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Forage Management Highlights Sand Mountain Cattle Meeting
CROSSVILLE, Ala. - Sand Mountain area cattlemen got a look at two new forages, heard the latest on managing fungus infected fescue during a recent Beef and Forage Field Day at the Sand Mountain Substation in Crossville.
Over 70 area cattlemen attended the meeting, which was co-sponsored by the Alabama Agricultural Experiment Station and Alabama Cooperative Extension Service at Auburn University.
Russell, a new warm season forage, has been tested throughout the Southeast for the past several years and has consistently come into production 2-3 weeks earlier than coastal bermudagrass and has provided more even grazing throughout the summer. It has consistently produced 15-20 percent more forage than coastal in tests from Texas to Georgia.
Russell bermudagrass was first planted in Russell County in 1977. Russell County Extension Coordinator Donald Bice told the group that the new forage's heritage isn't exactly certain. In fact, it was observed and grown for several years by Russell County cattlemen before it was tested by the Ag Experiment Station. Subsequent testing has demonstrated Russell's value as a warm season forage. Foundation seed for Russell was harvested in May and should be commercially available next year.
Switchgrass, unlike Russell, is native to Alabama and can be used as a forage crop, wildlife feed, or to reduce erosion. Two varieties, Cave-in-Rock and Alamo, have been tested by AU researchers, with Alamo consistently producing the highest yields. Both yield and dry matter digestibility for switchgrass is equal to, and in most cases better than bahiagrass and hybrid bermudagrasses.
The Sand Mountain Station was the site for some pioneering research on the use of de-worming materials to overcome some of the negative effects of fescue toxicity in cattle grazing endophyte-infected fescue. On highly infected fescue pastures at the Station, cattle consistently gained over a half pound per day more when treated with Ivermectin and Synovex. "If I were raising cattle that grazed highly infected fescue, I would treat them with this combination, because I've seen the consistent payback from the treatment," noted John Eason, superintendent of the Sand Mountain Substation.
David Kee, a senior research associate in the Ag Experiment Station, noted that good fertility is also important in managing infected fescue pastures. "If the fertility of a pasture with 10 percent infected fescue is not good, within 5-6 years it will go from 10 percent to 90 percent infected," Kee noted.
The visiting cattlemen saw a demonstration of an AirWay and a paraplow used break up hard pans in heavily grazed pastures. In preliminary tests, the paraplow produced about 600 pounds per acre more forage than the check plots. the AirWay produced only about 200 pounds per acre more than the check. The pastures are fertilized with varying degrees of poultry litter, a popular fertilizer in the Sand Mountain area. Runoff from each of the treatments is being monitored to determine the threat of non-point source pollution on pastures fertilized with poultry litter.
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News from:
Office of Ag Communications & Marketing
Auburn University College of Agriculture
Alabama Agricultural Experiment Station
3 Comer Hall, Auburn University
Auburn, AL 36849
334-844-4877 (PHONE) 334-844-5892 (FAX)
Contact Jamie Creamer, 334-844-2783 or jcreamer@auburn.edu
by Roy Roberson
June 6, 1995
