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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 9, No. 3

Observations from the Dry Side

While it might still be premature to say the turn-of-the-century drought is over, we have had a little abatement. We have received a little over four inches of rain in the last four weeks so things are looking up. As of June 20, we are still 6.6 in. short for 2000 with an additional 9 in. deficit for 1999. Throughout this period our pastures have stayed in surprisingly good condition. Temperatures have remained relatively mild with only a few days in the 90's which has really helped out. Hay yields at FSRC have been only 25 to 50% of previous years. With the rain that we have received thus far this month, most pastures have improved notably, particularly those in rotational grazing systems. I would like to make a few other notes of interest regarding pasture performance in these semi-dry conditions.

For those of you who are regular readers of this newsletter, you might recall from the January issue (v.9:no.1) that the most consistently productive pastures in 1999 pasture studies were those containing birdsfoot trefoil. The same trend has carried through into 2000. In many of our pastures, more BFT is present this year than we have seen for many years. I think there are two factors that this is largely attributable to. The first is reduction of grass competition. As noted above, hay yields are less than half of a typical year. This means grass competition is greatly reduced and less aggressive legumes like BFT can thrive. The other reason relates to BFT's susceptibility to crown and root diseases. Under dry conditions, the disease environment is much reduced and individual plants can survive and remain productive longer. In the latter part of the 1980's, we had consistently good BFT production while in the 1990's trefoil dwindled at FSRC. Reviewing the weather records shows that 3 out of 5 years from 1987 to 1991 were at least 20% below normal precipitation while 8 out of 10 years in the '90's were above normal precipitation. Trefoil really seems to prefer drier conditions.

Another item of note is how well ryegrass has performed in these conditions. In fall of 1999 we established as perennial ryegrass trial which includes one tall fescue variety for comparison purposes. Our target seeding date was Sept 1 but we delayed until Sept 30 waiting for rain. The trial was planted in the dust on Sept 30 with all plots sown at 30 lb/acre. The varieties used were 'BG-34' and 'Mara' perennial ryegrasses and 'Stargrazer' tall fescue. During October and November we received 1.8 inches of rain. 'Mara' clearly established better than the other varieties during the fall period. When we evaluated stands in late March we found 'Stargrazer' at 40%, 'BG34' at 52%, and 'Mara' at 60%. We began grazing the plots in early April and found that the plots improved with each grazing even through the driest period of the spring. At the last evaluation many of the ryegrass plots had increased to 70 to 80% ground cover while the fescue has remained in the 40 to 50% range. Several of the ryegrass plots were grazed for the second time within 10 days of the first grazing. The longest rest period required thus far this spring for the ryegrass plots has been 21 days compared to near 30 for some fescue plots. The study is examining the effect of fertility management on persistence of perennial ryegrass which has been the historic deficiency of perennial ryegrass in this environment. After the first full season of grazing is completed, we will provide additional information on this study.

Jim Gerrish, Editor
GerrishJ@missouri.edu

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