Callaway County
Callaway County
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arman's Weekly Agronomy News August 9, 2000 |
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Fescue Stockpiling in Winter Greatly Shortens Winter Hay Feeding |
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August is time to start managing fescue pastures for an extended winter grazing season, which will reduce hay-feeding. The dry weather last spring during haymaking left many livestock producers with a short supply of hay for winter. Stockpiled fescue grown and saved now can be grazed well up into January, reducing feeding of baled hay. The stockpiling process starts with grazing the pasture short in August to encourage new growth. Then a generous application of nitrogen fertilizer boosts production in the normal fall growing period. Fescue goes into a summer slump when it produces little forage. However about one-third of the yearly growth comes in the fall. Good management can increase that fall production. The grazing herd is kept off of the fields being stockpiled. Timely rainfall like the ones we have gotten recently will greatly influences the total production. Pat Guinan, MU Climatologist with the Extension Commercial Program, says the below normal precipitation forecasts that dominated the outlook most of the year are gone. "We're looking at normal precipitation and normal temperatures through October." With that outlook it is a good time to consider a higher application of nitrogen this fall. Normal recommendation when moisture is in doubt is about 60 pounds of nitrogen per acre. But, research shows economic returns can be expected with up 100 pounds of N per acre. Rob Kallenbach’s recommendation is for producers to skip their spring application of nitrogen on fescue pasture and apply it in the fall. The normal spring growth of pasture usually provides more grass than the herd can keep up with. Spring-applied fertilizer just adds to the problem. Fall is usually when the extra growth is needed. One secret for stockpiling success is to remove the old growth from the pasture before applying the fall fertility. The pasture should be grazed down to about a three-inch stubble. An advantage of using fescue for winter stockpile is that it stands up even after fall freezes. And, it provides highly nutritious grazing. Stockpiling also cuts the cost of harvesting the forage. The cows can graze even when pastures become snow covered later in the season. The best way to feed the stockpiled pasture is to strip graze. An electric fence, a single wire stretched across the pasture, is moved forward every couple of days. That provides fresh grass to the herd. Strip grazing reduces the amount of forage lost to trampling. MU Guide 4646, "Tall Fescue" tells about fall and winter grazing. The Guide is available from University Extension Centers in each county. The source of information for this article is Rob Kallenbach, Extension Assistant Professor of Agronomy specializing in forages (573) 882-2001.
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