adding fescue to pasture ?

I have had 3 kinds of clover, along with preanial rye grass, orchard grass, some timothy, and of course the native cheat grass, in my 8 acres of pasture. The summer drought came along, and in spite of feeding hay early, the cows turned the pasture into a brown golfcourse. No other place to put the cows, other than in the yard. The fescue, that is in the chicken yard, held up real well, and stayed green, all the way thru the dry spell, which ain't over yet. If I sow fescue over the existing grasses, will the cows eat it? Will the fescue crowd out the other grasses, and clover?, or will I end up with a drought proof green pasture that is no good to me? That is if the rains ever come, and I can salvage some of the existing roots!

You can not pay me to plant fescue no matter what. It is a grass few want as hay and can take over a field in just a few years. I have been fighting it for 30 plus years and slowly I have it down to maybe 20% of my pasture but even then few want it in hay if they know you have it.

Only plant fescue if you do not want anything else in the field.
It is great for "along highways" and "rough yards" , but not much else. Just my opinion.

dont do it, planted it one time here on the place, cattle will not eat it if it starts to get taller an is hard on preg cows raises their body temp, was told by the vet.
trying to get rid of it here.
johndeeregene

Fescue is a low quality forage. So even if you have a lot of it it will not have the nutrient valve of the other forages. Plus there are problems with a fungus that grow in fescue.

" An endophyte is a plant which grows within another plant, in this case a fungus growing within the fescue plant. This fungus, acremonium coenophialum, has been shown to be associated with the occurrence of alkaloids in this species. These alkaloids are toxins that relate to summer slump syndrome and fescue toxicosis. Research has shown that cattle birth weights and weaning weights will be effected negatively with infected fescue hay."

Then to add insult to injury the fescue will choke out the better forages. So I would never knowing sow it for a pasture. Your problem this summer was lack of water not choice of forages. We do not have that happen that often. So I would rather have good forages most of the time with the occasional bad time rather than have poor forages all of the time.

Fescue is the main reason Mo. is 2nd beef producing state in the US and Polk county is no. 1 beef county in Mo. Don"t listen to this BS. Nuff said.

I'd try Alfalfa maybe; but Fescue... no thank you. Alfalfa's roots go deep in the soil.

My dad used to say "Takes a good fence to make a cow eat fescue".
Led

There is endophyte free fescue.....

We DO NOT want Fescue in our hay that we feed Alpacas. NorthWest US is known for High levels of Fescue. Lawn grass is know for high levels of fescue we do not let animals graze it, nor put clippings in the compost piles.

In my part of the country, fescus is THE base pasture grass for beef cattle; everything else is just an 'add-on' and requires considerable management to keep it alive. Fescue is still here when everything else has dried up (it will) and died.

Well you have several FACTS wrong here. Missouri may be the second calf producing state but it is not in the top five in total cattle. The reason Missouri has so many brood cows is that much of the state is just fit for pasture. Thats is just how the states land lays. IF that same pasture had some other grass than fescue than you would get even more beef per acre. Been proven in many feed trials. Plus the fescus will cause fertility problems in dry times.


TEN LARGEST STATES--2008

Number Head (in millions) % of U.S.

1. Texas ----------13.8------- 14.3%
2. Kansas ---------6.7 --------6.9
3. Nebraska ------6.6 --------6.8
4. California ------5.5 --------5.6
5. Oklahoma -----5.4 --------5.6
6. Missouri -------4.3 --------4.5
7. Iowa -----------4.0 --------4.1
8. South Dakota 3.7 --------3.8
9. Wisconsin -----3.4 --------3.5
10. Colorado -----2.8-------- 2.8

Ralph,
I too found that red creaping fescue survived in my gravel pit, sand and gravel and no rain. Went to Rural King to buy grass seed for yard. They had a blend of ky blue grass, red fescue, perniall rye and annual rye, about 25% of each, $40 for 25#. They also have a 50# bag of tall fescue for $44.

Oct 4 they had a 15% off rebate and I bought 175# of the blend and 50# of tall fescue. Plan to snow seed about an acre of yard some time in December. Got the ground disked up. Going to wait and disk again.

Google fescue, some say it has little value as a food source, but it will grow in very poor conditions.

I don't plan to feed anything, I just want a nice looking yard if we go throught another dry summer.

George

ive run a lot of cattle on fescue,but it does have a few problems.first while it survives drought well once established,it take a lot of water to get established around here.mostly its grown in the eastern side of the state with way more rainfall. second and sometimes a real problem ,it crowds out native grasses alot of times.third and why a lot of folks dont like it,it has a tendency to lay down and form a dense thatch.youve got to either graze it pretty well off,or go in and work it with a cultivator or something every three or four years to keep it upright and growing. if your cutting a placefor hay two or three times a year it does ok,and you can stretch your reworking times way out. IN MY experience with it,cattle will eat all the native grasses or clovers out first,so you eventually lose them.Like i say ive used lot of it and for a time it was my main hay crop,but it does have problems.one MAJOR thing i didnt like was very few wildlife spiecies use it,quail and ground nesting birds wont use it,simply because they cant move through it.same with rabbits .folks have told me its toxic to deer,but i cant verify that,but i do know i dont see them on it much other than passing through. it does however if left to thatch make a perfect place for rats and rodents,so dont plant it close to your house or barns,unless you can maintain it.MY opinion of course.

One word for you. WRONG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Missouri has poor ground in most of it so fescue is one of the few things that will grow in the rock and clay we have. Fescue is known to cause many problems with cows producing milk and also known to cause grass tetna (sp) Been fighting the stuff for 32 years and have slowly got my pasture down to less then 50% fescue

I,m kinda thinking this is another one of those "Depending on whou your are asking questions" This part of the country Tenn & Ky it is pretty much the stapel of most pastures. Planting he is a mix 50 % fescue, 25% orchard grass & 25 % clover. Must not bee too much wrong with it ,those folks in Texas have really been paying for thsoe loads..You know the old saying sure beats a snowball..

You need to talk to your local seed dealers and they can advise you about your needs as they sure know more about your soil than we do here.

THANKS GUYS! I guess that I will stay with the Devil that I know, rather than the Devil I don't know. The preponderence of evidence, says to stay away from fescue, and keep the sprinklers running, also divide the pasture in sections for managed grazing. I will have to dig more pipe ditches, and add hydrants. It sure is better to ask questions, than to make irevocable mistakes!

Our llamas won't even eat it, but they love poison ivy, have some big patches of it in the pastures that I'd like to get rid of. Those are the only places I have to mow through the year.