Robert Seay, Benton County CEA, University of Arkansas Extension, started looking at Bermudagrass from an environmental standpoint as the best alternative to manage poultry litter and municipal bio-solids out of treatment plants in northwest Arkansas. “We were using Bermudagrass hay as an environmentally friendly way to dispose of poultry litter and urban sources of bio solids to help satisfy our very demanding market for Bermudagrass,” Seay said.
Seay started documenting the quality of their hay and started participating in Arkansas Cattlemen’s Association’s hay contest. His group won several years in a row. When the association discontinued their contest, Seay and local producers decided to start their own. “It got off the ground in 1988,” Seay said. Seay opened up to producers in Missouri and Oklahoma as well as Arkansas in 1994. Anyone is welcome to participate.
“Producers have been very open,” Seay said. “We have a producer round table discussion every year with our top producers answering questions from everyone. It is my favorite part of our yearly program,” he said. Producers openly share information through the program and with each other. “I probably would be surprised at the number of phone calls that have been generated from producer to producer just seeking information and asking about different practices they have put in place,” Seay said.
“The second year of the program, we had a horse breeder get involved because he was unable to buy the quality of Bermuda hay he wanted so he thought he would try to grow it himself,” Seay said. “His first year samples were just pitiful. But in just three years, he actually won the national contest.” Seay has seen producers be able to duplicate the quality of Bermudagrass, too.
The program started by looking at the protein level of the hay. After the program began working well, they started looking at other factors. “Bermudagrass is not really rated very high as a quality grass according to text books,” Seay said. “It is very deceiving because Bermudagrass can be a very high quality grass. Bermudagrass can be one of the poorest quality forages on a farm or it can be one of the best. Our quality and the types of Bermuda grass we grow today are far superior to what our fathers grew.”
Now they look at relative feed value and relative feed quality scores. “Relative feed value and relative feed quality score are two indicators of how good the energy level is and how readily animals accept the hay. The higher the score the higher the quality of hay,” Seay said.
Forage supplies from the pasture reach their lowest point during July, August and September. Bermudagrass is a forage that when established is going to be around during hot dry periods. Seay documented performance of pastures with Bermudagrass during the drought of 1988 and pastures which did not contain Bermudagrass. “What you are able to do with your cattle program is solely dependant on what you are able to do with your forage program,” Seay said. “Not only quality but, volume and seasonal supply of that volume.” He became concerned about farmers being impacted by having to feed hay during drought periods affecting their long term plans. “It’s really been a factor in this area because we have a lot of producers with beef cattle who have superior genetic programs” he said. “The last thing they want to do is to ditch years and years of genetic work because you ran out of grass.” Seay has producers using advanced methods of inoculation and storage of the hay who are able to get four cuttings from their hay instead of the usual two.
“One of the things beef cattle producers have come back to tell us is that they have been able to do some things with their younger animals and their heavy milk producers that they couldn’t before using hay from our program,” Seay said. “That is no surprise because when you get hay that is 65 percent total digestible nutrients with sixteen percent protein, there is no reason animals can’t perform the way they genetically can.” Seay said we tend to have superior genetics in this area and they need the right nutrients to achieve their peak. Without bringing in supplemental feed they can’t get their animals what they need. Customers who complain about the cost of hay from Seay’s producers come to realize they don’t need some of the supplementation they need with Bermuda hay from these regional quality hay developers.
