Stockpiling Cool Season Grasses

Stockpiling for the Winter

Guest Post:

Submitted By: Margaret A. Bell, Assistant Livestock Agent in Craven & Jones Counties

Adapted from an article by Dr. Matt Poore, NCSU Ruminant Specialist

For beef cattle producers, the winter can be the hardest time of the year. Producers have to get the tractor out everyday and have to purchase a lot of hay to get their cows through the winter successfully. Here is an alternative to that vicious cycle. Have you ever thought about stockpiling your fescue so you don’t have to feed hay constantly through the winter? The average savings was $0.89 per cow per day as opposed to feeding hay.

Tall fescue is a hearty grass and responds well to fertilization in the late summer. If a pasture of fescue is allowed to accumulate from late summer and fall until winter, cows can be fed efficiently without the mud associated with a long winter hay-feeding season. This is also a much more economical alternative to feeding hay all winter. If you want to “stockpile” fescue, you would apply 50 to 75 pounds of nitrogen per acre to a healthy fescue field in late August to early September. For our area, the ideal time is September 1 to 15. It is important to graze or clip the fescue to about 3 or 4 inches and let it rest several weeks before the fertilizer is applied. The nitrogen source that you apply is also very important. Ammonium nitrate gives the best response and liquid nitrogen gives the least response. Also, make sure that other soil nutrients such as potassium and phosphorus are at least at medium levels and pH is about 6.0 to get the best response.

Another important aspect of preparing to stockpile fescue is the timing of the rainfall. You want to make sure to get your fertilizer out before the rain. Use the rain to your advantage. By November you will know how much forage you will have for the winter to graze. During a normal year, you can expect to have about 2,500 to 4,000 pounds of grazable forage dry matter per acre. This amount of forage is equivalent to about five to eight 4’ x 4’ round bales of hay per acre.

When you are planning how you’re are going to stockpile your fescue, it is important to think about your herd and their needs. A 1,200-pound gestating cow can be maintained on about 20 pounds of stockpiled fescue dry matter per day. With about 15% waste, one acre would feed 100 to 160 cows per one day. Lactating cows will need 30 pounds per day with a 25% waste allowance, meaning one acre would give you 65 to 100 “cow days.” In other words, one acre of stockpiled fescue will give a dry cow enough to eat for well over 100 days and a lactating cow for 65 to 100 days. You can often manage your lactating cows with just adding a mineral supplement during the winter when you are implementing nutritional stockpiled fescue practices.

According to the research, the best technique to graze your cows is called “strip-grazing,” or “frontal-grazing.” This is when you allot your cows a strip of grass using a roll of polywire and temporary posts every one to three days. When they graze the target height of 2 inches, they are moved to a new strip. Start the cows near the water giving them fresh strips and slowly move them away from the water. There are many advantages to this including cows become tamer because you are in close contact with them every day. Also, manure is more evenly distributed than with a typical hay feeding system, so your soil fertility will increase. Thirdly, your cows are cleaner because there is less mud, meaning your calves will most likely be healthier.

You can also stockpile other grasses, including bermudagrass and rye/ryegrass.