I want to share with you that Dr. Bob Stougaard, Professor in Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, is now serving as an Extension resource for weed management in forage systems. See below his short article he recently shared with county extension agents. In this article he encourages producers to scout their hay fields and pastures for weed infestations, especially during stressful conditions, which includes drought situations and armyworm infestations.
Weeds in Forages: Making a bad situation worse.
The most recent USDA NASS Georgia Crop Progress and Condition Report had this to say about livestock and pastures:
Cattle were in mostly good to fair condition, while pastures were in mostly fair to poor condition. Armyworms continued to be a problem for many operators, although cooler weather brought some relief. There were some reports of thin cattle and worries about winter feeding due to prolonged drought conditions and reduced hay yields. Concerns were also noted about the prospects for fall grazing given the lack of soil moisture in many areas of the state.
In a nutshell, Georgia is hurting as far as having adequate supplies of quality forages available. It’s imperative that this situation doesn’t worsen by allowing weeds to compete with the crop. Now is a good time to scout fields to assess weed infestations. Most weeds are not uniformly distributed across the entire field but grow in patches. By making a map of weed hot spots, you can deal with specific areas instead of the entire field, saving time and money in the process. Conducting a weed survey and making a map for each field will also provide a record you can use to help plan long term weed management strategies for each field and document whether your strategies have been successful, or if they need to be modified. Weeds are opportunists, and often will get established in stressed areas of the pasture. Areas that have been over-grazed, flooded, have heavy traffic, or were drought stressed are good spots to look for weed infestations. The presence of weeds may also indicate improper soil pH or nutrient levels. This time of year, the landscape is dominated by perennial and summer annual weeds. Fall is a good time to treat perennial weeds like horsenettle, as long as the weeds are actively growing. In contrast, fall is not an ideal time to treat for summer annual weeds. The damage is already done, and treatments will not be successful. But knowing where the hot spots are helps you to plan ahead and be better prepared for next spring. Early and correct identification of pasture weeds is the first step in maintaining a healthy pasture. If you cannot identity a particular weed, bring a sample to your local University of Georgia Extension Office for identification.
UGA Pecan Extenion Blog
I also wanted to share with you a recent article from Dr. Lenny Wells. If you are not subscribed to the UGA Extension Pecan Blog i highly advise you to subscribe, Mr. Andrew Sawyer and Dr. Lenny Wells provide very timely information through this site. You can use this link here: https://site.extension.uga.edu/pecan/2024/09/weather-conditions-right-for-phytopthora/ to go to their site to see their most recent article with information on Phytophthora in pecan and dont forget to subscribe.