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

2. 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

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

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

6. 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

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

8. 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?

9. 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

10. Determining Stocking Rate on Native Range or Unfertilized Pasture

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

12. 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=
6350 X .25 X 4.1 =
5250 X .25 X 17.5 =
1875 X .25 X 1 =
Total /39 = 1280 lbs/A

13. Fence or Patch Burn?

14. 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

15. 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

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

17. Stockpiled Fescue

18. 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=
6350 X .25 X 4.1 =
5250 X .25 X 17.5 =
1875 X .25 X 1 =
Total /39 = 1280 lbs/A
Fescue Survey,
276 lb. of Forage per Inch of Height

19. 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.

20. 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.

21. 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

22. Stockpiled Bermudagrass

23. 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.

24. 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)

25. Overall Wt. Change, Year 2 Nov. 3 - Feb. 291 97 83 61

26. 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

28. Forage Growth, Rainfall, and Fertilizer Timing
cool season grass

29. 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

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

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

32. 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

33. 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

35. 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

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