Cattle producers are consistently looking for ways to stretch their dollars and improve production practices. Spring is an ideal time to evaluate return on investment when it comes to forage potential. The last thing producers want to do is waste good fertilizer on bad weeds.
By spring, Andrew McCrea of McCrea Family Farms identifies what his pastures need. To boost soil fertility, he works with his retailer to apply fertilizer and DuraCor® herbicide together in one pass with UltiGraz℠ Pasture Weed & Feed. Combining fertilizer with the herbicide saves producers time with one pass over the ground and gives them the advantage of both technologies. Lush grass with fewer weeds means more cattle per acre, less supplemental feed, and more desirable forage on grazing and haying acres.
In pastures with annual lespedeza, he turns to NovaGraz™ herbicide to keep weeds at bay. NovaGraz enables producers to preserve white clover and annual lespedeza while providing enhanced broadleaf weed control, reaping the benefits of added legumes in pastures while improving forage quality. McCrea evaluates the forage plan on his operation northeast of St. Joseph, Missouri, following a productive grazing season.
“We saw such good results with NovaGraz last season and how it allowed the annual lespedeza to grow and thrive. We’re going to sow some annual lespedeza in pastures where we don’t have any currently, just because we think that the NovaGraz was good for us and it allows us to have more diversity in the pasture,” McCrea said.
Scott Flynn, Ph.D., global biology leader for Pasture and Land Management at Corteva Agriscience, outlines the benefits of adding multiple types of legumes for forage diversity in pastures. The added protein benefit for livestock is very appealing.
“White clover is really nice to introduce into these cool season grass pastures,” Flynn said. “It is tolerant to lower soil pHs and poor fertility, so it is a little more forgiving than many other legumes. Now, annual lespedeza is the same, but also having white clover in there is going to help you out with your nutritional needs for your cattle. It’s high in crude protein. It’s a very leafy, soft-stem plant. And so having a little more diversity into a pasture is really a good thing.”
Pasture management isn’t one-size-fits-all. McCrea evaluates his fields often and uses results from soil sampling to keep improving forage production.
“Over time, we’ve been able to manage the fertility of the pastures well.,” McCrea said. “Sometimes I feel like we’ve got so far to go, but we look back and say, ‘Well, we have accomplished a lot too.’”
When it comes to spring pasture management, insight reigns. Don’t guess-test. Maximize the pounds of usable, nutritional forage in your fields and don’t feed the weeds.
Keep reading to learn more about Andrew McCrea’s experience and get more spring pasture management tips at Corteva.us/McCreaSpring26.
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