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Review: Grazing stockpiled bermudagrass as an alternative to feeding harvested forage^1,2,

Oklahoma State University, Stillwater 74078

^3. Correspondence: 201 Anim. Sci. Bldg. (phone: (405)744-9285; fax: (405)744-7390; E-mail: dlalman{at}okstate.edu).

Abstract

A large proportion of cow-calf enterprise costs are associated with hay feeding during late fall and early winter. Studies from different parts of the United States have demonstrated that management practices that extend grazing and reduce hay feeding improve cow-calf enterprise profitability. Bermudagrass has potential in many parts of the southern United States to be used in late summer stockpiling and fall/winter grazing programs. Fall bermudagrass forage accumulation is sensitive to forage variety, precipitation, temperature, nitrogen fertilization, and duration of the stockpiling period. Nitrogen fertilization increases crude protein concentration of stockpiled bermudagrass, and most studies indicate that fertilized forage maintains adequate crude protein concentration through February to sustain gestating beef cows. Dry matter digestibility during fall and winter is highly dependent on stage of maturity at the onset of dormancy. Digestibility generally declines through the winter months, and the extent and rate of this decline is highly dependent on environmental effects. Costs associated with a 100-d wintering period were evaluated for three systems: grazing stockpiled bermudagrass, grazing native tall grass prairie, and hay feeding. Pasture and feed costs associated with the stockpiled bermudagrass and tall grass prairie grazing systems were similar and averaged 57% of costs associated with hay feeding. The efficacy of a stockpiled bermudagrass grazing system seems to be most dependent on hay cost, fall forage production, and harvest efficiency, within a given year.

^1. Approved by the Director of the Oklahoma Agric. Exp. Sta.

^2. Joint Symposium of Agronomy, Animal Sciences and Dairy Sciences: Reducing Input Costs for Livestock Production Systems, January 31, 2000, Lexington, KY.

^4. Present address: Noble Foundation, Inc. P.O. Box 2180 2510 Sam Noble Parkway, Ardmore, OK 73402.