Managing Stockpiled Forage Bob Woods Area Extension Agronomy Specialist Poteau, OK – July 23, 2009

Forage Growth Cool-season Grass Cool-season legume Bermudagrass Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Cool-season Grass Cool-season legume Bermudagrass Native Range

Harvest pine-burn annually Post-oak savannah Harvest pine-burn annually After 16 years of treatment

Thousands of acres in central and eastern Oklahoma are just like this – unmanaged and unproductive Control – no treatment 267 acres/cow

Harvest pine-thin hardwood- burn every 3 years 23 acres/cow 267 acres /cow Harvest pine-thin hardwood- burn every 3 years Maximizes wildlife objectives

Harvest pine-thin hardwood- burn annually 10 acres/cow 267 acres /cow Maximizes livestock objectives Harvest pine-thin hardwood- burn annually

How many cattle can my forage system support? Success Depends on Stocking Rate WRONG QUESTION Can I run 500 cows? RIGHT QUESTION How many cattle can my forage system support?

Forage Requirement for a Spring Calving herd under 4 different management options This table is based on a standard animal unit of 26 pounds per day for a 1000 pound cow. This shows that a cow unit might require between 14,000 and 17,000 pounds of dry matter per year. All but the 2nd option where all calves are sold at weaning include the cow, her share of the bull, and 20% of the heifers retained as replacements. The annual dry matter requirement will increase approximately 1000 pounds/year/cow for every 100 lb increase in cow weight above a 1000 pound cow. As and example the 1st option would increase to 14,780 for 1200 pound cows. AUE = (BODY WEIGHT + 100) ÷ 1,000 or, for animals of 1,100 lbs. or more, AUE = (BODY WEIGHT-100) ÷ 1,000 1200 pound cow -100 =1100/1000 = 1.1 26 X 365 = 9490 X .1 increase for 1200 pound cow above a cow that weighs 900 – 1100 pounds. So add 950 lbs for each 100 pound increase in cow weight above 1100 lbs. Each 100 pound increase in cow weight adds 950 pounds to yearly DM requirement

Determining Stocking Rate on Native Range or Unfertilized Pasture

of the old soil survey books Web Soil Survey - Home Electronic version of the old soil survey books

Lbs X 25% X Acres = harvestable yield 4900 X .25 X 16.3= 19967 79870 26035 91875 1875 173,646 Lbs X 25% X Acres = harvestable yield 4900 X .25 X 16.3= 19967 6350 X .25 X 4.1 = 6508 5250 X .25 X 17.5 = 22968 1875 X .25 X 1 = 468 Total 49911/39 = 1280 lbs/A

Fence or Patch Burn?

OSURR-Tallgrass Dec.1 – Sept.1 Gain/ha (Kg) Year 60 Control 50 Patch Burn 40 30 Treatments applied 20 And even with Gain/ha there are no differences This is at the Stillwater site. 10 1998 1999 2000 Year

Cattle Performance Tallgrass Prairie Preserve IES (April 1-July 15 2001) Average Daily Gain (lb.) 2.6 2 1.4 This is data from the TPP and each bar represents the ADG of an individual pasture and you can see that so far there have been no treatment differences in this study 0.7 Traditional, All Burn Patch Burn

Stockpiling on Native Sites Get the stocking rate right Patch Burning Fencing

Stockpiled Fescue

276 lb. of Forage per Inch of Height AUY = 9360 pounds 9360/1280 = 7.3 acres Stockers SL = 3.6 A/hd Stockers IES = 1.8 A/hd Lbs X 25% X Acres = harvestable yield 4900 X .25 X 16.3= 19967 6350 X .25 X 4.1 = 6508 5250 X .25 X 17.5 = 22968 1875 X .25 X 1 = 468 Total 49911/39 = 1280 lbs/A Fescue Survey, 1994-95 276 lb. of Forage per Inch of Height

From the 288 samples analyzed in this survey prediction curves were developed to show the expected crude protein and TDN levels throughout the grazing season as effected by the 3 treatments. Crude protein is adequate for both dry and lactating cows throughout the growing season even without fertilizer, assuming adequate forage is available. Fertilizer is required to maintain adequate protein for 500 pound growing cattle to gain 1.5 lb. per day.

Growing Steer This slide shows that energy (TDN) is also adequate for cows throughout the growing season even without fertilizer as long as forage availability is not limiting. This slide also shows why fescue is often described as a good cow feed but not a good stocker feed, or why stocker operators often feed additional grain when grazing stockers on fescue. Note that for a 500 lb. stocker gaining 1.5 lbs per day, TDN may be limiting except when fertilized and grazed continuously (i.e........... kept short and leafy) and even then, adequate only during the spring growth period.

Fall Fertilized Fescue 2001 Cherokee Craig Delaware Mayes Muskogee Nowata Okfuskee Ottawa Wagoner Washington Unfert. Lbs/A 865 1108 778 885 1117 659 1329 1382 723 Fertilized Lbs/A 3803 2174 2111 2281 3201 2419 3733 4520 5480 1574 Increase Lbs/A 2938 1067 1333 1396 2084 1760 2404 3138 4596 851

Stockpiled Bermudagrass

Late Summer Fertilization, Cherokee Co. 1996 (LB./a) 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 3500 Yield lbs./A 0-N 50 N Urea 100 N Urea 150 N Urea 150 N Am. Nit.

Live Wt. Change, Year 1 Nov.4 - Jan. 22 (77 days) 60 40 46 46 44 40 20 -20 -20 -20 Weight lbs. -33 -40 -60 Period 1 -84 Period 2 -80 -100 CONT LOW MED HIGH Treatment Period 2 Quadratic Effect (P<.05)

Overall Wt. Change, Year 2 Nov. 3 - Feb. 2 91 97 83 61

Chemical composition of grazed forage samples at Stillwater, percent of dry matter Sample Date Protein TDN ‘97-98 Nov. 13.1 54.0 Dec. 12.5 53.5 Jan. 10.9 48.9 Feb. 12.7 47.9 ‘98-99 15.2 48.4 14.7 11.6 43.3 13.2 46.3

Forage Growth, Rainfall, and Fertilizer Timing cool season grass

Rainfall for Leflore County (1971-2000) Fertilize warm season grass Fertilize cool season grass Fertilize Warm or cool season grass 47.9 inches average total rainfall Varies from 42 to 51 from north to south

Rainfall Exceedence (2 in 10 years) Sallisaw April 1893 – Feb 2004

Legumes are not a free fertilizer option! P, K, pH – According to Soil Test 3 Tons/A contribution that did not require N

Legume Management Residue Management – 2 inches or less in late summer or fall. Follow soil test recommendation Drill to establish if possible Plant cool season legumes in late summer or early fall, lespedeza in late winter or early spring Innoculate the seed

Small Grains Planting Dates Picture taken 11/30/99 9/10/99 11/4/99 10/7/99 10/21/99 9/23/99 First planting was clipped 10/27/99 removing 1,880 lb/a of forage

Hay Avoidance Strategy Graze Bermudagrass to be overseeded with a cool season legume in August and Sept., Graze fertilized and stockpiled bermudagrass in October until fully grazed Graze native range with added protein supplement until cool season grass is sufficient. Graze fertilized stockpiled fescue after stockpiled bermudagrass and native grass is grazed

Survival in the Cow Business The Right Stocking Rate Make the Cow do the Work Smart use of Fertilizer Grazing Strategy