Planting now to produce forages for late summer and early fall grazing
Yet another year of drought has left many pastures in the Ozarks looking a bit bare going into late summer and early fall. The forage shortage is a serious situation for producers throughout the region. If producers are seeking ways to add forage alternatives to their operations, then there are some options to consider that may have not been on their radar in years past.
Forage specialists say it is too late in the season to plant warm-season annuals in order to get a good stand for grazing prior to the first frost. But with the lack of grazing in many pastures due to consecutive drought years, there are atypical alternatives to boost forage production.
Forage Solutions
One solution is for producers to consider planting cool-season annuals in their perennial pastures. The time to plant the cool-season annuals to provide additional forage for their cow herds is the end of July through September. Producers need to make sure rain is in the forecast before broadcasting or drilling in seed.
“The one for me that is a really good tool to have in our forage toolbox for a late summer establishment for a lot of fall forage, provided we get a little bit of rain and provided we have a little bit of soil moisture, would be some type of a spring forage oat,” Harley Naumann, Ph.D., University of Missouri Extension state forage specialist, said.
As long as there is soil moisture, the cool-season annuals, such as spring oats, will grow and produce significant forage before the first frost. “We can use them (cool-season annuals) in a lot of ways. You can use them for fall grazing. You can stockpile them and graze them through the winter,” Dr. Naumann said.
This is a management strategy forage specialists may not have suggested in the past. But with back-to-back drought years the perennial pastures are thin and sparse, thus making it easier for producers to grow cool-season annuals in the existing perennial stand.
Cool-Season Annuals
If producers are looking for some crop diversity, then planting radishes, turnips or other brassicas with the spring oats can create a good grazing combination. The spring oats and brassicas can be planted together at the same time. Keep in mind, these cool-season annuals are not winter hardy. However, they will provide a standing grazable material for fall into early winter.
Now is also the time to apply nitrogen on fescue fields to give them a boost and hopefully get the pastures to the point they can be stockpiled for winter grazing. Producers can get more out of all their pastures if they implement good forage management practices.
“My recommendation to anyone who is wanting to stretch their forage resource that they have is to do something like strip grazing or do a little more intensive rotational grazing to really increase the utilization of the forage that they have and stretch that resource as far as they can into cold months,” Dr. Naumann said.
