USDA, State Agricultural Agencies To Demonstrate Warm-Season Grass Grazing Methods ROCKSPRING (Centre Co.) Beef producers and other livestock managers can see how farms can use warm-season grasses as summer forages at a field demonstration tour at Ag Progress Days, Aug. 15-17. A five-acre switchgrass pas ture will be fenced and sepa rated into paddocks as a herd of seven Angus cow-calf pairs graze on the pasture. The graz ing demonstration marks the first time cattle have been part of an Ag Progress Days technol ogy tour. The bus tour is sched uled at 2 p.m. daily, leaving from the Soil Conservation Tent at the Natural Resources Con servation Partnership area on West 11th Street. “It is a hands-on grazing sem inar for people who are thinking of developing a grazing pro gram,” explained Bill Stout, soil scientist in the USDA Pasture Systems and Watershed Man agement Laboratory. “We are using beef cows for this demon stration, but the methods and technology can be applied to any grazing animal sheep, horses, or dairy cows.” The tour will show producers how to estimate how much forage is available to grazing herds, what percentage of forage will be used by the herd, and how much pasture to allocate for a specific time period. Visitors also wilt learn how to manage animal herds on pas tureland. USDA animal scien tist Kathy Soder will talk on grazing animal management principles. “We also are going to talk about how to structure your pas ture so that shade areas, mineral blocks, and water sources are separated enough so that cattle will not congregate in one area,” Soder said. “If cattle remain in one place, it can promote disease and parasites within the herd and concentrate manure nu trients.” Three grasslands specialists from USDA’s Natural Re sources Conservation Service Jim Cropper, J.B. Harrold and Duane Pysher will talk on Consider This... how best to use pasture grasses and how to use warm-season grasses to complement an animal grazing program. Warm-season grasses which include switchgrass, indi angrass, Eastern gamma grass and big bluestem grow from mid-May to late August. “Warm-season grasses can grow in low-fertility soils and have a deep root system that allows them to reach and utilize water that other grasses cannot,” Stout said. “Warm season grasses such as switchgrass contain a lot of fiber, so they are not pasture grasses for high-producing dairy cows, but they can support beef cows.” The one-hour demonstration, which will be held on the USDA research farm opposite Gate C on the Russell E. Larson Agri cultural Research Center at Rockspring, also will detail how to set up a perimeter fence and create grazing paddocks by using portable electronic fenc ing. Make it Cover-All ” for all your agricultural building needs livestock, grain, hay, vehicles, equipment, animal waste, composting or workshop! Heavyweight 12 oz. Dura Weave® II covers - backed by a 15 year pro rata warranty. Patented truss-arch design for dear-span buildings, available in widths including 30, 40, 50, 62, 72 and as wide as 160 feet, manufactured to any length. COVER ALL AND DURAWEAVE II ARE TRADEMARKS OR REGISTERED TRADEMARKS OF COVER ALL BUILDING SYSTEMS Call your local Dealer Agent today! Nlchol Dairy ~ Tom Nichol 724-783-2332® a yt° n i PA KA C Building Systems ~ Ken Carney 814-736-9800 Porta t*i PA Jacob Click ~ 717-656-6153. Lancaster, PA Cleon Brubackor ~ 7i7-258-9207 c * rli#l ®i PA Ag Progress Section 1, Lancaster Farming, Saturday, August 12, 2000—Page 15 Penn State Ag “The key is to divide the pas ture into separate paddocks large enough to support a graz ing herd and to know when to move the cattle into a new pad dock so that the grasses have a chance to regenerate,” Soder said. “Warm-season grasses have been a subject of interest for many beef producers, partic ularly in the last few years when drought has been a problem in Pennsylvania.” For more information, call (800) PSU-1010 toll-free or visit the Ag Progress Days site on the World Wide Web at http://apd .cas.psu.edu. BUY, SELL, TRADE OR RENT THROUGH THE CLASSIFIED ADS IN Lancaster farming PHONE 717-626-1164 OR 717-394-3047 FAX 717-733-6058 Mon., Tues., Wed., Fri. 8 AM to 5 PM Thurs. 7 AM to 5 PM
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