Grazing School

Workshops

Research

Faculty

News

Weather

Contact us

Superintendent
David Davis
21262 Genoa Road
Linneus, MO 64653
Phone: 660 895-5121
FAX: 660 895=5122
Email: DavisDK@missouri.edu

Forage Systems Update
Vol 13, No. 3

Even though we are just getting to the hottest part of the summer, now is time to start planning for winter feeding. Ideally the pastures you wish to stockpile for winter grazing should be grazed or harvested for hay near the end of July. Ammonium nitrate fertilizer application should be about 90 days prior to killing frost, which is August 1 to August 15 in North Missouri. It takes about 90 days for the fescue plant to reach the point where forage quality and forage yield are optimized in autumn. Most of the stockpile growth occurs during the month of September and first half of October. With adequate moisture, applications of 60 to 80 pounds of nitrogen fertilizer can produce two to three tons of forage per acre for winter grazing. Many of the winter feeding studies being conducted at FSRC look at utilizing stockpile to reduce winter feeding cost.

In this area, much of the hay baling has been delayed due to the wet weather conditions. Much of the hay that has been baled has been rained on at least once. Hay made later in the season results in plants that are more mature when harvested and the outcome is a lower quality hay. Hay that has been rained on may also be of lower quality because rain leaches soluble nutrients from the hay. Attempts to get rained on hay to dry by tedding and/or additional raking can add to nutrient losses by causing leaf loss, especially on legumes. When hay is baled at high moisture levels it will heat up and quality will deteriorate due to microbial activity. With all of these variables it is best to have a quality analysis to determine the actual nutritional value of the hay and then supplement your cattle accordingly.

To find out more about how to sample hay for analysis visit: www.noble.org/Ag/Forage/Sampling/Hay.htm

To find a list of laboratories that will test hay visit this AgEbb website: www.agebb.missouri.edu/haylst/t_labs.htm

Good moisture conditions since April have resulted in large alfalfa yields this spring. The yield from our first harvest of alfalfa on May 17 was 2.50 T/ac and the yield from our second harvest on June 22 was 1.57 T/ac. We continue to have adequate moisture and I anticipate a good third cutting in late July and our final cutting in early September.

I am often asked how many cattle we have at FSRC and/or Thompson Farm. Although the number varies from season to season, we inventory all livestock on hand at the end of June each year. The number of cows in each herd remains relatively stable while calf numbers vary considerably, mainly due to research needs within the MU system other than at FSRC or Thompson Farm. Also note that FSRC maintains both a spring calving and fall calving herd while all the cows at Thompson farm are spring calving. All of the mature cows at each location are currently being used in research projects. Below is the current number of livestock maintained at each location.

Site maintained by people at AgEBB
agebb@missouri.edu