Using oats as grazing and/ or baleage can sometimes be challenging however; in most years, oats can one of the healthiest and best options for our livestock. Some (most) years, UGA Extension gets calls concerning oats that are discolored, not growing great, or sometimes even dying. Unfortunately, there isn’t always…
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pastures posts
There are often many questions surrounding the practice of burning pastures and hayfields. Let’s look at the more frequently asked. Is it a good idea to burn my hayfield? There are several benefits to burning your hayfield. Burning can help producers manage thatch in their stands. If the thatch layer…
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Potassium is an essential element in plants and is considered one of the three macronutrients, along with nitrogen and phosphorus. The amount of K is reported in almost all routine soil samples. Unfortunately, with price increases, it has gone from being the least expensive to the most expensive of the…
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Are you looking to improve your grazing management system? The first step is to develop a grazing management plan! To better manage your grazing, you have to have goals. Our ultimate goals are to improve our efficiency, reduce pasture waste, conserve surplus forage, improve animal performance, and improve forage quality…
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While bermudagrass and bahiagrass are great warm season perennials, warm season annual grasses work well in a forage system to offer high quality forage throughout the summer months. There are several warm season annuals on the market with sorghum x sudangrass and pearl millet being the most popular. In this…
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Masks, hand washing, social distancing, vaccines, quarantine; words that are excessively familiar this day and time. What do you think of when you hear these words? My first thought is health. You have now began checking your website because you supposedly pulled up UGA Extension’s Forage Team Newsletter, but don’t…
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It seems like every summer I get calls from hay producers and cattlemen worried that a lack of timely rain or over-fertilization will cause their forage to be high in nitrates. Every winter I get calls from producers with dead cattle or late term abortions, that are worried that the…
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In the Piedmont and northern Georgia, UGA Extension recommends planting tall fescue between September 1 and October 15. So, why discuss planting in March? In areas where tall fescue is adapted, conversion of toxic Kentucky-31 pastures and hayfields to a non-toxic, novel endophyte variety represents one of the most financially…
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If you are feeding hay in the winter, eventually you are going to have to deal with mud. Mud increases animal stress and can lead to increased production costs. It is important for producers to know how mud limits livestock production and ways to manage this issue. How does mud…
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To be so tiny, ants can cause lots of turmoil in our hayfields and pastures including equipment damage, employee harm (i.e. loading square bales), and just plain aggravation. Many times we as livestock or hay producers have what we consider more pressing things to attend to: fertilizing, armyworm control, or…
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