Page 24—Foraging Around, Lancaster Farming, Saturday, February 12, 2000
PRODUCTION AND
PERSISTENCE OF TALL
FESCUE, PERENNIAL
RYEGRASS, AND PRAIRIE
GRASS AFTER FALL GRAZING
M.H. Hall, P.J. Levan,
E.H. Cash, H.H. Harpster,
and S.L. Fales,
Penn State Extension
As the costs associated with ani
mal agriculture increase, so does the
interest in grazing to lower feed
cost. Inn Pennsylvania and other
temperate environments, extending
the grazing season into the fall or
early winter further helps reduce
animal production expenses relative
to feeding hay or silage.
Tall fescue has traditionally been
the grass species used for fall graz
ing and/or stockpiling (accumulat
ing the standing forage during the
growing season for use in late fall or
winter). However, other grass
species which have excellent fall
growth attributes may also work
well for fall grazing and/or stockpil
ing. Our objectives were to evaluate
the seasonal and whole-year produc
tion of perennial ryegrass, prairie
grass, and tall fescue under differ
ent fall grazing management
schemes.
Study Description
In 1994,1995 and 1996 three fall
grazing treatments consisting of: 1.
Stockpiled; 2. Lax (grazing once in
September and then not grazing
again until spring); and 3) Intensive
(continued grazing on approximate
ly 30 d schedule through November)
were imposed on established stands
of‘Barcel’ tall fescue, ‘Citadel’ peren
nial ryegrass, and ‘Grasslands
Matua’ prairie grass at the Haller
Livestock and Forage Research
Center near State College, PA.
Swards were grazed to a residual 2
in. stubble height by mature cross-
Table 1. The effect of number and frequency of harvests on the annual dry matter (DM) yield
and net economic return from four perennial cool-season grasses under different
environmental conditions
Treatments
lecies
#/yr x interval
Orchardgrass
Reed canarygrass 2 x 70 d
3 x 45 d
3 x 35 d
4x35 d
Smooth bromegrass 2x70 d
3 x 45 d
3x35 d
4x35 d
Timothy
Dry and wet conditions averaged 70 and 135 percent, respectively, of normal (29.6 m. by 1
Oct.) Reduced plant growth permitted only three harvests to be made from the four-harvest
treatment in dry years
t Based on relative value of the harvested forage ($65/ton hay with a forage quality of 16% CP
and 60% DDM) minus costs for harvesting ($2B/harvest) and fertilization.
§ All values are the mean from two years.
❖ Special Report *
bred (Dorset x Suffolk) ewes. Forage
yield, persistence, and ewe grazing
days were monitored throughout the
study.
•How did Citadel perennial
ryegrass perform compared
with tall fescue? Perennial rye
grass and tall fescue responded sim
ilarly within and across grazing
treatments. Total season yield and
persistence ryegrass were equal to
tall fescue regardless of the fall
grazing management.
•How did Grasslands Matua
prairie grass perform compared
with tall fescue? During the first
year after implementing the grazing
treatments, prairie grass had lower
survival and lower total-season
yield in Stockpiled compared with
the other grazing treatments. By
year two of the study, prairie grass
had not survived in any of the graz
ing treatments. The frequent inabil
ity of Grasslands Matua prairie
grass to survive Pennsylvania win
ters makes it an unsuitable grass in
perennial pastures.
• Which grazing treatment
produced the most forage each
year? Continuing to graze on an
approximate 30-d interval into the
fall until the grasses stopped grow
ing produced the most annual forage
and consequently the most grazing
days. However, unlike stockpiling,
this grazing practice (Intensive) can
not extend the grazing beyond
November in Pennsylvania. In addi
tion, spring growth of fall grazed
and stockpiled grasses is less than
when grasses are not harvested
after September (Lax). Consequently,
a combination of Lax, Intensive and
Stockpiled grazing may be most
desirable on farms in Pennsylvania
and the Northeast.
Harvest
schedule
ton/acre
2x70 d
3x45 d
3x35 d
4 x 35 d
2 x 70 d
3x45 d
3x35 d
4x 35 d
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Applied Questions
Recommendations
Tall fescue and perennial rye-
Dry conditions' 1 '
Economic
return!
DM
$/acre ton/acre
3.97§ 88
3.77 97
3.04 97
3 78
3.63
2.87
96
97
108
4 45
3 89
2.77
130
117
103
106
88
87
4 13
3 70
2 89
grass were similar in performance
regardless of the fall grazing treat
ment. Grasslands Matua prairie
grass did not survive in this and
other studies in the northeast
region. Therefore, varieties with
improved winter survival must be
available before farmers in northern
climates consider prairie grass as a
viable component in perennial pas-
X*
Normal to wet conditions^
Economic
DM retumt
$/acre ton/acre
5.35 159
5.64 217
258
5.55
5.48
5.86
197
250
247
5.15
6.31
6.19
233
283
252
4.89
5.70
5.25
172
194
172
4.54
ALFALFA SUGARS
Dr. Marvin H. Hall
Penn State
Forage Specialist
Recent farm magazines have
reported research that shows alfalfa
hay cut in the afternoon has higher
sugar levels and greater palatability
than morning cut hay. It is impor
tant to note, however, that this
research was done in Idaho and may
not apply to Pennsylvania condi
tions.
We know that there are daily fluc
tuations in plant sugar levels, with
the highest levels occurring in the
afternoon or evening on days when
the alfalfa is actively growing.
During the night, these sugars are
moved from the leaves and stem into
the root where they are stored until
needed to support regrowth after
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tures. Using a combination of Lax,
Intensive, and Stockpile grazing
may be most desirable. Intensive
and Stockpile grazing would allow
continued grazing into the fall and
early winter, respectively, and Lax
grazing would permit early spring
grazing while the fall-grazed pas
tures recover.
cutting. Consequently, the lowest
level of herbage sugars occurs just
before sunrise.
So mowing in the afternoon cap
tures the maximum amount of sug
ars in the leaves and stems.
However, with the humid and warm
nights we have in Pennsylvania,
compared with the dry cool nights in
Idaho, respiration continues to burn
up the sugars throughout the night
so that by morning we see very little
difference between afternoon and
morning mowed alfalfa. In addition,
mowing in the afternoon adds an
extra day to the drying time and
increases the chance of rain on the
hay.
The one time when afternoon
mowing would possibly be beneficial
in Pennsylvania would be if the
alfalfa could be cut and harvested in
the same day as haylage.