Extending Grazing: Building a Year Round Grazing System

1. Extending Grazing: Building a Year Round Grazing System Chris Teutsch Southern Piedmont AREC

5. Production vs Profitability US agriculture production oriented More is better! Right? Focus on making profitable decisions Increasing profit Increase the price we get for product Increase amount of product produced Decrease production costs Hay and supplements accounts for >50% of cow-calf budgets (VCE, 2005)

7. Forage Options for the Mid-Atlantic Region

8. The Silver Bullet A forage that solve all of our problems No replacement for good management!!! Verify claims: objective source

9. Selecting Forage Species Characteristics of forages species regionally adapted adapted to your soils high yielding high nutritive value drought and heat tolerant tolerant of close and frequent grazing persistent What are the options?

10. Cool-Season Grasses optimal growth at cooler temps (70 F) more digestible and higher in CP longer growing season Warm-Season Grasses optimal growth at higher temps (90 F) less digestible and lower in CP more drought tolerant more efficient at using water Cool- and Warm-Season Grasses

12. Growth Curves for Common Forages

13. Tall Fescue Best adapted cool-season grass Positives drought tolerant forms tough sod tolerates abuse persistent stockpiles well Negatives less palatable endophyte

14. A New Chapter in the Endophyte Story Endophyte infected tall fescue Reduced animal performance Tolerance to drought and grazing Endophyte free tall fescue Excellent animal performance Poor persistence Novel Endophyte Animal performance similar to endophtye free Persistence similar to toxic endophyte Long-term persistence data on farms Seed cost limiting adoption

15. Orchardgrass High nutritive value Palatable Hay or Pasture Bunchgrass-forms open sod Does not tolerate close and frequent defoliation Limited summer growth Limited persistence Insect problems

16. Tall Fescue Variety Trial at TAREC

17. Tall Fescue Variety Trial at TAREC

18. Stockpiling Cool-Season Grasses Stockpiling allowing forage growth to accumulate normally done in fall best option for extending grazing Seasonal Distribution

19. Stockpiling Cool-Season Grasses

20. Utilizing Stockpiled Forage Always utilize grass-legume mixture first Strip graze maximizes utilization only enough forage for 7-14 d no back fence needed

21. Nitrogen Rate and Source Study Little information on N sources Applied 0, 40, 80, and 120 lb N/A in mid-Aug 2002, 2003 and 2004 Nitrogen sources were ammonium nitrate (34%), ammonium sulfate (21%), broiler litter, complete fertilizer (18-9-9), urea ammonium nitrate (30%), and urea (46%) Plots were harvested in mid-December

22. Nitrogen Rate and Source

23. Cows in the Corn-Corn for Grazing? Corn residue commonly grazed Standing corn for late winter grazing Planted �Grazing� and �Conventional� corn and Sorghum-Sudangrass Harvested from Nov to Mar monthly Separated into leaves, husk-shank, ear, stalk, and collected surface residue Calculated yield and contribution Determined nutritive value

24. Graze or harvest?

25. Grazing Corn Yield

26. Contribution of Plant Parts to Yield

27. Whole Plant TDN

28. Whole Plant Crude Protein

29. Agro-Economics Assumptions DM yield is 10,000 lb/A DMI of 27.5 lb/day utilization rate of 75%

30. How does that compare to hay?

31. Bermudagrass(Wiregrass)

32. Bermudagrass History Origin: southeast Africa Imported to Georgia in 1751 Tom Spalding�s Dairy : �If ever this becomes a grazing country it must be through the instrumentality of this grass.� In 1800�s called most important pasture grass in South Soon became a weed in row crops Today found in half of pastures in the south

33. Seeded Bermudagrass Bermudagrass is adapted to Virginia Relatively little planted Vegetative establishment Seeded bermudagrass Facilitate adoption Cultivar Single pure variety Blend Mixture of several varieties, AZ common, giant Same trade name, but different mixture

34. Average Yield for 2002-06

35. Dinwiddie County, VA

36. Forage Quality: August 15, 2002

37. Persistence: Cold Tolerance

38. Green Up-5/21/2003

39. Bermudagrass Variety Trial 2003

40. Bermudagrass Variety Trial 2003

41. Selecting a Variety Yield is important Cold tolerance is more important Do not use varieties that include �Giant� and/or �Arizona Common� Disease resistance??????

42. Impact of Nitrogen Rate and Source on the Yield of Seeded Bermudagrass

43. Materials and Methods �Wrangler� bermudagrass sod O to 500 lb N applied as ammonium nitrate (30-30-30-10 split) Organic Sources-250 lb N/A at green up Pelleted biosolid (Leesburg, VA) Digested biosolid (Richmond, VA) Broiler Litter (Amelia County, VA) Harvested and weighed plots

44. Seeded Bermuda Response to N Rate

45. Nitrogen Profit Maximization

46. Annual Forages Supply forage during summer and winter deficit periods Advantages fast germination and emergence rapid growth high productivity and quality flexibility of utilization Disadvantages Establishment cost: $120 to $140 increased risk of stand failures hard to cure

47. Annual Forages Supply forage during summer and winter deficit periods Advantages fast germination and emergence rapid growth high productivity and quality flexibility of utilization Disadvantages Establishment cost: $120 to $140 increased risk of stand failures hard to cure

48. Sorghum Species Tall growing, coarse stemmed annual Forage sorghum, sudangrass, sorghum x sudangrass hybrids Adapted to well-drained, fertile soils Does not tolerate acidity (pH 6.0 to 6.5) Variety Selection little difference in yield choose based on seed cost Nitrate accumulator Prussic acid concern!!!!

49. Pearl Millet Smaller stems and leafier Better adapted to acid soils (pH 5.5 to 6.5) More cold sensitive than sorghums Good drought tolerance better on sandier soils than sorghums Grazing in 45-60 days Nitrate accumulator No prussic acid!!! Variety Selection little difference in yield between varieties based on seed cost and availability

50. Crabgrass Well adapted to southern and eastern VA Annual that acts like a perennial (reseed) Double cropped with winter annual Species of opportunity Good yield potential Excellent forage quality Higher than bermudagrass No prussic acid Nitrate accumulator �Red River� only variety

51. Nitrogen Rate: Total Seasonal Yield

52. First Harvest in 2001 (60 days after seeding)

53. Forage Quality In Vitro Digestibility 75 to 90% (Teutsch et al., 2005) Crude Protein 6 to 14% (Teutsch et al., 2005) Increased with nitrogen fertilization Average Daily Gain (Dalrymple, 1994) Poor to fair quality crabgrass: 0.6 to 1.5 lb/day Medium quality crabgrass: 1.85 Excellent quality crabgrass: 2.35 Bermudagrass: 1lb/day, Crabgrass: 1.75 lb/day

54. Nitrate Accumulation in Crabgrass

55. Small Grains for Forage Adapted statewide Grazed, silage or hay Double cropped with summer annuals Wheat most versatile Rye least exacting soil requirements, earliest Barley best on well-drained fertile soils Winter oats palatable, lower yielding

56. Small Grain Forage Trial

57. Annual Ryegrass Variety Trials

58. Annual Ryegrass High yielding with excellent quality Can be grazed, hayed, or ensiled Regrows after cutting until June Adapted to wide range of soils Consistent production Requires nitrogen fertilization Overseed bermudagrass or double crop with summer annual Serious weed in small grains

59. Annual Ryegrass Variety Trial-2003

61. Why use legumes? Benefits of legumes higher yields and forage quality improved summer growth FREE NITROGEN dilution of endophyte infected tall fescue

62. Alfalfa Long-lived perennial Deep tap-root Drought tolerance Fixes 150-250 lb N/yr Well-drained soils Needs high fertility Rotational grazing Does not frost seed Can cause bloat

63. Red Clover Most important pasture legume Short-lived perennial Common: 1-2 years Improved: 2-3 years Good drought tolerance Excellent seedling vigor Easily established frost seeding

64. White Clover Important in pastures Three types small, medium, large Ladino or large type produces 3-5X Stolons well adapted to grazing Poor drought tolerance persists via reseeding Very high in quality

65. Sericea Lespedeza Long-lived perennial, warm-season, nonbloating Well adapted to VA & NC Extremely drought tolerant Tolerant of acid soils Newer cultivars Lower tannins, finer stems, grazing tolerant Grazed rotationally Poor seedling vigor Establishment difficult

66. Putting it all together! Goal: Year-Round Grazing Potential system for Mid-Atlantic Region