It's no wonder pasture plants slack off in the middle of summer. The sun beats down for hours on end and rains are scarce. But whatever the weather, your livestock still need to eat. And there are ways to prevent or at least manage around that summer slump.
Bill Hodge knows how. The Carrollton, Ga., producer says for him it's critical because he markets grass-finished beef. That means he has to have high-quality forages year-round. To meet the need he turns to rotational grazing, which he calls "the management tool that has the greatest impact on our operation."
One of Hodge's goals is to cut down on the amount of fescue his cattle graze in the summer. In the early spring he stocks extremely heavy—10,000 to 15,000 pounds of cattle an acre. The herd's job is to eat down the cool-season perennial.
By diluting the fescue early, cattle have fewer endophyte-related health problems through the summer. Fescue, as most cattlemen know, has a toxic endophyte that affects cattle gain, milking ability and makes them less heat-tolerant.
"Then the warm-season forage plants come in. We get everything . . . common bermuda, dallisgrass, crabgrass, johnsongrass, a little bahia, white clover, bromegrass and vetch," says Hodge, who didn't plant this mix. He says the action of the cattle's hooves breaks up the ground, allowing dormant seed to germinate.
"When we moved to Carrollton in 1999, we had one farm that was 90% fescue," he says. "The last time we did a plant inventory we had 20 different species of grasses and legumes on that farm."
Hodge also uses rotational grazing to keep forages young and vegetative, and to rest pastures so cattle don't overgraze the warm-season grasses. This is especially important during periods of drought.
Another way to change the percentage of fescue in a pasture is by adjusting fertilizer applications. Auburn University Extension agronomist Don Ball says the timing of fertilizer applications is key.
"To encourage the growth of fescue, only fertilize in the spring and fall. To encourage crabgrass or common bermuda, fertilize only in the summer, around mid-June," Ball explains.
Also, add additional forages to fescue pastures to help with the summer slump.
"In the summer, fescue is at its lowest ebb in both quality and quantity," Ball says. Look to legumes—especially red clover—to offset the drop.
"Assuming the soil pH and fertility are right, you can get nitrogen fixation and excellent forage quality," says Ball.
"If there are good soil nutrients and moisture, red clover will make a surprising amount of growth in the summer. I've observed that it is not highly tolerant of drought, but it potentially has an amazingly long growing season."
Ball also says red clover will grow most places fescue will grow. Dallisgrass is another good indicator. Ball says if red clover is establishing a stand on its own then it will be particularly well adapted. The legume can be seeded in February and March.
If pastures include droughty upland soils or eroded, old crop fields, try some annual lespedeza instead of clover. "It is not a high yielder, but it provides good-quality forage, and the timing of its growth is such that it does a great job complementing tall fescue.
"It is also a pretty dependable reseeder," says Ball. Annual lespedeza can be seeded in pastures around early March.
Sometimes, though, it doesn't matter what you plant; it needs a little boost.
Monte Rouquette, an agronomist with the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station, says even warm-season perennial grasses can lose quality in the heat of summer. The combination of heat and day length triggers plants to mature and accumulate a higher percentage of lignin.
"In July, a four-week regrowth of bermudagrass is not as high a quality as a four-week regrowth in May," Rouquette says. What will help is a well-timed nitrogen fertilizer application, which allows plants to maintain a more vegetative state of growth.
On his Thomas, Okla., grass farm, retired agronomist R.L. Dalrymple uses a combination of timed fertilization, stockpiling and a variety of forages to beat the summer slump.
"We fertilize in the spring, and that leaves us a volume to carry over for summer and into fall," he says. "We know by experience what our pastures will carry. We stock for the norm.
"Bermudagrass and bluestem stockpile well here," he adds. "They can't maintain their quality, but volume and medium quality are better than no volume."
Dalrymple also saves the native forages from his prairieland to boost summer grazing. "We don't graze our true prairie very much in the spring. We might pass through it once, but then we reserve it for summer and fall when our other grasses are used and need recovery."
Dalrymple uses crabgrass for commercial seed production and hay. But when he still worked at the Noble Foundation, he used the warm-season annual to boost the quality and quantity of summer grazing. "It stockpiles very well for midsummer and fall use, and retains its quality much better than bermudagrass and bluestem, even into early winter," Dalrymple adds.