| |
| |
| |
| Search: |
| or Search by Keyword: |
| |
| |
|
|
|
- Consider fertilizing your introduced summer grasses from April 15 to June
1 depending on your needs and goals. Remember, ryegrass is still actively
growing during this time so be careful it doesn’t get all the fertilizer.
You can expect to grow 1 ton of forage for every 50 pounds of nitrogen applied
to warm-season grasses, while it takes 60 lbs. of nitrogen to produce 1 ton
of cool-season grass.
- Consider carrying over the lighter end of your stockers from grazeout winter
pasture to warm-season grass. Warm-season grasses should be good quality and
produce adequate gain (1.5 to 2.0 pounds average daily gain) from May through
mid-July. However, forage quality will begin to substantially decrease sometime
after mid-June depending on rainfall, fertilization and plant maturity. Therefore,
supplementation may be necessary near the end of the season for optimum gains.
- The optimum time of establishment for seeding introduced warm-season grasses
(bermudagrass, plains bluestem, weeping lovegrass) is from April 15 to May
15. You can seed later than this if soil moisture is available and we are
experiencing above-average rainfall.
- Estimate your hay needs today and either plan to grow and bale it by July
1 or purchase it during times of economic advantage. Don’t wait until
the last minute to realize you have come up short!
- Test all hay prior to feeding so proper supplementation recommendations
can be made.
- On average, 75 percent of our warm-season forage is produced by July 15.
If we haven’t received near average rainfall by May 15, expect forage
to be in short supply this summer and make plans to offset the deficit ahead
of time.
- Maintain a minimum of a 6-inch stubble height on all grasses through mid-July
and all year for native grasses.
- Measure residual forage July 15 and estimate your carrying capacity for
the remainder of the year. Plan — Monitor — Replan.
- Consider fall fertilizing your bermudagrass in mid-August if additional
forage is needed for your cows or if you plan to background fall-weaned calves
on grass.
- If you want early winter pasture for fall stockers, then have your pasture
planted and fertilized by Sept. 15. However, if you do not need early forage,
then delay planting until after Oct. 15.
|
|
