Category: Forage Corner

Feeding the animals under your care is a major concern for any farmer or rancher. After all, good nutrition has a major impact on their health and productivity and your business’s bottom line.

Is there a role for forage brassicas in your feeding plan? What facts do you need to know first when using brassicas for forage?

Brassicas Basics

Brassicas are members of the mustard family. Common examples include varieties of radish, turnip, swede, kale, and rapeseed, or rape. There are also various hybrids. When managed properly, these cruciferous vegetables can benefit both your animals and your soil.

Brassicas Mature Quickly

Forage brassicas have been used around the globe to fill in gaps in pasture production because these hardy annuals rapidly grow into dense masses. They produce nutritious greenery that can be grazed when traditional pastures are starting to brown.

As the University of Wisconsin-Extension notes, brassicas mature quickly. Turnips can be grazed within 70 days of planting. Kale can be ready in as little as 90 days. Kale is also capable of surviving bitterly cold winters, including those that see below zero temperatures.

Higher in fiber and lower in protein, rapeseed is a good forage that will be grazed readily by animals. It’s also one of the least expensive, making it an attractive addition to mixes. Most standard varieties of rape require 180 days, but some hybrid varieties can produce yields in as little as 60 days.

If managed wisely, many brassicas can even regrow and provide multiple rounds of grazing.

Brassicas Deliver High-quality Feed

Fast food can have disastrous effects on health if it is poor quality, but that is not a concern with brassicas. These greens deliver a high-quality feed.

According to Cornell University’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, brassicas have a high a crude protein concentration of 20% to 25%. Their net energy of metabolism is 0.65 – 0.80 Mcal/lb. Meanwhile, their total digestible nutrient concentrations are 65% to 70%. However, they tend to be low in fiber. As a result, you’ll want to supplement with some type of grass to avoid health issues.

In the real world, a summer of feeding dairy cattle a mixture of turnip and forage sorghum led to an increase in milk yield, milk solids, and protein when compared with those fed only sorghum. However, there was a reduction in milk fat. As for beef cattle, reports indicate that brassicas can boost their daily gain. 

Brassicas Are Flexible

Brassicas are generally grazed. However, they can also be stockpiled, ensiled, or fed as greenchop. If grazing is the chosen method, it can begin when the forage is roughly 12 inches in height. According to Progressive Forage, rotational or strip grazing practices are generally best to limit trampling and allow the brassicas time to regrow. 

Brassicas May Impact Flavor

As Lancaster Farming notes, there are some concerns that feeding brassicas to animals might change the flavor of the milk or meat produced. To avoid any issues, remove the animals from this type of food at least four hours before milking and a week before slaughter.

The mustard family is the fastest growing brassica, with blooms appearing 30-40 days after planting, they’re also high in levels of glucosinolates, which makes them excellent for weed and nematode control in the fall, but detract from the palatability and forage value for livestock.

Brassicas Can Cause Health Problems If Fed Improperly

As the U.S. Department of Agriculture explains, the quality of brassicas is on par with concentrate feeds, so producers need to take plan accordingly. Poor grazing management could result in a variety of health problems, including bloat, nitrate poisoning, hemolytic anemia, atypical pneumonia, hypothyroidism, and polioencephalomalacia. To enjoy the benefits of brassicas without these worries, producers should take steps like the following:

• Ensure that brassicas make up no more than 75% of an animal’s diet. When grazing brassicas, supplement with dry hay or grasses. Alternately, consider no-tilling brassicas into grass sod or planting them with rye.
• Don’t make abrupt diet changes. Never turn hungry animals that are not adapted to brassicas into a brassica pasture. Always introduce grazing animals to brassica pastures gradually over a period of three or four days.

Brassicas Can Benefit the Soil

Is soil compaction a problem? The deep roots of radish, turnip, and many other brassicas offer a natural solution. As Cornell CALS reports, they break up the soil while simultaneously producing valuable forage. Are high phosphorous levels an issue? Brassicas can again serve as a natural remedy. When grown in soils that are high in phosphorous, they will help remediate the soil by picking up the mineral and incorporating it into their tissues.

It’s important to note that brassicas should not be planted at the same site for more than two consecutive years. There’s a risk of disease buildup.

Daikon Radish – the daikon radish isn’t just delicious when it’s pickled, it’s rapid growth and huge taproot make it popular for reducing soil compaction and fixing nitrogen and sulfur.

Plant radish in August or September to provide them with a few weeks before the first frost. Radishes will winterkill once you’ve had consecutive nights in the mid to high teens.

Turnips – Purple top turnips produce a large amount of biomass and store lots of energy in their large root bulb. Cattle love to graze the leaves and will eat the bulb later in the grazing season.

Brassicas Mitigate Methane Emissions

Scientists have evidence that feeding brassicas can help mitigate methane emissions, reducing the environmental impact of the herd. It’s a practice that can benefit the animal, the environment, and the farmer. In a recent Sustainable Agriculture Research & Education project, ten dairy producers included forage brassicas in the diet of some 750 animals. As a result, methane emissions were reduced by 10.4 kg per cow annually. Meanwhile, farmers were able to extend the fall grazing season by two months and reduce their feeding costs for each cow by $1.50 a day.

Brassicas might not be a perfect food, but they are certainly a food worthy of consideration if you want to raise healthy animals and run a successful agricultural operation. Taking some time to understand how to use them properly can help you avoid problems and get the most out of these useful forages.

Do you want to talk about forage, cover crops, or turf? Go Seed takes pride in being a trusted source for top-notch wholesale seed and user-friendly information.

We’ll be at the 2021 World Dairy Expo, which starts September 28 and runs through October 2. We’d love to see you, so be sure to stop by. If you need to register for the event, you can do so here.

Humans may make do with one stomach, but not everyone takes the same approach to digestion. Consider this: The ruminant digestive system features a stomach with four compartments. What exactly is a ruminant? How does their digestive system work? What can you do to protect the health of a ruminant’s digestive system?

Identifying Ruminants

As Mississippi State University Extension explains, a ruminant is a cud-chewing hoofed mammal with a unique digestive system that includes a stomach with four parts.

This complex system lets it generate energy more efficiently from the consumption of fibrous plants when compared to herbivores with monogastric digestive systems. In other words, it gives these animals a very real edge by allowing them to thrive on foods that other animals would find lacking. Cattle, sheep, goats, deer, elk, giraffes, bison, and antelope are all ruminants.

Breaking Down the Ruminant’s Digestive System

Understanding the basics of how a ruminant’s digestive system works can help you keep the animals in your care healthy and productive. The University of Minnesota Extension offers plenty of useful information about the ins and outs of the ruminant digestive system .

The Mouth

While the star of the ruminant’s digestive system is the four-part stomach, the process actually gets its start in the mouth. Chewing stimulates saliva production, and a ruminant’s saliva plays a key role in the digestive process. For starters, it contains enzymes that help to break down fats and starches.

In addition, saliva serves as a buffer in parts of the stomach. The saliva mixes with the plant matter and makes its way down the esophagus when the animal swallows.

The Esophagus

Muscle contractions move food through a ruminant’s esophagus, and bidirectionality is the feature of interest here. The muscles of the esophagus can move food either down from the mouth or up the same channel from the stomach.

The Stomach

If the ruminant digestive system has a distinguishing feature, it’s clearly the stomach. As Purdue University explains this complex organ has four parts:

The rumen

The first part of the stomach, the rumen is also the largest compartment. It can store up to 50 gallons of material. However, it’s not just about storage. The rumen is designed to hold onto hard-to-digest foods like the nitrogen in grass and break them down via fermentation and high concentrations of bacteria often dubbed “rumen bugs.” If roughage is proving especially difficult, the rumen extends its digestion time by encouraging further mechanical breakdown. Using the bidirectionality of the esophagus, already swallowed food, or cud, is sent back to the mouth to be re-chewed for a while. Then, it’s re-swallowed and redigested. Have you ever wondered why ruminants belch? It’s to clear the gas produced by the fermentation that is part of their digestion.

The reticulum

Often called the honeycomb because of its appearance, these bands of muscle guard against the intrusion of any large particles that have slipped past the rumen that need to be broken down more before they go deeper into the stomach. If it discovers them, it forces them back up so that they can be chewed again. Unfortunately, cows and other ruminants aren’t always picky eaters. What happens when they ingest hardware like nails or baling wire? It tends to end up in the reticulum. In some cases, surgery may be required to save the animal. Otherwise, sharp hardware could pierce the stomach.

The omasum

The third section of the stomach is comprised of folds of muscles called plies. The multitude of layers increases the surface area, which gives the omasum more opportunities to absorb nutrients as it squeezes waters from feed particles and breaks them down into smaller and smaller particles.

The abomasum

Known as the true stomach because it’s most like a monogastric animal’s stomach, the abomasum is where acids and digestive juices mingle with the food particles. From here, food moves to the small intestine.

The Small Intestine

The small intestine isn’t exactly small. It measures about twenty times the length of the animal and is made up of three parts: the duodenum, jejunum, and ileum. Most of the actual nutrient absorption takes place here. Nutrients are collected within the small intestine by the finger-like villi and released into the blood and lymphatic systems.

The Cecum

The cecum is a pouch that sits between the small and large intestines. Its purpose is a mystery, but it helps to break down any fiber that remains undigested.

The Large Intestine

The large intestine absorbs water. Microbes that live here also digest some feed. Then, the organ eliminates any undigested food as waste.

Keeping The Ruminant’s Digestive System Healthy

Keeping a complex system functioning smoothly can be tricky. Pro Earth Animal Health offers a quick overview of some common digestive problems:

• Acidosis – A metabolic disease that can be triggered by stress, illness, and other factors, acidosis causes shifts in the pH of the rumen that prompt the animal to decrease its food and water intake. If action isn’t taken to halt the disease process, the good bacteria in the rumen die off, toxins are released, and the animal’s immune system will continue to weaken. Acidosis can be fatal if the animal isn’t coaxed into eating and drinking.
  
• Rumen impaction – Without enough hydration, indigestible materials can pile up in the rumen. Handlers need to ensure that animals have access to clean water and are drinking sufficient amounts
  
• Hemorrhagic bowel syndrome – There’s no clear cause of HBS, but it tends to be the result of a blood clot or blockage in the small intestine. Taking steps to keep the rumen healthy seems to be the best way to prevent the issue.

Digestive health is an important part of an animal’s overall health. Understanding how the system works can help you make smart decisions about feed and care, including extending your growing season.

In addition, catching signs of digestive distress early makes finding an effective solution easier and more affordable. Be on the lookout for animals that are refusing to eat or drink, suffering from weight loss, lethargy or diarrhea, or are behaving unusually.

Weeds are a reality of the natural world and part of every single pasture. No matter how well-groomed or managed grazing may be, weeds will always be present to some extent.

An efficient pasture, one with the welfare and nutritional needs of livestock in mind, has weed suppression taken into account.

Pasture management is important because it represents a portion of the animals’ diet. Remember, feeding costs account for well over 60-70% of total operating costs any given year. Poor forages can result in a host of issues, from inadequate nutrition to health issues to overall inefficiency and poor performance. 

The types of forages that are grown and managed is a key to pasture-based nutrition. When weed suppression isn’t practiced, even a strategically seeded pasture can be easily overtaken. This will undo all that quality control and, depending on the weed types, reduces tonnage of available and palatable forage. When quality feed is reduced, it can lead animals to consume less nutritious forages, which can have an adverse effect on daily live weight gains.

Fortunately, there are many different ways to tackle this issue, one of which is using cover crops for weed suppression. Other natural means, including intensive grazing, rotations and even co-species grazing can all help make for a healthier and less weedy pasture.

What’s In A Weed?

Controlling weeds in a pasture begins with identifying what you want and what you don’t. According to Merriam-Webster, a weed can be defined as “a plant that is not valued where it is growing and is usually of vigorous growth.” This broad definition essentially means a weed is any undesired plant. For farmers, this especially includes those that are prolific or toxic in nature.

As with desirable forages, weeds come in a variety of categories and lifecycles including winter annuals, summer annuals, perennials and biennials.

Winter and summer annuals describe plants that complete their entire lifecycles in a single growing season. Dormant seeds sown the year prior are how these types proliferate. Biennials are similar but take two full years to complete their lifecycles.

Perennial plants are those that live for many seasons, with their root systems continuing to flower each year. These are the most difficult to control as they can spread by both roots and seeds, making it easy for them to evade removal. 

Because weeds fall into all of these categories, identification is crucial for the best mode of eradication. Understanding these different plant types and their lifecycles can help establish effective pasture management tactics to accommodate for their growing season and lifecycle.

The best way to identify weeds is to be familiar with your particular region in a specific time of the year. Local university extension services are a great resource for this. You can also use your region to help establish your forage stand to withstand different seasons and avoid winterkill with seeding selection and tactics.

The North Carolina State University Cooperative Extension recommends that producers be familiar with the terminology used to describe the identifying features of certain leaves. Charts with photos and lifecycle information can also be helpful to have on hand when doing a pasture walk.

Scouting for pasture quality and weeds takes time and effort, but it is well worthwhile. The financial cost of weeds will vary greatly on factors such as region and management strategy – but it’s significant and real. According to a 2018 study from Cambridge University, the cost of noxious weed management and forage losses on privately-owned rangeland was $7,243 annually on an average grazing unit of 5,055 acres. Even these estimates are believed to be on the low end as this study only factored direct costs. Other studies have found costs to be even higher than this accounting for multiple other factors.

When you consider cost, the necessity of staying on top of weed spread becomes all the more important. In the case of Palmer amaranth, an invasive type of pigweed, each plant can produce over 100,000 seeds per plant (some studies have found this to be closer to 250,000). Though it is an annual variety, its rapid growth rate and prolific nature make it impossible to control without proper maintenance.

Remember The Livestock

Proper pasture management always keeps the nutritional needs and demands of the animals in mind. This is partly why weed suppression is so crucial – excessive weed growth inevitably pushes out the nutrient-dense forages you are trying to provide.

A simple way to establish a nutritious pasture is to focus on a good stand of different legumes. Legumes are a very high-quality feed for livestock, being good sources of things like energy and protein. In fact, Michigan State University recommends legumes make up anywhere from 40 to 60% of a pasture.

Clover is one common legume that is especially nutrient-dense and grows well in a wide variety of climates and pasture types. It’s also very palatable to animals – making overgrazing easy. To prevent them from being overtaken by grasses and weeds,  a strong planting and management strategy is crucial.

As with many legumes, clover poses a risk for frothy bloat when overconsumed. This happens because these plants create a foamy layer in the rumen once they begin the digestion process, too much of this build up will trap the rumen gases and is often fatal without treatment. Berseem or Egyptian clover is one variety that doesn’t have this effect and can be grazed quite safely. Balansa clover is a low-bloating type that, while it can cause the issue, it very rarely ever does.

Another way to avoid issues is to ensure pastures are seeded with adequate “good” grazing grasses to balance out excessive legumes.

Another danger of weeds are the poisonous types that can crop up and proliferate. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, plant poisonings are a cause of major economic loss in the livestock industry. Approximately three to five percent of livestock are affected by consuming poisonous plants on western rangelands each year.

What types of poisonous weeds to look out for depends heavily on the specific region, but producers should familiarize themselves with some of the most common types. These include hemlocks, larkspurs, nightshade, milkweed and horsenettle.

While it is impossible to completely eliminate all poisonous plants, the odds can be reduced with good pasture management.

Methods Of Management

There are many ways that weeds can be controlled to fit just about any management style. The broad categories these fall into are preventative, cultural, biological, mechanical and chemical control, according to Oregon State University. One or more of these tactics can be used at a time.

Chemical control is what it sounds like, it’s using a type of herbicide to control or stop the growth of weed species. This should be done after scouting pastures to ensure they are applied at the proper times. Improper timing could be ineffective at best and kill newly seeded desirable forages at worst.

When equipment is used to control weeds, often with a seasonal mowing, it falls under mechanical control. This can be very effective when used with other management tools. For example, mowing pastures at the end of each season can amplify the effectiveness of cover crops by preventing weeds from ever going to seed in the first place.

Preventative weed control means good practices to help avoid the transfer and establishment of weed seeds. This could be as simple as cleaning equipment, and being mindful to feed weed-free forages to your animals. 

Culture and biological control are similar methods that work well with one another. Weed suppression with cultural control is using pasture maintenance techniques that discourage proliferation. This encompasses many good practices such as forage rotation, not overgrazing and using competitive species to “push out” weeds and keep the soil fertile.

When biological control is used, it means that natural “enemies” of weeds are put in place. This could be co-species grazing such as using small ruminants to eat weeds that are unpalatable to cattle promoting younger, more desirable forages to grow. This could even involve using certain insects that target certain weed species as well.

Cover crop weed suppression falls into both of these categories and can be extremely effective.

Suppress Weeds With Cover Crops

According to the USDA, cover crops have many functions and benefits – for pasture as well as row crops.

By definition, they are “…grasses, legumes, and other forbs that are planted for erosion control, improving soil structure, moisture, and nutrient content, increasing beneficial soil biota, suppressing weeds, providing habitat for beneficial predatory insects, facilitating crop pollinators, providing wildlife habitat, and as forage for farm animals.” 

When pasture lands are left unattended after the grazing season, weeds are likely to crop up in the springtime. Planting a cover crop in this interim can not only keep weeds at bay, but they can also add nutritional value.

One evaluation from Penn State found that cereal rye and oats, both excellent grass for grazing, had consistently favorable weed suppression rates. Even if these were seeded at just a fifth of their monoculture rates, their aggressive fall growth sufficiently slowed weed growth.

Clover, a highly nutritious legume, happens to be another excellent cover crop. One 2007 study published in the European Journal of Agronomy found the following:

“Clover species with superior weed suppression, like Persian clover, red clover, alsike clover, berseem clover and crimson clover also gave the strongest negative effect on dry matter accumulation of leek (reductions between 70% and 90%).”

Several other species of forbs, legumes and grasses also work as great cover crops. Some will even continue suppressing weeds even after they die off by releasing certain substances (allelochemicals, or natural herbicides), promoting weed-pathogenic fungi and even making nitrogen less available to them. 

To determine the best fit for your pasture and grazing needs, consult with your agronomist, university extension service and fellow grazers for recommendations. 

Forage is a cornerstone of both beef and dairy production. It’s the most basic and essential fuel for the cow’s growth, health and production. As such, we understand that quality is no small matter when choosing the best forage for cattle.

With feed costs representing anywhere from 60 to 70% of total production inputs according to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, better or worse quality could quite literally make or break the business.

While there are many different ways forage can be harvested, stored and fed, its production ultimately begins in the same place – the soil. And when farmed and managed responsibly, forages are not only a great feed for livestock, but they will also provide long-term health and fertility to the soil.

According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, 95% of all our food comes directly from the soil. This includes the fruits and vegetables we eat as well as what is consumed by livestock to create end products.

Cattle are in a unique position because by growing their forages – especially in the case of pastures and hayfields – the soil can be enhanced.

Plants are a lot like solar panels – they take in natural energy from the sun and convert it into nutrients that can be used as a fuel or energy source for the animals consuming it. When a cow eats a mouthful of grass or legumes, her rumen microbes will feed on it creating the fuel that builds muscle, supports growth, and allows for reproduction, milk production and much more.

All forages are very different regarding what nutrients they provide for animals. Not only is feeding suboptimal quality inefficient and not cost-effective, it’s also environmentally unsustainable. Remember, poor forages will use more resources in the growing and feeding compared to high-quality ones. Not to mention the challenges in keeping the ruminant’s digestive system healthy.

What’s In Forage, Anyway?

Deciding on the most appropriate type and variety of forage to feed cattle will depend greatly on region, seasonality and stage in production or lifecycle. Fortunately, there are many ways these can be mixed and matched to provide the most optimal diet for your animals.

The two broad categories forages are broken into are cool season and warm season. These are directly correlated to the time of year they are most prolific.

Cool season varieties are especially important as they play integral roles in fall and winter feeding. While they can be more difficult to maintain and expensive to upkeep, these cool-season types can help cut down on costly winter feedstuffs.

One of the benefits to cold season varieties is that they can be overseeded on top of warm season types to allow for an earlier spring and/or longer summer grazing season.

While there are many nutritious grasses, cool season legumes are especially worth noting. Legumes plants belong to the Fabaceae family. Not only are many of them nutrient-dense, but they also have a special symbiotic relationship with nitrogen-fixing bacteria thanks to structures in their roots called nodules. This makes them an integral part of soil health and crop rotation programs.

Some of the most well-known legumes in the cattle world are alfalfa and clover. These grow very well with many other grasses. And, because many legume varieties are quite dense, growing enough of them can help cut down on unwanted weeds while boosting soil integrity.

Discover how to suppress weeds with cover crops in your pasture.

What’s The Most Nutritious Grass For Cattle?

Obtaining the proper nutrition from forages is a pivotal component, but its efficiency and profitability also cannot be overlooked. Harvested and stored options including hay and silage can certainly provide all the nutrition as a pasture can, but there is a serious cost associated with that compared to grazing where animals can “self-harvest.”

There are many variables and factors to this economic outlook, but the difference is significant according to a white paper by Kenny Burdine, an extension economist for the University of Kentucky.

When hay is stored and fed, there is always a loss associated with wastage or damage. Burdine calculated the difference at a 15%, 25% and 35% loss when feeding hay to cattle, each equivalent to the quality of the tonnage.

By his calculations, hay fed at a 15% loss worth $80 a ton cost $1.41 per ton with the assumption each animal consumed 30 lbs. per day. Contrast that to a pasture with a two acres per head stocking density – even with a $50 an acre maintenance cost per year, the cost of feeding would only be $0.42 per day.

Now, when discussing forage value and economics, one must also discuss how well it can be managed and produced in a specific region. Many specific varieties are quite well adapted to certain regions making it a good idea to stick to those that are tried and true. Likewise, growth distribution – meaning how a variety will proliferate after its establishment – need to be considered and how it relates to seasonality.

Other points relevant to the bottom line are quality, yield and persistence as explained by Steve Orloff and Dan Putnam of the University of California-Davis.

Potential use is also something producers should be aware of. For example, some pasture mixes are hardy enough to withstand hoof traffic and prolific enough to be converted to a hayfield and harvested. Other mixes (like alfalfa) are insufficient at withstanding grazing pressure and need to be harvested before feeding.

Quality factors And Detractors

There are a lot of factors at play that can help or hinder forage growth, production and quality. But there is one key overarching player to always be aware of – soil health.

You could say that the health and wealth of any crop, ultimately, begins quite literally at the roots and the soil surrounding them. This is why maintaining and preserving the soil in tandem with forage production is critical.

Soil is quite delicate. The earth only has about 60 years-worth of viable topsoil, according to Maria-Helena Semedo of the UN’s FAO, to support ongoing agricultural efforts without proper care and preservation.

Globally, soils are being degraded far faster than they can be replaced. A 2006 study from Cornell University published in the Journal of the Environment, Development and Sustainability found that, specifically, soils in the United States are degrading at a rate 10 times faster than they are being replaced. In China and India, that rate is about 30 to 40 times faster.

When we consider that, according to the Eniscuola School of Energy and Environment, it takes 200 to 400 years for a single centimeter of topsoil to be formed in most climates, the reality becomes very serious.

Research, such as work done at the University of California-Davis, has found that in addition to harming fertility, poor soil leaves plants more vulnerable to disease and pests while having an overall lower yield.

Using Legumes For Soil Health

Part of preserving soil is understanding it – what makes it healthy or unhealthy? Many forage growers and cattle producers may not know the specific metrics they are looking for.

Only about 10% of all land used to grow forage is soil tested, according to the University of Kentucky. Of that, 45% is low in the essential nutrient phosphorous and 35% is low in the essential nutrient potassium.

And, interestingly, legumes – who are can help recycle nutrients according to the Natural Resources Conservation Service – are only grown in about one-third of the areas they could potentially be grown in.

Additionally, legumes can also enhance soil organic matter, improve soil structure and lower soil pH – much of this is due to the Rhizobia bacteria that live in the nodules of their roots. These bacteria are what allow them to fix their own nitrogen.

Having a significantly different background compared to other forage types, planting legumes can also enhance overall biological diversity which, in turn, can help break harmful pest cycles including diseases, weeds and insects in a crop rotation.

Know Your Resources

The first step to incorporating legumes is to do an annual soil check. After all, planting, harvesting and forage equipment is typically checked at least once a year – soil should be treated no differently! Soil requires management much like anything else in farming. And, of course, you can’t manage what isn’t measured.

An agronomist can help make some recommendations based on specific soil test results, and help accommodate a forage plan to a specific farm. Like so many other things in our agriculture system, one of the best ways to learn is from other farmers who share their own experiences in a similar region and/or livestock management system.

There are also lots of academic resources available to help develop a healthy forage plan. These include your local extension service, Natural Resource Conservation Service, the National Hay Association and the National Alfalfa and Forage Alliance.

Originally Published: ​3/4/18 10:05 a.m.
Updated: 2/24/21 10:44 a.m.

Should you over seed pastures or hayfields with clovers during the winter and early spring months to increase animal performance?

Research across the country strongly suggests renovating pastures does increase animal performance. These grazing studies from across the United States have shown an increase in animal performance when they have been grazed on pastures with ryegrass with clover added to it.

In a 2016 Mississippi State University cattle study, daily live weight gains were recorded on cattle grazing a mixture of Frosty berseem clover and Lonestar annual ryegrass. Frosty extended the grazing period and lowered nitrogen costs by 14%! Cattle grazing the ryegrass + berseem mix gained 0.87 lbs/day more than the straight ryegrass with commercial fertilizer. In the subsequent trial the grass following the Frosty plots showed an increase in growth and quality.

Clover is a valuable addition to any pasture or hay mix. Being in the legume family, they supply lots of high quality protein, relative feed value, and other nutrients and they’re very palatable, too.

Not All Clovers Are Created Equal

White, red, berseem, balansa and crimson clovers are safe additions to any pasture or hayfield, but the closely related alsike clover (pictured below) has been connected to health problems in livestock.

One problem linked to alsike clover is photosensitization. Livestock that ingest alsike clover in the summer months and are exposed to sunlight, can develop red, blistered muzzles and sun burned skin, especially if they have white markings with pink skin underneath their fur.

Early symptoms may include drooling and reluctance to eat, and swelling of the affected animal’s tongue or muzzle. Alsike poisoning can affect cattle, swine, and sheep, but is particularly brutal for horses.

How To Overseed Your Pasture?

Over seeding is simple, effective and a low-cost way to improve old pastures without tilling and re-seeding. It’s cheap, quick and low risk, helps suppress weeds, and prevents soil erosion.

To get the best results you can follow our guidelines below.

Survey The Damage

Many fields had weaker than normal forage stands going into the winter. This left many of us wondering how the stands will respond when we get a couple of spring rains that have the potential to turn our green pastures into a muddy mess when the livestock start grazing it.

Part of the explanation for the mess is that the root system of our forages grows in proportion to the top growth. Close frequent grazing, which limits the available top growth, will also effects the growth of the root systems. With limited root growth, it does not take much livestock traffic to really tear up a field. So what can we do to help thicken up our forage stands that have been weakened by this harsh weather?

First estimate the forage stand to determine what restoration options you will need to do. This can be done by using a one foot square to quantify stand density. Take 10 random one-foot square samples per hayfield or pasture to provide an estimate of the average stand condition. Estimate the amount of bare ground in each square. When you have completed taking these plot counts over the field you probably came away with a feel for whether the field needs help from partial renovation or not.  If there is more than 10% bare ground you need to consider some sort of renovation.

Get The Timing Right

The seed is dependent on soil moisture to help it germinate and establish. Good seed-to-soil contact is also vital for establishing a strong seedling stand. There are several approaches to inter planting into an old pasture. A simple but effective way is to frost seed it, by broadcasting the seed over the ground when it is frozen. As the soil thaws and freezes, the seed will be worked into the ground.

It can also be planted into open pastures when soil temperatures start to get above 52°F. If the pasture sod is dense, it may need to be disked or harrowed to open areas for the seeds to contact the soil to establish.

Seed can also be planted at any point through the summer if there is enough soil moisture.

Aggressive growing pastures should not be seeded during May and June when excessive grass growth will smother any new seedlings.

How To Plant

Seed may be broadcast or drilled into recently grazed or cut pasture. A spinner spreader is good for applying low rates and will distribute clover seed up to 30 feet.

Seed broadcasted into open pastures may have to be worked into the soil with either a harrow. This is good for opening thicker sod pastures. On the other hand, a grass drill can be used and will set the seed right into the soil.

What’s The Best Clover For Cattle Pastures?

The best results come from vigorous strains of tetraploid ryegrass (Albion and Oro Verde). They are quick to establish and ideal for grazing pasturelands. We put our #1 selling Perennial Ryegrass to the test on our Iowa Research Farm. Read Utilizing Perennial Ryegrass For Cattle Pastures.

White and red clovers (Domino, Ladino, AberLasting,  Dynamite) usually give good results when sown into warm, moist soils and especially where grazing management is practiced.

Annual Clovers (Frosty, Fixation, Kentucky Pride) can be planted to improve feed quality during the summer slump and can be sown in during the spring.

Do not allow the grass in the field to grow tall and get too mature. Not only will this result in poor quality pasture or hay, but will result in the shading of the legumes. If the pastures reach 8 to 10 inches tall, either graze them down to 3 to 4 inches or mow them for hay. This will prevent the spring flush of growth from shading the clovers. A good rotational grazing plan will help preserve the clovers.

Legumes should be a component of any pasture or hay field. They help to improve animal performance and reduce the need for nitrogen. Either one of these benefits alone is enough to make legumes profitable in your pasture. With both it makes them a necessary component of any pasture.

To help you decide on the best forage for your cattle, check out our helpful chart.

One of the things that we like to investigate at our Richland, Iowa research farm is how our products perform. Being the leader in clovers and having the #1 selling Perennial Ryegrass in the area, Albion, we decided to see what kind of feed we could get from a two-way pasture mix.

I planted 2, 8’ x 10’ reps of each clover/grass mixture on August 8, 2017. The ground was dragged with a harrow and the seed was broadcast and raked in, then the seed bed was firmed up with a roller.

Seeding rates were as follows:

• Albion Perennial Ryegrass:          20 lbs/acre
• Domino White Clover:                    3 lbs/acre
• Fixation Balansa Clover:                4 lbs/acre
• Frosty Berseem Clover:               12 lbs/acre
• AberLasting Hybrid Clover:            3 lbs/acre
• Kentucky Pride Crimson Clover:  12 lbs/acre

Last Fall was unusually dry and hot, but I caught a good rain (0.7”) on 8/14/17 that got the seeds sprouted before a gully washer (5.6”) on 9/18/17. Growing conditions were good until late October when it turned cold and the growing season ended. The plots were mowed a couple times before heading into winter. The winter of 2017/2018 was fairly normal with a stretch of cold weather in early January.

We had a couple weeks of subzero temperatures around the holidays with low temperatures ranging from -9*F to -19*F. Fortunately, we had 6” of powdery snow on the farm during this cold snap. Our “spring”, if you can call it that, was unusually cold keeping soil temperatures really low.

The first 3 weeks of April featured overnight low temperatures in the teens and 20’s before finally warming up in the last week of April. Greenup came fast and furious once we broke out of the deep freeze. Once our soil temperatures got up in the 45-50* range, the grass and clovers started piling on the biomass. Survival of the Albion, FIXatioN, Domino, Kentucky Pride and AberLasting was excellent! Most of the Frosty Berseem Clover however, as expected, did not make it thru the winter.

Various clover varieties with Albion Tetraploid Perennial Ryegrass 

Albion Tetraploid Perennial Ryegrass w/FIXatioN Balansa Clover

As of May 21^st, the grass is showing vigorous re-growth as are the clovers. Temperatures have been warm with highs in the 70’s and 80’s with good moisture. These plots will be given a few more weeks to re-grow and further cuttings will be taken throughout the summer. The perennial clovers (Domino and AberLasting) will keep doing their thing and the Annual Clovers (FIXatioN & Kentucky Pride) will be allowed to flower to assess re-seeding potential. Stay tuned for updates!

For a printable, PDF version of this blog, click below.

Utilizing Clovers to Improve Feed Quality of Pastures.PDF