Amazing Graze

A publication of The Ohio State University Extension, Edward M. Vollborn, Editor
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November, 1998

Dear Friend:

Becoming a low cost producer is a rule and not a choice for those of us who want to farm. As with any rule there are probably a few exceptions, but I can't get off one hand with my count. Implementing controlled grazing is a big step in becoming a low-cost producer. Fine tuning the management of the controlled grazing system brings about a positive response. Success is attained by doing a lot of little things right.

The final part of each year is a good time to reflect on the past and plan for the future. Take time to visit with friends and relatives - Thanksgiving/Christmas Season. Bounce around some new ideas. Explore some what if's. Attend some classes (see events section).

The OSU Extension Integrated Forage Management Team consists of 25 members whose mission is to improve the profitability of Ohio farmers through efficient utilization of forages. CALL! We welcome Clif Little, OSU Extension Agent, Guernsey County as co-chair of the team.

Sincerely,

Edward M. Vollborn,

Leader, Grazing Program

OSU Extension, South District

"Management is a key factor in successful grazing because management must become more intensive as the system becomes more complex. . . ."GLCI Newsletter, September-October, 1998

SPECIAL EVENTS

November 14, 1998 (9 am - 1 pm)

Electric Fencing Field Day, Paul Higgins Farm, Linnville, Ohio

Contact: Dave Dyke, OSU Extension, Lawrence County (740-533-4322) or Ralph Crawford, NRCS, Lawrence County (740-867-4737)

November 23, 1998 (2 - 8 pm)

4th Annual Forage & Grass Management Review

OSU Extension, South District Office/OARDC Jackson, Ohio

Keynote speaker: Dr. Don Ball Auburn University

Contact Person: Ed Vollborn, Leader, Grazing Program (740-286-2177)

December 4 & 5, 1998

Buckeye Shepherd's Symposium, Columbus, Ohio

Featured speakers: Woody Lane, Oregon and Stan Potratz, Iowa

Contact Person: Jim Chakeres, Ohio Sheep Improvement Association (614-898-6060)

December 8 & 9, 1998

Ohio Dairy Conference, Ramada Inn, Olentangy Rd., Columbus, Ohio

Contact: Any OSU Extension Office

February 15-16, 1999

Great Lakes Grazing Conference, Fisher Auditorium, OARDC - Wooster, Ohio

Contact: OSU Extension, Wayne Co., Tom Noyes (330-264-8722)

February 22, 1999 (8 am - 2 pm)

Winter Grazing Schools - Logan County or

February 23 & 24, 1999 (5 - 8:15 pm)

Contact: Tammy Dobbels, OSU Extension, Logan County (937-599-4227)

March 12 & 13, 1999

Knox County Grazing School, Mt. Vernon, Ohio

Contact: Troy Cooper, OSU Extension, Knox County (740-397-0401)

March 22-29, April 5, 1999

Holmes-Wayne Counties Grazing School, Mt. Hope, Ohio

Contact: Dean Slates, OSU Extension, Holmes County (330-674-3015) or Tom Noyes, OSU Extension, Wayne County (330-264-8722)

RYEGRASS - Bob Hendershot, Grassland Management Conservationist, NRCS

Many farmers in Ohio are considering planting ryegrasses. Ryegrass is bunch grass producing high quality, palatable forage that is suitable for hay, silage and grazing. There are several different types of ryegrass, perennial, Italian annual and Westerwold annual. Then within these three groups, there are varieties that can be diploids or tetraploids. Diploids are the natural ryegrasses with 14 chromosomes, while the tetraploids have 28 chromosomes. The tetraploid trait is obtained through plant breeding. The advantage of the tetraploids is that they have a higher yield potential and better palatability.

The true annual ryegrasses are Westerwold ryegrasses. This species is what the southeastern part of the United States uses to overseed their warm season grass pastures for winter grazing. This type of grass grows rapidly producing a high yield, goes to seed and dies.

The Italian ryegrass is also considered an annual plant, but it really acts as a bi-annual as long as it can survive the winter. It will usually last two years staying vegetative the first crop and making seed the seed growing season if it survives the winter.

The perennial ryegrass tends to stay vegetative as long as it is harvested in a timely manner so that the plant does not go to seed. Perennial ryegrass can stay in a pasture for four to six years depending on management and climate. It lacks heat and drought tolerance, which has been a major limitation to its use in central and southern Ohio. Perennial ryegrass has a long growing season and requires high levels of plant nutrients. It is less winter hardy than other grasses such as orchard grass and timothy.

The newer varieties of perennial ryegrass are more winter hardy but still less than the other cool season grasses. The field selected to plant ryegrass should be well drained, have a high fertility level and water holding capacity. New seedings once rooted should be lightly grazed or mowed to encourage tillering. The stand should not get taller than ten inches or shorter than two inches. The established stand should be grazed at six inches, mowed at ten to twelve inches and leaving a three inch stubble. Ryegrass will respond to periodic nitrogen fertilizer during the growing season. Winter survival is enhanced by having a green four to five inch stubble going into winter dormancy.

"Weeds, weeds and damnable weeds! Crop farmers fight them and swear at them. The coffee shop crowd cusses them. Urban lawn owners poison them. Graziers love them." . .Jim Gerrish, "The Forage Leader," Fall 1998

FACT OR FICTION . . . DOES GRAZING LEGUMES ADVERSELY AFFECT REPRODUCTIVE PERFORMANCE OF EWES?

Estrogen content of clovers, birdsfoot trefoil and alfalfa with leaf spot under certain conditions may adversely affect reproductive performance. There is a need for additional information on amounts of estrogenic compounds necessary to affect date of conception and conception rates. Breeding may be delayed and/or conception rate reduced when ewes are pastured on legumes with a high estrogen content. In general, grass-legume mix pastures are not a problem unless the legume content is over 50 percent of the available forage. Estrogen content may be more of a problem where the legume is produced under stressed growing conditions. Apparently, the estrogenic content is reduced in legumes after frost and in late maturity. Feed quality is also important; for example, endophyte-infected fescue is not palatable to sheep and thus can reduce reproductive performance and lactation.

Thanks to Dr. Bill Pope, Professor, Department of Animal Science, OSU, for the above material from the "Sheep Production Handbook," Reproduction Chapter, 1997.

4th ANNUAL "FORAGE & GRASS MANAGEMENT REVIEW"

This years event will be held on Monday, November 23 from 2:00 - 8:00 p.m. at the Ohio State University Extension, South District Office and the Jackson Branch of OARDC. The locations are just south of Jackson, Ohio on State Route 93.

Highlights planned for the branch tour include strip grazing of small round bales and forage stockpile, forage variety plots, and cow condition evaluation. The indoor program will include a review of selected Ohio applied forage research projects as well as a keynote presentation on understanding the fescue endophyte problem and reducing stored feed needs.

Dr. Don Ball, Extension Agronomist and Professor in the Department of Agronomy and Soils, Auburn University, will be this years keynote speaker.

Dr. Ball has written hundreds of articles and pub-lications on forage crops and is senior author of Southern Forages, a book used in connection with forage courses at more than 50 colleges and universities. Dr. Ball is a past president of the American Forage and Grasslands Council and currently serves as a technical advisor to the Oregon Tall Fescue Commission.

Reservations are requested to help with planning by November 16. A registration fee of $5 per person will be charged. Call 740-286-2177 to register.

BUCKEYE SHEPHERD'S SYMPOSIUM, Columbus, Ohio

Grazing and forages is the topic of the day on the Friday (December 4) program, featuring internationally known speakers Woody Lane of Oregon and Stan Potratz of Iowa.

Woody Lane received his degree at Cornell, later became the beef and sheep specialist in Wisconsin, before moving onto Oregon to develop his consulting business in sheep and forage management. Any person interested in grazing livestock will find Woody to be educational and entertaining.

Stan Potratz spent a good deal of his life in the United Kingdom. He presently has a good size flock of ewes in Iowa, where he owns and operates Premier Supplies, a company which deals in all livestock equipment, especially fencing, chargers, and other livestock equipment which has been farm tested on his own farm in Washington, Iowa. Stan has brought in fencing and grazing technology from marketing those products in the U.S. If you are interested in grazing, forages and fencing, Stan's presentation will be very educational.

We will be repeating some of the Friday programming on Saturday (December 5) as well. Stan and Woody will be with us the entire two days to share their thoughts and expertise in the areas of sheep, ruminant, and forage management.

For a Buckeye Shepherd's Symposium Program, contact Jim Chakeres of the Ohio Sheep Improvement Association at 614-898-6060.

FORAGE ECONOMIC IMPACT

Output, employment, and personal multipliers for selected agriculture sub-sectors, Pennsylvania, 1995.

	Output	Employment	Income
Agriculture Industry Ave.	1.8	2.8	2.5
Retail Trade	1.9	1.4	1.6
Hay & Pasture	1.6	1.1	2.7

*Part of a table from Penn State "Farm Economics" newsletter, September/October 1998 (Source: IMPLAN, 1995)

DEFINITION OF SELECTED TERMS THAT RELATE TO INTAKE

Relative Feed Value (RFV): A measure of a forage's intake and energy value. It compares one forage to another according to the relationship"digestible dry matter" x dry matter intake/100 divided by a constant. RFV is expressed as percent compared to full bloom alfalfa which has an RFV of 100.

Neutral Detergent Fiber (NDF): The percentage of cell walls or other plant structural material present. This constituent is only partially digestible by animals. Lower NDF values are generally associated with higher animal intake.

Dry Matter Intake (DMI): The amount of forage an animal will eat in a given period of time. Estimates of DMI are based on results from feeding trials and the measured NDF concentration of a forage.

PASTURE MONITORING HELPS PREVENT POTENTIAL PLANT POISONINGS IN HORSES By: Kathleen Head, Veterinarian, Morris Veterinary Center, Morris, Minnesota

Is your horse pasture free of toxic plants? It is very important for horse owners to recognize potentially fatal toxic plants that may be growing in your pastures. This is especially true as we enter late summer and early fall when many of the more palatable plants have been grazed down or are very mature. Most horses will not eat poisonous plants unless other choices are not available. The following tips may help to reduce the risk of plant toxicity.

Give your horse access to good pasture and/or hay day and night. Providing adequate forage keeps the horse full and therefore is likely to try unfamiliar vegetation. Remember, most horses eat toxic plants when nothing else is available. A good rule of thumb is one acre of good pasture per horse.

Know what types of plants and forages are growing in your pasture. Walk pastures frequently and at different times during the growing season. use a toxic plant book, Internet sources or call your Extension agent for help in identifying poisonous vegetation.

Remove ornamental shrubs, plants and flower from the pasture as many are toxic. Less than a mouthful of Japanese Yew is enough to kill a horse while it is still chewing. Oleander and Foxglove are other plants that can cause death within a few minutes of ingestion. For this reason, keep pruned branches, cuttings, leaves and garden plants away from pastures.

Check on your horses frequently. Most plant toxicities do not present as acutely as those listed above. Monitor your horse for weight loss, diarrhea, depression or poor appetite.

*The above is part of an article from the Minnesota Forage Update, Fall 1998. Thanks to Dr. Mark Sulc for providing to "Amazing Graze."

DEALING WITH ENDOPHYTE INFECTED FESCUE By: Edward Vollborn, OSU Extension, Leader, Grazing Program

Understanding that poor performance is expected from livestock that graze tall fescue infected with the endophyte fungus, neotyphodium coenophialum is about all that happened for many years in addressing the fescue toxicity problem. In recent years several tall fescue varieties have been developed that are associated with no-endophyte or low-endophyte status. After three years of work at the Jackson Branch of OARDC with ten varieties, there seems to be some variety differences for yield and quality. Bring palatability and persistence into the picture and it becomes obvious that there is no "silver bullet.' The "Jackson" work will be highlighted on November 23 (see details also in this issue).

The "Journal of Animal Science" recently carried two articles written by the Virginia group including: K. E. Saker, S. B. Dennis, et al. The Virginia group included professionals in both veterinary medicine and animal science. A greenhouse and field study investigated relationships between the endophyte and copper concentrations in tall fescue. That study demonstrated that the presence of the endophyte is associated with lower "copper" concentrations in tall fescue, which may contribute to lower copper status in animals and thus contribute to the etiology of fescue toxicity. This conclusion comes very close to Ohio demonstrations that I have worked with over the past five years. Review of Ohio analytical work points to about 90% of Ohio samples testing below "NRC" requirements for cattle. A Gallia County producer network has been feeding a high copper mineral supplement for five years and see a positive response.

In another three year study, the Virginia group evaluated the immune response and copper status of yearling beef steers as a consequence of grazing infected tall fescue. That data indicated that the endophyte compromised the immune function of grazing steers and suggests a relationship with depressed copper status. Lowered immune function could lead to increase susceptibility to disease.

A complete solution to "fescue toxicity" may not be close at hand, but it appears some progress has been made and there are management decisions that can be made to minimize the problem for cattle. It also appears that the window between deficient-adequate-toxic may be very narrow for copper level in sheep. Copies of the Journal of Animal Science articles are available for your review.

*Thanks to Jeff Fisher, OSU Extension, Pike County for calling these articles to our attention.

INTEGRATED FORAGE MANAGEMENT TEAM DIRECTORY

Our Mission Is: To improve the profitability of Ohio Farmers through efficient utilization of forage.

Jim Barrett, Woody Joslin, Chris Penrose, Stephen Boyles, Clif Little, Phil Rzewnicki, Troy Cooper, John McCormick, Dave Samples, Jeff Fisher, Kenneth McClure, Stephen Schumacher, John Grimes, Jeff McCutcheon, Rich Sherman, Michael Haubner, Dave Miller, John Dean Slates, Bob Hendershot, Tom Noyes, Mark Sulc, Roger High, Ed Vollborn, Jim Hoorman, Gary Wilson.

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All educational programs and activities conducted by Ohio State University Extension are available to all potential clientele on a non- discriminatory basis without regard to race, color, creed, religion, sexual orientation, national origin, gender, age, disability or Vietnam-era veteran status.

Issued in furtherance of Cooperative Extension work, Acts of May 8 and June 30, 1914, in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Keith L. Smith, Director, Ohio State University Extension.

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Updated on November 5, 1998 by Stan Smith