Producers who have a warm- and cool-season forage base should pay attention to the transition between spring and summer seasons. “Excessive cool-season grasses in late spring can delay the emergence of warm-season grasses,” said Jeremy Huff, state grazing lands specialist for Arkansas’ U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service. “Consider grazing cool-season grasses more closely in late spring to open up the plant canopy and help promote the release of warm-season forages. Also, maintaining rotational grazing activities will allow more available forage in possible drought susceptible periods.”
According to Nathan Witt, resource conservationist with Missouri’s U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resource Conservation Service, producers should ensure proper fertility is applied to their pastures. “Once fertility requirements have been met, maximization of growth boils down to grazing management,” he added. “Don’t be in a rush to turn livestock out to graze at the first sight of grass. Allow time for the plant to develop adequate leaf area prior to grazing so as not to weaken the root system as the plant is breaking dormancy.”
Witt said that with the Ozarks fescue fields, the biggest challenge occurs with the rapid flush of growth we experience through late April and May. “Producers need to focus on preventing the plant from entering into the reproductive stage, which when reached, reduces forage quality,” he added. “Proper grazing management using adequate stocking rates and paddock rotations will help to alleviate this problem.”
Fescue quality is difficult to maintain as the mercury rises. “Being of the cool-season nature, fescue tends to enter a summer dormancy and consequently forage growth and quality decline substantially,” Witt said. “Keeping those fields from setting seed heads in the spring should somewhat help with quality. For this reason I recommend all grazers to try and incorporate at least 25 percent of their grazing acres into a warm-season grass. In the months when our cool-season grasses and legumes are fading in quality and production, warm-season grasses, such as Bermuda, Caucasian Bluestem, and Crabgrass, can fill the summer slump with high-quality forage. That’s not to say that these grasses won’t get over mature if left un-harvested. The same challenges of preventing the plant from entering into the reproductive state still apply, with adequate stocking rates, paddock rotations, and hay harvest, being the key.”
“Cool-season grasses are generally a reliable source of high-quality nutrients to meet the nutrient demands of livestock,” Huff said. “However, as the forages rapidly mature, the cell contents in the plants become less digestible and the forage is considered lower quality. Producers who utilize a grazing system can better control the forage growth stages during the spring to optimize grazing quality.”
If anything, Huff suggested that producers take advantage of pasture rest and increased harvest efficiency that rotational grazing provides to your operation.
Producers should attend a grazing workshop/field day to learn more about grazing management practices. There are several opportunities for producers to learn and apply successful concepts on their own operation. Producers may go to their local NRCS or Conservation District office to receive more information. Additionally, they can contact their local agricultural extension specialist.
