ABSTRACT
Cool-season annual forages may supply seasonal forage for grazing and reduce needs
for stored forages and concentrate supplements for beef cattle producers in the southeastern
United States. Opportunity exists to use small grains that vary in their individual
growth distribution to extend grazing during the fall–winter–early spring seasons.
Small grains adapted to the region include cereal rye (Secale cereale L.), wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), oats (Avena sativa L.), and triticale (Triticosecale Wittm.). These species have a bimodal forage DM production trait during the autumn
and early winter months and can be grown in monocultures or mixtures. Fall forage
production potential of these species has been primarily dependent on planting method,
seeding date, soil fertility or fertilization, and variety selection. Small grain
varieties may also be grown in combination with annual ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum Lam.), clovers, or both to extend the seasons of grazing for fall or winter-calving
cows or stockers. Annual ryegrass and legumes in the Southeast include cold-tolerant
and rust-resistant diploid and tetraploid varieties of ryegrass, and adapted true
clover (Trifolium sp.) varieties. Autumn-planted ryegrass or clovers including crimson (Trifolium incarnatum L.), arrowleaf (Trifolium vesiculosum Savi), ball (Trifolium nigrescens Viv.), and red clover (Trifolium pratense L.) provide minimal to nonexistent forage mass for grazing during the fall. Naturally
reseeding ryegrass or clovers may provide earlier forage mass compared with small
grains; however, DM is usually not adequate for stocking until late-January to mid-February,
and it extends through May. Tetraploid varieties of ryegrass, when seeded into a prepared
seedbed, can provide adequate forage mass for fall grazing similar to small grains.
Earliness of forage mass for stocking among clovers ranges from crimson (earliest)
to arrowleaf and ball (mid to late) to white and red (late to early summer). These
cool-season forage systems provide suckling calf ADG that may approach or exceed 1.5
kg/d and stocker cattle ADG of more than 1 kg/d. Management strategies for sustainable
cow-calf production include the strategic use of cool-season forages, assessment of
fertilization demands and timing, and assessment of stocking rate to optimize forage
utilization and desired animal performance.
Key words
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Article info
Publication history
Accepted:
March 14,
2018
Received:
December 15,
2017
Footnotes
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
Identification
Copyright
© 2018 American Registry of Professional Animal Scientists. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
