- What is the pasture type?
- Fescue (>90% fescue)
- Mixed cool-season grasses (<10% legumes)
- Cool-season grass dominant (10 to 25% legume or other grasses)
- Cool-season Grass / legume (26 to 60% legume)
- Legume dominant (>75% legume)
- Warm-season grass dominant (<40% other species)
Fescue (>90% fescue) Tall fescue is the major cool season grass planted in Missouri. Fescue pastures have tall fescue as the dominant forage species (>90%) with only scattered plants of other forages present. Active growth periods of tall fescue occur in spring and fall. Fescue pastures need nitrogen fertilization to produce good forage yields. Soil test fertilizer recommendations for cool-season grass pasture should be followed to achieve desired yield levels.
Besides providing forage in spring and fall, tall fescue is often managed for winter pasture. Fall growth of the tall fescue is allowed to accumulate and grazing is deferred until winter. This practice is called stockpiling and works well in fall because the accumulated growth tends to remain high in nutritive quality and does not become mature as it does in spring. Tall fescue foliage tolerates freezing weather better than most other cool season grasses so it is preferred for fall stockpiled pasture.
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| Figure 1. Complimentary growth patterns of cool and warm-season grasses. |
Mixed cool-season grasses (<10% legumes) Mixed cool-season grass pastures consist of a mix of cool season grass forages that may or may not include tall fescue. This category can also include pure stands of other cool-season grasses besides tall fescue. Perennial cool season grasses adapted to Missouri include kentucky bluegrass, orchardgrass, perennial ryegrass, redtop, reed canarygrass, smooth bromegrass, tall fescue, and timothy. These grasses are commonly grown in pure stands, in mixtures with other cool season grasses, or in combination with legumes. Mixed cool-season pastures should receive nitrogen fertilization and the low percentage of legume (10%) is considered nutritionally non-significant. Soil test fertilizer recommendations for cool-season grass pasture should be followed to achieve desired yield levels. Cool season grasses are not often seeded in mixtures with warm season grasses in the same field because this combination requires very careful management to maintain the mixture.
Cool season grasses grow best during spring and fall, but are usually dormant or unproductive during hot summer months (Figure 2). From one-half to two-thirds of the annual growth of cool season grasses occurs in the spring and up to one-third of the annual growth occurs during the fall. Forage quality is very high when new growth begins in spring and declines with increasing growth as the plants become mature and produce seed. Fall regrowth of cool season grasses also has very good forage quality, however forage quality does not decline during the fall growth phase as in spring because plants remain vegetative during this time of year. Cold weather, snow, or ice can cause forage quality to decline during winter.
Cool-season grass dominant (10 to 25% legume or other grasses) Cool-season grass dominant pastures generally needs no nitrogen fertilizer in spring, but may respond well to nitrogen fertilizer in fall. These pastures can include fescue and/or a mix of cool season or warm season grasses along with a moderate percentage of legumes (10 to 25%). Legume percentages in this range will improve the nutritional value of a pasture and will help offset the effects of the fescue endophyte on cattle, but are not high enough to eliminate the need for nitrogen fertilization under high animal stocking rates. Soil test fertilizer recommendations for cool-season grass should be followed to achieve desired yield levels. However, if the goal of the landowner is to increase the percentage of legume in the pasture, then soil test fertilizer recommendations for clover-grass pasture should be followed to encourage legume growth. The legume component also helps extend the active spring growth period of the pasture into early summer. Other grasses including warm season grasses or weedy grass may be present at levels less than 25% of the pasture mix.
Cool-season Grass / legume (26 to 60% legume ) Legumes are commonly grown in combination with cool season grasses to improve nutritional quality of the pasture. Legumes are highly palatable and nutritious to livestock. Legumes generally have higher nutritive quality at any given growth stage than grasses. Legumes also help improve forage quality of a pasture when the companion grasses in a mixture become more mature than desired. Forage quality of grass/legume mixtures is excellent and livestock grazing this mixture should have few symptoms from fescue endophyte. Grass/legume pastures show little or no response to nitrogen fertilization because the nitrogen supplied by the legume through nitrogen fixation is high enough to support the growth of both the grass and legume. Legumes need higher soil fertility levels than grasses. Soil test fertilizer recommendations for clover-grass pasture should be followed to maintain production in this mixture. Grass/legume pastures also have more value to wildlife than fescue, mixed cool- season, or cool-season dominant pastures.
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| Figure 2. Seasonal growth of cool-season grasses. |
Legumes adapted to Missouri include alfalfa, annual lespedeza (Kobe or Korean), birdsfoot trefoil, red clover, and white or ladino clover. Red and white clover grow in spring, early summer, and fall. Alfalfa and birdsfoot trefoil grow from spring through summer and fall. Annual lespedeza grows in summer and dies at frost. All of these are perennial plants except for annual lespedeza and red clover.
Determining legume percentage
Determining the actual percentage of legume present in a pasture by
visual estimates can be difficult for the untrained eye. A good rule
to use for visually determining the percent of yield from the legume
component in a pasture is to estimate the percentage of canopy cover
as legume when the pasture canopy is six to eight inches tall and
then divide by two to get the approximate season-long dry matter
contribution from the legume. For example, if the canopy of white
clover in a pasture is estimated to be approximately 30% then the
percent legume as dry matter in that pasture would be about 15%.
Obviously, a high percentage of canopy cover from the legume is
necessary to provide all the advantages attributed to grass-legume
mixtures.
Warm-season grass dominant (<40% other species) Warm season grasses grow best during the summer months but grow very little in spring or fall (Fig.1). Warm season grasses provide good quality, actively growing forage during the hot summer when cool-season grasses and many legumes are dormant or unproductive. Warm season grasses should be used when forage availability is low in summer or when very high summer forage production is needed. A combination of warm season and cool season grass pastures will provide a constant forage supply over the growing season. Keep in mind that warm and cool season grasses should be planted in separate pastures for easier management.
Native warm season grasses adapted to Missouri include big bluestem, indiangrass, little bluestem, and switchgrass. These grasses are usually grown in pure stands or in mixtures with other warm season grasses. They are usually not grown in combination with most introduced legumes or cool season grasses because the native warm season grasses are not as aggressive as many legumes or cool season grasses especially in fertilized pastures. The native grasses should not be grazed shorter than eight inches to maintain vigor and regrowth of the plants. Introduced or non-native warm season grasses include bermudagrass (south Missouri only) and caucasian bluestem. Caucasian bluestem and bermudagrass are normally only grown in pure stands because they are more aggressive forage plants, they are lower growing than the native grasses, and they must be grazed at much shorter heights than the native grasses in order to maintain forage quality. All of the plants listed above are perennials.
The native warm-season grasses respond to moderate fertilizer applications and are much more desirable for wildlife cover than introduced warm-season grasses or most cool-season grasses. Introduced warm-season grasses such as bermudagrass and caucasian bluestem respond to high rates of nitrogen fertilizer, but have little value as wildlife cover. Fertilizer recommendations for warm-season grass pasture should be followed for all warm-season grass pastures except for bermudagrass which has a specific recommendation listed for hay or pasture. Annual grasses, forbs, legumes, and cool-season grasses often become established in a warm-season grass pasture through seed dispersal or improper grazing or feeding management. These invading species should be maintained at less than 40% of the sward so the benefits of the warm-season grass can be realized.
Warm season grasses should be grazed when they are in the vegetative stage of growth. Fiber levels increase rapidly as the plants mature, reducing forage quality and making warm season grasses undesirable for stockpiling for later grazing. These grasses usually have a very rapid growth rate and very high production potential. Close attention is required to prevent them from becoming too mature for good forage quality.