Double-stocking fescue is “low-hanging fruit” by Eric Bailey
M
ISSOURI produced 1.91 million calves in 2020, yet the University of Missouri estimates that only 500,000 calves are kept in the state after weaning. Tall fescue is the primary pasture forage for much of the state. It is a highly productive grass, producing from 2 to 5 tons of forage per acre, depending on soil type and fertilization regime. Because tall fescue is a cool-season grass, there are both spring and fall growth periods (see Figure 1). Often, farmers running cow-calf operations on tall fescue pasture systems remark that they have more grass than needed during the spring growth period. The excess growth produced in the spring is often harvested as a stored forage (hay or baleage) and fed back to the cattle during the winter. This system of forage management has real limitations and weaknesses. The equipment required to make stored forage is a barrier to entry for new producers. Quality and quantity are antagonistic in a stored forage system. Most producers seek to maximize tonnage, yet “late-cut” hay is often insufficient to meet the nutrient requirements of late-pregnancy or lactating cows. The forage utilization rate, or the pounds of feed consumed by a cow relative to the pounds of feed produced per acre, of a forage system that requires swathing, raking, baling, storing, and then feeding is much less than perceived.
idea of utilizing stocker cattle to graze the spring f lush in tall fescue pastures. We got our inspiration from the Flint Hills of Kansas and the “double stock” or “intensive early stocking” system. The Flint Hills has long been an area where stocker cattle graze high-quality warm-season tallgrass prairie forage. About 50 years ago, researchers from Kansas State began to evaluate stocker cattle systems, which until then had been 4 acres per steer for 180 days of grazing (May to October). Based on serial weight measurements, the researchers noted that twothirds of individual animal weight gain occurred in the first half (May to July) of the grazing season. This observation led to a “double stock” system where the stocking rate was boosted to 2 acres per head for 90 days, rather than 4 acres per head for 180 days. The Kansas State researchers compared traditional and “double stocking” systems for 10 years. They reported 300 pounds per head weight gain in the traditional, 180day stocker systems and 200 pounds per head weight gain in the “double stocking” systems. Yet, on a pound of gain per acre basis, “double stocking” systems gained 100 pounds of live weight per acre while the 180-day system only gained 75 pounds.
Tall fescue forage systems have historically not been held in high regard for stocker cattle. Fescue toxicosis is a syndrome found in beef cattle grazing fescue pastures with significant endophyte infection rates. The rule of thumb is a 0.1-pound reduction in daily gain for every 10% bump in endophyte infection. This is a real challenge because the endophyte, which is a fungus living in symbiosis with tall fescue, confers drought tolerance and insect resistance that greatly aids fescue in being a hardy and prolific plant. It is not difficult to find research or extension publications showing poor (0.75 to 1 pound per day) gains from stocker cattle grazing endophyte-infected tall fescue pastures. But the issue is the grazing system. We have long spoken about the “summer slump” in tall fescue pastures. Fescue goes reproductive in the late spring, with stems and seedheads emerging during this phase, followed by a period of near dormancy. Forage quality declines and the toxic compounds causing fescue toxicosis rise during this period. Most tall fescue stocker cattle work has kept cattle grazing during the summer slump.
A better way What if we “double stocked” fescue pastures in the spring, similar to the Flint Hills, and removed cattle before the worst of the summer slump occured? For the past three years, my lab group has integrated the “double stocking” concept into tall fescue (88% endophyte infection rate) pastures at the University of Missouri Southwest Research Center in Mount Vernon.
Yield distribution: growing season 1.5
Bring in stockers
ERIC BAILEY The author is an extension beef nutrition specialist with the University of MissouriColumbia.
Yield (tons/a)
An idea that my research lab has pursued in the last few years is the
Tall fescue Cow intake 1
0.5
0
Spring
Summer
Fall
32 | Hay & Forage Grower | November 2021
F5 32-33 Nov 2021 Low-Hanging Fruit.indd 2
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