'm just a curious college student here.. I showed a bit in high school and (of course) want to start a herd of my own once I graduate. I'm currently an animal science major with a minor in agronomy, though I don't start any agronomy classes until next semester. I'm just curious as to what sorts of grasses/hays y'all run in your pastures, just so that I can get a feel for what is common and why. Thanks in advance!

Jay

 

[Jogeephus]

Jay, we use a combination of bahia and bermuda hybrids. I'd say the bahia constitutes the majority. Our thinking is that the Tift 9 bahia will provide a longer growing season than the bermudas. Bermudas; Tift 44, Alicia and Tift 85 make up the rest of the grassland. All of these can produce a large amount of forage but in a more confined time period. Hence we hay the surplus.

During the winter months, the fields are overseeded in ryegrass and sometimes clover.

 

[Nowland Farms]

One pasture is mostly Costal Bermuda. The other two are MaxQ Fescue.

 

[IluvABbeef]

Things are a sight different up here than down where you are, but I'll put in my bit.

Hay:
Timothy
Alfalfa (primarily Common/Flemish)
Smooth bromegrass
Volunteer wheatgrasses (mostly slender and intermediate)
Volunteer White clover

Pasture:
Meadow brome
Kentucky Bluegrass
Slender Wheatgrass
Intermediate Wheatgrass
Quackgrass (primarily volunteer stands)
Volunteer Wild White clover
Crested Wheatgrass (diploidy)
Smooth Brome
Reed Canarygrass (in the sloughs mostly)
Timothy
Russian Wild Rye
Volunteer Meadow Foxtail (cattle hate the stuff)

 

[ga. prime]

jay, we have Coastal on droughty, sandy soil. Because that's what my Grandpa put there way back when. It works. And has worked for decades. If I was sprigging a new field, I'd closely investigate Alicia. My hay man says it will cut better than Coastal on sandy soil.

 

[J. T.]

I bought this place in '89 and it had been in KY 31 Tall Fescue for years. Still in fescue. Costs too much to eradicate and plant in something else. Planted some new ground in Pensacola Bahia some years back. Since the pastures are better managed now than when I first bought the place, I have common bermuda, crabgrass, Dallisgrass, and Kentucky Bluegrass intermingled in the old KY 31.

 

[Proverbs 12:10]

200 acres here: about 1/4 native and the rest spilt between irrigated annuals(Rye, peas, ryegrass, sudan), and non-irriagated perenials(MaxQ fescue, bermuda, johnsongrass).

 

[msscamp]

Our pastures have always been strictly native grasses because hybrids won't grow on our rainfall.

 

[jaydill]

Thanks for all of the feedback, including those from people who are not in my general area! While I will have to research on a lot of it, I appreciate the broad base...I want to have the most well rounded opinion I can of pastures before it comes time for me to plant my own, and the only way for me to do that is to learn from as many of those people more experienced than me as I can. Feel free to keep the responses coming, if you haven't gotten a chance to answer yet.

Jay

 

[phillse]

We have bahia pasture for summer grazing, We put Ball clover on one pasture last year for winter grazing. It has done very well, mu8ch better than the ryegrass. Since Ball clover has hard seed and the ability to reseed itself effectively from year to year we are looking to put it on all our pastures.