SUMMER GRASSES MAY EASE
FORAGE CRUNCH
Henry County forages
have taken some real hits lately, and farmers have had little chance to
do much about it. The “Easter Freeze” in spring of 2007 severely damaged
many new seedings and caused a reduction in hay and pasture yield. The
drought of 2007 reduced pasture and hay field production, and pretty
much kept farmers from making fall forage seedings. The past winter and
early spring were so wet that farmers were not able to renovate fields
timely. Quite possibly, the cool wet soils have limited the growth of
our first crop of 2008 hay. Bottom line, we are depleted of forage
reserves, and 2008 has not cooperated with conditions to allow us to
recover as we would hope.
As a result, livestock
farmers may want to consider using some summer annual grasses this year.
These grasses – teff, sudangrass, sorghum-sudan hybrid and pearl millet
– can play an important role for supplemental pasture and hay needs. If
managed properly, these grasses can provide high yields of good quality
forage in a short amount of time.
Summer grasses can be
planted from May until the end of July in Kentucky. The grasses produce
most of their growth from May to September. If it’s being used for
grazing, the plants need to be at least 18 inches tall. Enough animals
need to be placed in the field to graze the grass down within a week at
most and then moved to another area. After grazing, it should be mowed
to a height of six to eight inches. It may take six to eight weeks
before it is ready for grazing again. Grazing can continue until frost.
These crops can also be harvested as silage, haylage or hay when plants
are in the boot stage for best yield and quality.
The disadvantage of
annual summer grasses is that they have to be reestablished every year,
which makes them less economical than cool season grasses. Animal
disorders, such as nitrate poisoning and prussic acid poisoning, can be
a factor with some of these grasses.
