Grazing to finish cattle requires similar, if not higher quality nutrition, as in a feedlot. For cattle to grade “Choice”, they require an unending supply of digestible, high energy feed. The foundation of any grazing system of this nature is a cool season grass, legume, and forb pasture.
With hot, wet weather across the southern US, warm season plants have historically been a standby. They supply a bulk of feed and persistence, year after year. However, a C4, or warm season pasture, cannot supply the energy requirement needed to finish beef in a grass-fed system during the colder growing season.
Until recently, cool season pastures have not persisted on the limited irrigation or dryland of the Southern Plains or Pacific Southwest. PGG Seeds introduces a portfolio of endophyte free, cool season plant material suited for grazing-to-finish systems.
Mediterranean-type grasses such as Gala Grazing Brome, Flecha Tall Fescue and Atom Prairie Grass are adapted to summer drought and actively grow during winter. They are reliable, high-quality grasses for pasture or grassland. This is a profitable alternative to graze-out wheat which must be replanted annually.
As our understanding of soil continues to grow, we recognize the value of using a green growing plant with living roots to regenerate degraded grazing lands.
Wade Redger, cowman and direct marketer of his own grass-fed beef in Plains, Kansas, consistently looks to PGG Seeds’ certified varieties for his forage solutions. “I need high quality forage of some kind all the time to supply great beef to my customers,” remarks Redger. “I think Gala, Atom, and Choice Chicory are going to do this for me. We are already using the [PGG] Hunter Leaf Turnip in winter and summer break crops. I rely on the grasses as a base for my pasture system.”
Atom Prairie Grass and Gala Grazing Brome give Wade the base he needs to grow calves that thrive, from conception to harvest as yearlings. This year he’s added Choice Chicory, a high energy forage herb.
Using his experience as a farmer and a stockman, Ray Kallenbach of southwest Kansas lightly disked and planted a winter crop into an irrigated pivot of Bermuda. He drilled Atom Prairie Grass and oats one direction and a mix of Winfred Brassica, Tonic Plantain and Choice Chicory with alfalfa the other direction. He plans to wean 300 calves onto this crop on November 1 for a month. In March, he’ll bring back 100 grass-fed yearlings.
In Oklahoma, farmer Roger Biehler timed planting and establishment with weather and weed pressure, seeding Gala Grazing Brome in March of 2019. Biehler noted that graze-out wheat in the current ag economy is a losing proposition due to the cost of
planting annually. He is looking for tame grasses that are easy to plant and establish. His next step is to create water points and subdivide into large, set stock pastures.
We continue to see success with these cool season cultivars across the Southern Plains to the Pacific Southwest US, filling the forage gap in grass-fed operations.
PGG Seeds works closely with farmers and distributors. On-farm visits are customary and essential for providing expertise on forage and pasture systems. This approach ensures the best match of seed from cultivar to farm system.
For more information contact US Marketing Agronomist John Snider at 541-510-5000 or at john@pggseeds.us
More information on featured products:
Gala Grazing Brome
Flecha Tall Fescue
Atom Prairie Grass
Choice Chicory
Tonic Plantain
Winfred Brassica
History of the Southern Plains region:
About:
PGG Seeds markets a wide range of proprietary forage and pasture products through its US distributor, Ioka Marketing, LLC.
PGG Seeds is a US marketing entity of PGG Wrightson Seeds Limited. PGG Wrightson Seeds is a world leader in the breeding, producing, and marketing of proprietary pasture and forage crop seeds to the agricultural industry.
Ioka Marketing, LLC is the seed sales division of Ioka Farms, Inc., a sixth-generation farm located in Oregon that specializes in grass and forage seed production. Ioka Marketing offers logistics, seed treatment, and blending services for the entire PGG Seeds’ portfolio of products in a partnership since 2005. Ioka Farms Inc. aids in supply by locally producing select PGG Seeds cultivars for the market.
