JULY 21st PASTURE WALK
ON
USING FORAGE MANAGEMENT
FOR PROFITABLE BEEF PRODUCTION
Want to save 50% or more on your feeding costs,
While reducing your time moving feed in the winter?
Want to reduce summer hay harvest labor problems,
While still growing your own winter feed?
Pasture walk in a novel endophyte tall fescue field in Upper Marlboro that is five years old and has been used in a single season for spring, summer, and winter grazing.
Many times the hardest thing to see in farming is a good crop taken away by bad weather. In Maryland this happens often with our hay crops. One great way around that is to let the cows do the harvesting. Using tall fescue for stockpile grazing in the winter months is one of the best ways to accomplish this type of management. On Thursday evening July 21st there will be a pasture walk to look at how to get ready for winter stockpiling. Feeding with stockpiled forages is about a third to half the cost of purchasing hay. By using the novel endophyte tall fescues these same pastures can be used in the spring and up to mid summer for regular grazing as well. This creates the ability to have grazing almost year round if you have enough pastures acres and remove animals at the proper time for grass regrowth and stand maintenance. Tall fescue is the most adaptable cool season grass to varying soil conditions and management. It establishes best when planted in late summer.
The new novel endophyte fescues are highly productive and are not toxic to livestock like most common tall fescues. The traditional tall fescues have an endophyte in them that produces a toxin which makes animal sick in many different ways. These novel endophyte tall fescues do not produce this toxin and are not rejected by livestock, and do have the toughness of Kentucky 31 tall fescue. Stands that are established by complete reseeding and are properly managed have persisted for over five years on several Maryland livestock farms. In the past, the endophyte free varieties did not persist, because they lacked some of the benefits from having an endophyte. The novel endophyte tall fescues do not have this problem and were found naturally occurring in the environment.
The pasture walk will be at Tim Gott's, 8515 Mackall Road, St Leonard in Calvert County, Maryland to look at an established stand of novel endophyte tall fescue. The walk will begin at 7:00 PM on Thursday, July 21st and will end around 8:30 PM. We will discuss general pasture management, technical and cost-share assistance, and details on novel endophyte tall fescue establishment management. PLEASE REGISTER if you plan to attend to get directions and get updates on any changes. Contact Lydia Donovan at lydia.donovan@md.usda.gov or 443-482-2907 if you do not have access to the internet and want to attend.
Maps and information are available on the web at http://www.md.nrcs.usda.gov/programs/glci/glci.html or at the Calvert Soil Conservation District Office 410-535-1521 or extension office. All are welcome.
This tour is sponsored or supported by the Maryland Grazing Lands Conservation Initiative Coalition and the Maryland USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service in partnership with local conservation districts, University of Maryland Cooperative Extension Service, Maryland Department of Agriculture, and Future Harvest / CASA.