My title last month was “Break Out” and if you read that edition you understand what a challenging situation we were in! Now, this month “An Explosion!” But wait, it is not what you might think; this time it’s a really good thing!
Like everyone else in the Southeast US, we had a very challenging situation last Autumn with very dry and warm weather. We were challenged to get our annuals and fescue renovation projects planted. Our planting was very delayed with most going in the ground in late October and November, with the final plantings into dust November 15. Things looked pretty bleak by Thanksgiving, but after some moisture and a pretty mild December, things started looking better by Christmas.
Because we had less Autumn grazing than usual, we decided to do all we could to move up the start of the grazing season. Our fields with winter annuals (oats and ryegrass, or just pure ryegrass) received 46 lb of nitrogen per acre February 15 in the form of 100 lbs of urea, this cost about $40/acre including the spreading that I did with our old Super M. In the past we have resisted putting on nitrogen in the spring either on our fescue (because it makes fescue toxicosis worse), or our annuals (because we don’t want to push more grass growth than we need).
My colleague and Soil Scientist, Dr. Franzluebbers, has encouraged me not to put on nitrogen, but rather to watch through the spring for soil nitrogen to come available. After all, how else will you know if you can grow grass without nitrogen if you put a lot on? I have taken this advice seriously, and through making those observations over several years I noticed that the ryegrass would stay yellow and small through most of March, except for urine spots that had a lot of growth. Finally, sometime in late March the small yellow plants suddenly turn dark green and start growing, signaling that soil nitrogen is coming available. After that, the ryegrass grows well, keeping up with the cattle demand. This year we decided to put out an early dose of nitrogen to get things going, with the hope of getting one extra grazing cycle through those pastures. If that $40/acre results in an extra 800 lbs of grass, then it would be some very inexpensive “high-test” feed.
One thing I have learned over my life is that if you do all the small things you are supposed to do, and then be patient, eventually good things will happen. In this case we had some good rains in late February, and by March 5 when a warm spell hit, the ryegrass/oats exploded in front of our eyes. As of today (March 14) we have more than enough of these annuals to get us through to when the soil really does warm up and natural nitrogen cycling takes over.
We also have done our best not to overgraze our old mixed tall fescue pastures this year, and at this point they are greening up and taking off. At the same time, our neighbors are all still feeding hay on over-grazed pastures with little hope for grass for another month.
Our new stands of Novel Endophyte Tall Fescue continue to look better! We applied 46 lbs of nitrogen per acre from urea on March 1, and sprayed with 1.5 pints per acre of Weedmaster to kill or suppress winter weeds. Not all winter weeds (such as henbit) are completely controlled by the herbicides in Weedmaster (2-4 D and Dicamba), but the treatment still suppresses them and lets the tall fescue jump out and compete with them.
Our plan now is to graze these stands lightly when they get about 12 inches of growth, grazing to no shorter than 6 inches. We expect to graze them several times during the spring to promote tillering and help them get thicker, so they can compete with summer annuals like crabgrass and foxtail. As we have watched these stands develop, we have been encouraged and have started thinking about where we can and should plant more in the Fall of 2024. We know that having this non-toxic forage will be critical to getting our heifers developed and bred with little if any supplement, and providing high quality nutrition for our finishing cattle.
Finally, the crew at Triple Creek Ranch, now including the Gayle family; Brandon, Tina, Lainey, and Cowboy (the younger Brandon), is beyond glad to see grass and good weather. We spend a lot of time looking after the cattle during the winter because keeping the cows in good body condition, getting them bred back, and then having them healthy and ready to hit good grass in spring is critical to our success. We have had many opportunities this week to work together allocating the good grass to our AI heifer group, and it is something we all really enjoy! We all continue to learn together and look forward to a bright future that is full of opportunity for farmers that want to make a living with pasture-based agriculture.
If you share our dream, take time to really think about how you can improve your system to make it more efficient, rather than just following the traditional practices we have been taught and that have worked for us in the past. There are good reasons for traditional practices, but some of them need to be replaced with improved practices. Adopting things like improved grazing management, improved fertility management, and finding a way to get paid better for the product will help you build a farm that will make you a living, but more importantly, it will provide you with a great life. Until next month, I hope the grass on your place comes on strong, and that you make every effort to make efficient use of it!
~ Matt Poore, NC State and chair of the Alliance for Grassland Renewal
The Alliance for Grassland Renewal 