September, 2023
It has been an active month and we are entering the season where we graze out summer annuals in the anticipation of planting cool season forages. As I mentioned last month we are planting a lot of Novel Endophyte Tall Fescue this fall. We killed our first fescue pastures in 2014. It has been 9 years of annuals on those fields, which is plenty of time for me to be confident that the toxic fescue is long gone.
I love these annuals as they give us so much very high quality forage. We especially like BMR Sudangrass and Cowpea. On the downside an annual system really keeps you working hard trying to graze out the current crop and get the next crop planted. It seems like we are always late and hurrying to get to the next crop. The high quality forages really help us with our finishing cattle program, but the repetitive planting is getting old.
We know that one reason farmers don’t plant more Novel Endophyte Tall Fescue is the seed cost. This year we plan on planting four different varieties and the seed cost will range from $80 to $100 per acre. This does seem high, but contrast that with what I normally expect to pay for the annual seeds.
Depending on what annuals we plant the seed cost runs about $35/acre (for ryegrass or crabgrass) to $50 per acre for sorghum-sudan, or $75 per acre for our complex Ray’s Crazy Mix. All these are cheaper by the acre than seeding Novel Endophyte Tall Fescue, but when you consider that you do this twice a year, every year, it really gets expensive! Over the 9 years we have planted annuals on that first land we killed, seed has amounted to $900 per acre!!! That calculation made it real easy for me to order all that “expensive” Novel Endophyte Tall Fescue seed.
The new fescue will not give us the explosive growth we get for about 60 days either on ryegrass or sudangrass. However, the sustained gains over longer times, the lack of all the establishment work and less sensitivity to dry spells makes the Novel Endophyte Tall Fescue very attractive.
I ordered my seed from Doug Brown with Cattlelac Farm who represents several different seed distributors. I was delighted to see that Doug has participated in the Alliance for Grassland Renewal Certified Dealer Program. He became a certified dealer after he attended an Alliance workshop, and he has made a big impact distributing forage seed in our area. I was not aware that one seed dealer could get me all the current varieties of Novel Endophyte Tall Fescue, but Doug can! He even ordered the seed and has it stored in his seed house, which is much better conditions than I could store it in. If you are thinking about planting this forage, check with your seed dealer and encourage them to participate in this great program.
As planting approaches we are challenged with the usually conditions that make you wonder if anyone in their right mind would try to establish a good pasture. We were wet in June and July at our farm and everything looked great a month ago. However, the rain cut off and we had a very dry August, and didn’t get substantial rain until September 9. The temperatures in August and early September were excessively hot, and all the pastures suffered. We are continuing to graze the annual pastures to get the residue levels down, but forage quality has really declined.
One thing we are really thinking a lot about is the recommended planting dates for tall fescue in our area. Officially, ideal planting dates are September 15 to October 15, but given our current conditions, September 15 seems too early. The first week of September had highs near 100 degrees! After a 1.5 inch rain, the summer forages are taking back off, and it will take us at least another month to get all that growth grazed or hayed off and killed for planting. We expect most of our planting will be between October 1 and November 1. I will let you know how that turns out.
We are also selling about 20% of our cows this fall to make sure that we don’t have to buy too much hay to make up for the lost forage production next year. With the great cattle prices we are seeing, our budget will allow us to dramatically improve our farm without sacrificing our bottom line. If you have thought about upgrading your pastures this is the time to do it! The extra income you will experience the next few years makes a great opportunity for you to transform your farm too!
~ Matt Poore, NC State
The Alliance for Grassland Renewal is a national organization focused on enhancing the appropriate adoption of novel endophyte tall fescue technology through education, incentives, self-regulation and promotion. For more resources or to learn more about the Alliance for Grassland Renewal, go to www.grasslandrenewal.org
The Alliance for Grassland Renewal 