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experience
has shown this is probably the right place to "draw the line."
On the other hand, application of 60 pounds of nitrogen per acre in
September to cool season perennial grasses such as fescue or
orchardgrass is a recommended practice to stimulate forage growth for
autumn grazing.
Stockpiled
Fescue- The term
"stockpiling" refers to allowing pasture to accumulate, then
grazing it at a later time. Stockpiling can be done with any type of
forage, but it works especially well with tall fescue. To stockpile
fescue, a pasture should be clipped, followed by application of 40 to 80
pounds of nitrogen per acre in September. Animals should be excluded
from the pasture until hay would otherwise need to be fed. Strip grazing
results in the most economical use of the accumulated forage.
Winter
Annuals- Each
year several hundred thousand acres of winter annual pastures are
planted in Alabama. Because of the severe drought this year, it is
likely that the acreage of winter annuals planted this fall, both on a
prepared seedbed and overseeded on summer perennial grasses, will be
sharply higher than usual. Planting winter annuals can be a great
strategy because this helps reduce stored feed requirements while
providing excellent nutrition for grazing livestock. The cost per pound
of dry matter produced by a good stand of winter annuals will likely be
lower than the cost per pound of dry matter for purchased hay.
Grazing
Management- Grazing
management offers numerous potential advantages, one of the most
important being reduction of forage waste. Research has shown that in
many poorly-managed continuous grazing situations, less than half of the
forage produced in pastures ends up being consumed by grazing animals.
Rotational grazing (moving animals periodically from one pasture to
another) and limit grazing (allowing animals to graze for only a few
hours each day) may reduce forage waste by 20 to 30 percent.
Test
For Nitrates-
Because of the drought this summer, there is no doubt that some hay has
been baled that contains high levels of nitrates. Hay of many forage
crops and weeds can potentially contain toxic levels of nitrates, but
pearl millet, sorghum-sudangrass hybrids, corn, and pigweed are perhaps
most commonly involved in livestock poisonings. If you have hay that you
think might contain dangerous levels of nitrates, you should have it
tested.
Protect
Hay- Given the
expense of hay, it makes sense in any year to protect any that has been
purchased or produced so as to minimize the total amount needed.
However, it especially makes sense to protect hay in a year like this
with hay being in short supply, causing its value to be even higher than
usual. In our region, hay that is stored outside unprotected for several
months often loses 30 percent or more of its dry matter during storage.
Hay feeding losses of weathered hay are also much higher due to lower
palatability.
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