Warm-Season Grasses of Summer: A Cattle Farmer's Secret to Healthy Herds and Prosperous Pastures
Warm-season grasses can be utilized during the summer months to fill gaps in grazing or haying. However, each warm season has its benefits within the warm season months. Here's how you can harness the power of Mojo Crabgrass, Moxie Teff Grass, and Grit Bermudagrass to ensure your cattle graze contently all summer and into the fruitful months of early fall.
Unleashing Mojo Crabgrass: The Summer Dynamo
Mojo crabgrass can be planted as a straight stand or by interseeding into existing pastures. When seeded as a straight stand, where a field has been dedicated for the use of an annual planting, ground prep is recommended by discing, harrowing, and rolling to firm the prepared seed bed.
This will result in a straight stand of Mojo that can be utilized for grazing or haying. Inter-seeding into existing pastures to increase production is another way to utilize Mojo, by lightly harrowing the existing pasture and then applying Mojo by broadcasting or no-till drill. Mojo produces excellent average daily gains, and with the added benefit of “Impact” a main component of Mojo that is 10-14 days later maturing, the producer will benefit from longer grazing days and a greater chance for a later cutting of hay.
Moxie Teff Grass: The Seasonal Savior in the Hay Kingdom
Utilizing Moxie teff grass, a warm-season annual that braves the high temperatures, isn't just any grass; it's the champion of hay production in the scorching summer months. Its capacity for multiple cuttings of dry hay is the stuff of dreams for hay aficionados.
Preparing for a Moxie Teff bout is straightforward – a well-prepared seedbed is all it craves. And while it might be tempting to enlist it for grazing, Moxie's shallow roots indicate it's best left ungrazed. Its true value shines through as a drought-tolerant grass, often stepping in as the emergency crop when the forage cosmos aligns against you.
But when it's showtime, Moxie delivers. Each cutting is bountiful, its quality superior, and its ability to stand tall an inspiring lesson in resilience. For cattle farmers who depend on a steady hay supply to nurture their herds, Moxie Teff is the steadfast companion.
Grit Bermudagrass: Standing the Test of Time and Seasons
Bermudagrass is a warm-season perennial grass that is widely used in the southern regions of the US. If planted in the late spring to early summer and with adequate rain, the producer can obtain a good stand by the middle of the summer.
Once the Bermuda is established the end user will benefit from this perennial for many years to come. Bermuda stands up well to grazing pressure and has high traffic tolerance. Bermuda will meet the nutrient requirement for many livestock. Hay production is a large part of the utilization of Bermuda, for feeding in the winter months. The stockpiling and the utilization of Bermuda at the end of the summer and early fall allows for early fall grazing.
This can be considered a dry-standing forage! Hold off on grazing the Bermuda until the first killing freeze. This freeze will push the Bermuda into dormancy and the livestock will clean it up. Strip grazing dry-standing Bermuda allows for more efficiency when grazing. Barenbrug USA has developed a new blend of Bermudas, Grit that will work to add profit and utilization to the producer’s operation.
