Top Pennsylvania DHIA Herds By County For June • P P roduc,n B herds above 675 pounds of protein in Pennsylva ma DfflA for June are listed by county. In addition, herds from New Jersey and New York are also listed. They are as follows: NAME SPUNGOLD HOLSTEINS C& T DURBOFAW KE HOLTZ DAIRY KE HOLTZ DAIRY 2 STONER DAIRY LAGGING STREAM FARM BROWN VALLEY FARM KENNETH H WENGER Manage Endophyte-Infected Tall Fescue Pastures Dave Hartman Extension Agent Forages Tall fescue is a plant species that pasture managers both praise and curse. If you are in a situation where your animals are refusing to eat it in the late spring or summer, you probably hate the stuff. If you have it incorporated into a system where you can stockpile it in the fall and graze it in late fall or winter, your ani mals probably love it and you save serious dollars in winter feeding costs. In this scenario, you probably praise the stuff. Just a little trivia to bring you up to speed on tall fescue. In the early 19305, Dr. E.N. Fergus of the University of Ken tucky collected seeds of tall fescue plants and eventually de veloped the variety known as Kentucky 31. No doubt if you have pasture or hay or have seeded any conservation struc For a super finish, start with land Pride. "• rmi H Air Tunnel Grenmlng Mowers • Available in 60", 72" and 90“ widths • Tubular steel chassis absorbs shock • Floating 3-pomt for superior ground hugging capabilities • Four wheels with front roller option Betts Equipment 3139 Windy Bush Road.Rt 232 New Hope, PA 18938 215-598-7501 Hoober, Inc. Mam Street Intercourse, PA 17534 717-768-8231 Hoober, Inc. East Mam Street McAlisterville, PA 17049 717-463-2191 Deerfield Ag & Turf Center, Inc. RR 2 Box 212 Watsontown, PA 17777 570-538-3557 Detlan Equipment, Inc 141 East Mam St Silverdale, PA 18962 215-257-5177 Thomas L. Dunlap Rt 220, Mam St Exit Jersey Shore, PA 17740 570-398-1391 NO LOWS MibK IN MILK LBS ADAMS 76 7 67 5 296 9 11 I 60 6 149 9 72 9 170 2 26944 26523 26153 26580 24721 23720 22479 22578 tures (terraces or waterways) on your farm, you have heard of Kentucky 31 tall fescue. It is the predominant variety on most of the fescue acreage in the U.S. Over the succeeding years it became well documented that Kentucky 31 tall fescue caused a variety of animal health prob lems. Poor milk production, poor reproduction, lameness, higher respiration rates, ele vated body temperatures, lower heat tolerance, poor weight gains, abnormal fat deposits, foaling problems, and the loss of the tips of the ears or tails are some of the problems caused by tall fescue. It wasn’t until the 1970 s when researchers finally cracked the case and figured out why all these ugly problems were afflict ing animals on tall fescue. It was discovered that a fungal endo phyte Acremonium coenophi alum was the basic cause of the problems. Endophyte simply Eckroth Bros Farm Equip Rd 2, Box 24A New Rmgold, PA 17960 570-943-2131 Eckroth Equipment Co. 4910 Kernsville Rd Orefield, PA 18069 610-366-2095 Hines Equipment RT 220, Belwood, PA 814-742-8171 Keller Brothers R 7 Box 405 Lebanon, PA 17042 717-949-6501 1950 Fruitville Pike Lancaster, PA 17601 717-569-2500 M.S.Yearsley & Sons West Chester, PA 610-696-2990 Pikeville Equipment Inc RD 2, Oysterdale Road Oley, PA 19547 610-927-6277 FAT FAT PRO PRO LBS PCT LBS PCT 0 1054 3 9 882 3 3 0 931 3 5 836 3 2 1 925 3 5 797 3 0 1 -936 3 5 789 3 0 1 818 3 3 780 3 2 0 901 3 8 772 3 3 0 873 39 732 3 3 0 «3R 37 729 3 2 % Stoltzfus Farm Service Cochranville, PA 610-593-2407 Stouffer Bros Inc. 1066 Lincoln Way West Chambersburg, PA 17201 717-263-8424 Rodio Tractor Sales North White Horse Pike Hammonton, N J 08037 609-561-0141 Warren County Service Center 228 Route 94, Blairtown, N J 908-362-6916 Frank Rymon & Sons. Inc. RD 3, Box 355 Washington, N.J 07882 908-689-1464 means a fungus that lives within the plant. This is what ecologists refer to as a symbiotic relation ship. Both plant and fungus are mutually benefited by the asso ciation. Although we are not part of the “fescue belt,” which runs through part of the U.S. to the south of us, we still have our share of headaches with tall fescue. And, although there are plenty of low endophyte or no endophyte tall fescue varieties available these days, we still see rejection problems with tali fescue. If you have it on your farm, the question becomes “how can I manage pasture which is predominantly tall fescue?” First let’s look at the bigger picture. Are we working with dairy cattle, beef cattle, horses, or small ruminants? Do we want to make hay, stockpile pasture, or only graze? Are the animals sick or are they just not eating landpnde com KEN/KEHR BEAVER RUN FARMS BUTTONWOOD FARMS LEROY DEPUTY HILCREST DAIRY BER CRK ROY B BOWSER G 3 TE & MARYJBAN GROOMS B 3 MAYPORT HILLS HOLST 3 SCOTT BOWSER B 3 BONZO ONE O-ONE DIANE BURRY ROCKLANE FARM 3 MARLIN D HEISEY # G 3 the fescue? How much pasture is affected most of it or just a small percentage? Is the tall fescue actually infected with en dophyte, and if so, at what level? (It can range from 0-100 percent infection) All of these questions can help determine how to manage tall fescue. If you are working with dairy cattle or horses and having problems with tall fescue rejec tion in your pasture, it may pay to renovate to get rid of it. Having dairy cattle not maxim izing forage intake while on pas ture will cost you money. Improving the stand with more palatable species in this case would most likely pay. If you have horses and run any bred mares, grazing tall fescue that is not endophyte-free is a risky proposition. At the very least you should remove bred mares from the pasture during the last one-third of pregnancy, this is especially important during July and August. Having the tall fescue plants tested to gauge the level of infection may be well worth the money. If you have beef cattle, sheep, or goats the considerations are somewhat different. You may want to consider options to work with the fescue unless the level of infection is high. High infec tion would be land that is more than 50 percent fescue and the fescue is more than 50 percent infected with endophyte. In this case, you may want to renovate. Otherwise, there are some things you can do to work with the fescue. Establishing more legumes (alfalfa, clovers, trefoil) has been shown to reduce problems with tall fescue. Herbicides or grazing can be used for suppression to reduce cover and competition to make interseeding legumes more successful. No-till drilling and frost-seeding are two common methods used to get more legume into the stand. Aim to get a minimum of 40 percent legume. Removing cattle and sheep from fescue pastures during peak breeding times may help reproductive ef ficiency. Another option with a beef or small ruminant system may be to try to classify pasture cells into different levels of tall fescue incidence. The fields with the highest amounts of fescue Lancaster Farming, Saturday, July 15, 2000-C3 126 2 22753 0 141 9 23080 1 147 0 22348 0 143 8 21863 0 245 8 22238 0 83 1 21376 0 ARMSTRONG 92 5 24048 0 68 5 21739 0 53 3 21879 0 60 0 22011 0 BEAVER 39 4 28489 0 21 9 23272 0 BEDFORD 64 4 31590 1 78 4 30459 1 (Turn to Pago C 4) could be grazed early, then baled later in the spring, baled again in mid-summer, then stockpiled during late summer and fall for later grazing. Try to get the early cutting in boot stage. Tall fescue hay made after seedhead emergence can depress animal performance. Following this strategy will depend on the number of acres of land you have available for grazing. Certainly one thing you don’t want to do if you are trying to control tall fescue is let it go to seed. This is its primary means of spreading. Keep it vegetative by mowing or grazing. If you plant any tall fescue, use a variety classified-as endo phyte-free. Talk to seed com pany representatives and other farmers. There are many endo phyte-free varieties available, but they are not all the same. Some graziers experience large amounts of rejection with some endophyte-free varieties. Other graziers may be able to tell you if their animals find a particular variety palatable. There may be other differences as well that will impact your decision. There is ongoing research being done with tall fescue. Its positive attributes and wide spread adaption in parts of the country make it a very import ant forage species despite its problems. In fact, a new variety is being studied that is endo phyte infected but the endo phyte does not produce the toxins that affect animal health and productivity. If you have tall fescue, it may be worthwhile to test some sam ples to see if indeed it is infected, and if it is infected, what is the percentage. Knowing the infec tion level can affect how you manage it. As noted above, higher levels of infection may warrant renovation. If you need help identifying tall fescue, developing a tall fescue management plan or eradication plan, sampling plants for testing, or interpreting the results, contact the Penn State extension office nearest you and find out who is respon sible for forage agronomy in your area. This agent will be able to give you guidance in managing tall fescue. A LESSON WELL LEARNED..• Lancaster Farming's CLASSIFIED ADS GET RESULTS! 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