Forage News by Barenbrug

Being a career agriculturist I have been trained and am programmed to always look for any production situation to produce at its absolute maximum potential. I am certain that if you are reading this you strive to achieve that same maximum potential regardless of what facet of agriculture you are involved in. Recently I heard a top beef producer describe the three “musts” of their operation, to produce a quality product.

First - Herd Genetics: We all know that we have to have the right cattle for our environment. It doesn’t matter what part of the country we operate in we have to have cattle that fit our environment, resources and management style.

Second - Grass: We have numerous choices and depending on our climate, water resources and so forth, there are numerous  good species and varieties from which to choose. What we need to remember here is that we still only have one BEST choice.

Third- Stress Free Environment: This is an educational process that all good operators take the time to understand and implement in their respective operations. This may mean changing long held practices, seeking help from outside consultants or attending seminars. However you choose to keep your cattle quiet and content will improve your bottom line.

I am not here to represent a breed association, they do a good job of representing themselves. You have a personal knowledge of what type of cattle work best for your operations. You understand the genetics that best fit what you are trying to accomplish. Now I would ask, do you know what grass species and varieties best fit what you are trying to accomplish?

When we go to a bull sale we know exactly what we are looking for, that particular genetic package or a specific confirmation type. When we look to renovate and upgrade our pastures do we look for an improved genetic package with higher yielding,  improved forage quality, more productive grass? Much like when we are buying bulls. This might seem an odd comparison, but I think we can draw some direct parallels here. If we overlook any of our three criteria for a successful operation we will always be pulled down by our lowest common denominator. I will have to leave the cattle selection and stress free handling up to you, I can however offer some solid consultation and University data on the quality grass portion of our discussion.

First let us examine some parameters. If the grass won't make high enough yields, if the grass won't persist, the grass won'twork, simple as that. This concept is fundamental to any successful grass operation.

Barenbrug USA has bred and developed a beneficial endophyte soft leaf tall fescue that will allow the high yielding, persistent grass that is paramount to a successful  operation. BarOptima+E34 was developed to replace the toxic endophyte grasses that we were forced to use in the past. These grasses had toxic endophyte that we had to live with simply because they would persist and yield under tough fescue region conditions.

BarOptima+E34 delivers a superior grazing package without harmful endophytes. No more heat stressed cattle, no more low conception rates, and all of the other problems associated with harmful endophyte. Remember-we likely don’t use the same type of bulls we used 20 or 30 years ago. We probably don’t handle our cattle the same way we did 20 years ago. So I don’t think we should be using the same grass that we grazed 20 years ago.

Replace your old Fescue pastures with BarOptima+E34, you will see the difference in your cattle  and you will see the difference in the most important part of your operation- your bottom line  

Happy grazing From the Clod Kicker