More recent crops and forage questions and answers

Crops and forage

Hay listing

How can I advertise to sell round bales of hay through the University?

You should find everything you need to list your hay at the Missouri Hay Listing for buyers and sellers.

Eileen Yager
Extension Communications Officer

Pasture rotation workshop

I have an alpaca ranch and was told if I passed a class on pasture rotation I might get reimbursed for up to half the cost of fencing. What is the class?

The workshops to which you refer are the Missouri Regional Grazing Schools. They are held throughout the state from April 1 to Oct. 1. The schools are taught by MU Extension and the Natural Resources Conservation Service staff. They are coordinated through the Missouri Forage and Grassland Council and the Grazing Lands Conservation Initiative.

I would move carefully, as your pastures are probably common tall fescue. While the new tall fescue pastures are nontoxic, the old ones can cause problems.

Visit your local extension agronomist or a livestock specialist for more information.

Craig Roberts
State forage specialist

Pecan seedlings

I am thinking about getting certified pecan seedlings from the Missouri Department of Conservation. Will these trees need to be grafted?

According to the MDC's Licking Nursey Web site, "Pecan seedlings produced from seed certified as being from Vernon County, by the Missouri Seed Certification Board. Seedlings are from seed of the pecan variety Peruque, a popular variety for nut production adapted to Missouri, however, seedlings cannot be guaranteed true to variety and no such warranty is implied."

What is important to note is that since MDC is selling seedlings of grafted trees, not grafted trees, there is no guarantee that these seedlings will behave similar to the parent tree.

You should expect to find some of the Peruque seedlings from MDC will behave similarly to the grafted parent tree, and many and probably most will not measure up to the grafted parent tree.

Since the seedlings come from Peruque, instead of trees from the wild, the seedlings will likely perform better than those collected from wild trees. However, you have no idea if your seedlings will be as good as the parent trees until they begin producing pecans 15+ years from now, a long time to wait and see.

The reason for grafting is to reproduce the results exactly since you are asexually propagating or cloning the parent tree on to a rootstock and so the graft will perform exactly as the tree from which you took the scionwood (graft wood).

In contrast, when the tree is allowed to cross pollinate and you collect seed, you are certain to get variation in the progeny.

If you are serious about getting into commercial pecan production and beginning with seedlings, I would graft for sure. If this is just a hobby or for your own growing pleasure, it is not that critical.

Michael Gold
Center for Agroforestry

Nitrate levels in millet hay

I planted millet hay this year and have had several people caution me about the possibility of a high level of nitrates that could poison cattle. How much is too much? What precautions can I take to make sure this doesn't happen. How should I collect a hay sample? Where should I send it to have it tested? How much does the test cost?

While the Plant Diagnostic Clinic is here to diagnose plant problems as well as identify insects or plants and provide management information, the Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory does nitrate testing on animal feed materials. You can reach them at

MU Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory
P.O. Box 6023
Columbia, MO 65205-6023
573-882-6811

Simeon Wright
Plant Diagnostic Clinic coordinator

Alfalfa establishment

I am ready to plant two fields in alfalfa. One field is currently in fescue and orchard grass. It has been fertilized but needs to be limed. I plan to plow and disc this fall and plant wheat next summer or fall. After harvest I'll plant the alfalfa with a cover crop. Should I spray the fescue before I plow or will plowing be enough to kill it out?

The other field has been in alfalfa for eight years and has fizzled out. Can I put it in wheat this fall and go back to alfalfa next year?

It is difficult to kill tall fescue. If you spray and plow, you are likely to have some tall fescue in your new seeding of alfalfa. The new tall fescue plants would come from tillers that escaped the spray as well as volunteers from seed in the soil. If you are planting alfalfa this spring, you would be better off by spraying with Roundup (in September), planting an annual smother crop (wheat or cereal rye), then spraying again in the spring. The second spray would eliminate any volunteer tall fescue and escape tillers.

Regarding planting alfalfa into an old stand, your best bet is to leave the field out of alfalfa production for one year. Alfalfa releases compounds that are toxic to itself. These compounds leach out of the soil for about a year in Missouri. So yes, killing out the alfalfa this fall and replanting the next fall is fine.

Craig Roberts
State forage specialist

More crops and forage questions and answers

Updated 4/11/07