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Sudangrass For Summer Grazing
Sudangrass can be a productive option for summer grazing this year. Nebraska Extension Beef Systems Specialist Mary Drewnoski says sudangrass thrives in warm weather, regrows quickly after grazing, and can provide quality forage for cattle during the summer months.
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[Brad Mills, Program Host]
Nebraska Extension Almanac. Extension specialist Mary Dronowski says sedan grass can be a great option for summer grazing. She says it stands up well due to its tendency for better regrowth after grazing, and it thrives during the hot summer months.
[Mary Drewnoski, Nebraska Extension Beef Specialist]
Let's talk a little bit about sedan grass itself.
So we said need summer grazing.
And sedan grass is a warm season, and it's actually one of the parents of probably the warm season grass annual grass that most people are familiar with, sorghum sedan, right?
This is different, just to be clear.
It's actually one of the things that sorghum sedan is the cross of.
So it's sorghum and then sedan grasses crossed to get sorghum sedan.
So that's important because sedan grass, it looks a lot like sorghum sedan, but it has some differences that is really useful from the grazing perspective.
And one of those is that it yields a little less if you're trying to just ton it out for hay, but it regrows better after grazing.
So on a grazing situation, we typically see actually a little bit more grazing from it than sorghum sedan.
And there's kind of a little bit of a bonus in that it's lower prussic acid.
So it has a little bit less risk when you're grazing those smaller plants.
So we still tell people to wait till it's 15 inches before you turn out, and there are actually varieties that are even lower risk versus others.
And so the one I've been using is Piper.
It's from the 70s people.
So this is nothing new.
But Piper, uh, sedan grass does a really nice job of, of regrowing after grazing, and even when the cattle step on it, it seems to be able to recover, you can sometimes have stems that almost look shattered and yet they're still growing and being productive, which is pretty cool.
So we've been actually putting incident grass after rye.
And so we've been grazing rye until, well, until right now, until the end of May, and then we'll kill the rye out and we'll plant sedan grass.
So just get an idea of the timing.
We're kind of planting it a little bit later, then maybe some people would because we're trying to get the most used out of our winter annual.
So we're planning it now, and then it's usually ready to graze at 30 to 40 days.
Sometimes, actually 40 days is too long.
It gets going and it can grow really, really fast.
So sometimes at 40 days it's 5 foot tall.
Just to tell you.
But what we've been doing is we actually been grazing it both with uh, cow calf pears and with stalker calves.
So both of those classes of cattle, we grazed on the rye 1st and then we took them off.
We took them over to perennial pastures.
So in our case, smooth broom grass, let them graze for that month to 40 days and then came back to our annual field.
So, with the sedan grass.
Honestly, with all annuals, I suggest you rotationally grace.
I realize it's a lot of work to put up fences in a crop field, but I think it is more than worth it to go ahead and divide it up into quarters and and be able to rotationally grace because your whole goal with annuals is to keep them vegetative.
So keep them young and keep them growing quickly and keep them very high quality.
And you can do it, and cattle will perform really well.
In fact, we did peak lactation cows who we were breeding out on the sedan grass, and they maintained condition, and their cabs gained actually £2.5 a day.
So they had, like, they were started out about 70 days of age.
And we went um, for uh, about 70 days uh, on the grazing.
And so those cabs gained actually about £4 more than calves who were actually on cows out on our perennial pasture.
So the quality is really good.
The stalker calves are heavier when they went out.
Um, they were actually 880 pounds at turnout, I know, crazy.
So, turnout's really July 1st time frame, just to have everybody on the same page, and they gained about one. £6 a day.
So really good quality stuff
[Brad Mills, Program Host]
Today's program was a portion of an interview taken from a recent beef watch podcast offered by Nebraska extension to hear the entire interview go to beef.unl.edu or download from Apple Podcasts. For Nebraska Extension Almanac, I'm Brad Mills.
Nebraska Extension Almanac is a production of IANR media and Nebraska Extension. For more information on how your university is serving Nebraskans, Go to extension.unl.edu.
UNL Plant and Pest Diagnostic Clinic
If disease or insects are damaging your crops or home landscape plants the University of Nebraska has a resource that can help. Nebraska Extension Plant Diagnostician Kyle Broderick says the UNL Plant and Pest Diagnostic Clinic can identify pests and plant problems and help producers and homeowners find management solutions.
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[Brad Mills, Program Host]
Nebraska extension almanac. The University of Nebraska's plant and pest diagnostic clinic provides diagnostic support for all sorts of agricultural and horticultural plants. Extension plant diagnostician, Kyle Broderick says, they receive numerous samples of anything from corn to trees to turf.
[Kyle Broderick, Nebraska Extension Plant Diagnostician]
So the plant and pest diagnostic clinic is available to all producers of plants, not only in the state of Nebraska, but also across the entire United States and the region.
We accept all sorts of plant samples, corn, soybeans, field peas, trees, turf, random mushrooms, flowers.
You name it as long as it's not a mammal?
Normally those things come to us.
We also do insect ID.
We, um, weed and plant ID as well.
And in addition to it, providing those that identification, we also try to provide as accurate and up to date management recommendations as we can.
We are a fee-based clinic, um, but we try to um, try to make things as cheap as we can for for the clientele.
Right now, our standard fee is $20 per sample.
And for most producers, that is all that ends up being charged.
Um, if we, if there is additional testing that needs to be done, maybe some virus testing or, it's a, uh, something that we really don't see very often.
Then there may be additional fees associated with that.
But for the most part, that $20 fee tends to cover it all.
And really, how can producers utilize us?
By sending us samples?
You know, there are a lot of things that look similar in the field, and we all have a computer in our pocket, and we can Google anything.
And find pictures that look similar to what we're seeing in the field.
But until you really get something underneath a microscope, it can be really difficult to tell.
Is this bacterial?
Is this fungal?
If it is fungal, which fungus is it?
Because again, not knowing what pathogen you're actually attacking or trying to control, you're going to have a really hard time selecting the right, um, the right chemistries to control that.
Our turnaround time, it's very dependent on the time of year.
Right now, it's not, um, we're not having, not having a ton of samples come in, but the samples that are coming in.
Again, a lot of those seedling diseases, they require us to actually culture the, that pathogen out, to get it to grow onto a plate, and sometimes that can take upwards of upwards of 5 to 6 days.
And so most samples we have have turned around within 4 to 54 to 5 business days, but on occasion, there will be, um, it will take longer than that.
But I do try to communicate that as much as possible.
So one of the best things is to make sure that you have a Ziploc bag, or some sort of plastic, seal, sealable bag.
We do not want our samples to dry out.
So, um, please don't send in a sample like you would for a tissue analysis, we really don't want them in a, in a paper, um, in a paper bag that will dry out because at, in the 3 to 4 days that it may take for that sample to go through the mail to get to me.
It can change quite a bit in that time.
If you keep it in a plastic bag with a dry paper towel, or if not, if you don't have a paper towel, even just a clean piece of newspaper or any paper, really, to put in there to help absorb any of that moisture really, really helps.
Other thing that is really bad to do.
You collect this sample, you throw it in your truck, and then you forget about it in the cab for a couple of days.
And not only will whatever fungus is causing the problem be growing, but every other fungus that's on this plant is going to start growing as well, and it's going to be a moldy mess, and by the time I get it, I might have to ask you to submit another sample.
[Brad Mills, Program Host]
For Nebraska, extension, almanac, I'm Brad Mills. Nebraska Extension Almanac is a production of IANR Media and Nebraska Extension. For more information on how your university is serving Nebraskans, go to extension.unl.edu.
Stable Flies on Pastured Cattle
Stable flies are creating problems for pastured cattle across Nebraska. Nebraska Extension Entomologist Dave Boxler says stable flies can reduce cattle weight gain and performance and encourages producers to manage manure, hay waste, and other moist organic matter to help control fly populations in their herds.
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[Brad Mills, Program Host]
Nebraska Extension Almanac. Tail flicking, skin twitching, and other defensive behaviors by pastured animals could mean an infestation of stable flies. Extension educator Dave Boxler, talks about prevention and control of stable flies on today's almanac.
[Dave Boxler, Nebraska Extension Educator]
Well, historically, they've been with us for a number of years, actually 100s of years. But were primarily affecting Feedlot and dairy cattle up until the early 1980s.
And there was a change in how we handled, hey, that occurred in the early 19 Hades, where we went to a round bale, and consequently created a round bale feeder also.
And it's interesting because when cattle are fed, especially in overwintering sites.
There's a lot of spillage of this material to the outside that never gets consumed because it gets trampled on by cattle and urinated on, defecated on, and you have actually the perfect ingredients for stable fly larval production.
The limiting factor when it comes to stable fly larval development is moisture.
And earlier this year in Nebraska, we were very short of moisture.
Well, in the last 7 to 10 days, that has certainly changed across the state.
And I initially thought that we weren't going to see a major issue this year with the pastured cattle, but that's all changed based on the last weather event that we've had.
So we have the moisture in place.
So we have all the ingredients available for stable flies.
The stable fly is a blood feeding fly, both male and female of the species take a blood meal, and usually it's twice a day.
So during that process, the blood meal usually takes anywhere from 3 to 5 minutes to complete.
So the fly is very persistent in getting that blood mill taken.
Once it's completed its feeding, it will fly away off of the amyl. To an area where it's usually in the shade where it can digest that blood.
So it's on the animal and then off the animal, which makes it difficult for treating or trying to control the population on the animal.
You are typical fly methodology or treatments that we've used for hornfly, do not necessarily work that effectively against the stable fly because of its behavior out in the pasture settings.
So, there are some traps available that are fairly effective, but it does take some effort to get them placed safely.
Usually we like to place them close to where the cattle will come to water.
But they do have to be protected from the animals because the animals are very curious and will cause some physical damage to it.
There are 2 traps available.
Uh, one is the star bar bite free trap, sold by central life sciences.
And the other is a nightstick trap that is sold by a company called Bug Jammer.
And they both will attract stable flies and capture them.
We've also looked at spray applications to reduce the populations on the cattle.
A number of years ago, I did a study using a misblower type sprayer that is very commonly used in the dairy and the feedlot industry.
That's pretty effective in that setting.
But we decided to see how effective we could manage stable fly numbers on pastured cattle, making those applications.
And this is where you actually take the sprayer in a pickup or on a flatbed out into the pasture and spray the cattle in the pasture.
And this was a 3 year study and we saw a significant reduction in fly numbers between the untreated group and the treated group.
So that is a methodology that has been picked up by a number of producers in Nebraska.
It's labor intensive, as with a lot of applications, and there's a bit of investment on the monetary side.
[Brad Mills, Program Host]
For Nebraska Extension Almanac, I'm Brad Mills. Nebraska Extension Almanac is a production of IANR media, and Nebraska Extension. For more information on how your university is serving Nebraskans, go to extension.unl.edu.
The Importance of Mulch
Organic mulch is key to having a healthy landscape and garden. University of Nebraska – Lincoln Director of Landscape Operations Jeff Culbertson talks about the different types of mulch and why they are beneficial to home plants and soil.
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[Brad Mills, Program Host]
Nebraska Extension Almanac. Using organic molts around your trees, shrubs, ornamentals, and your vegetable garden has several benefits.Most importantly, mulch helps retain moisture in the soil around your plantings, and can help you conserve water. Organic mulch also breaks down over time, adding valuable organic matter and nutrients to the soil. It also provides effective weed control around your plants. UNL director for landscape operations. Jeff Culbertson says, mulch is an important component of your home landscape, and talks about the various kinds of mulch.
[Jeff Culbertson, UNL Director of Landscape Services]
What kind of mulch should I use?
Where should I use it, how much should I use?
And you know, sometimes it kind of depends on the situation.
For most of our plants on campus or at your home.
We're gonna want to use an organic mulch.
In particular, we use a mixed hardwood mulch that we generate here on campus, the same sort of thing you can buy at your local nursery.
And so we're going to want to use two to three inches of an organic mulch around plants like this around your trees and shrubs, We try to mulch as large a area as possible, that seems reasonable.
And the mulch, as you put down the mulch, it does a few things.
It helps retain moisture in the soil, so the soil moisture, there's less fluctuation, it's more evenly moist.
It helps break down over time and help add some micronutrients to the soil, and just improve the biology, the microbiome of that area.
So microorganisms and all the good things that happen as mulch breaks down and helps the plants in the root zones.
But you can think about a few other things.
You know, there's other organic bulches you can use.
There's corn cob mulch out there.
There's other plant, kind of waste mulches that are out there.
I've seen cotton seed holes.
There's cocoa bean mold.
So there's a lot of different things you could use that, again, are organic bulch that'll provide that same sort of thing.
And you might like the texture's a little differently, depending on the plants you're using or the location you're using around your home.
But again, two to three inches is probably something you're going to want to reapply annually, keep an eye on it.
You're not gonna want it to get too thick.
We don't want it too thick, because it also create kind of a dry zone, as well.
So that's the other thing that you want to watch, is make sure that the moisture is getting through the mulch to the plants.
Now, there are some other mulches.
We'll use that word to describe things like river rock, or different kinds of rock mulches that are out there, there's rubber, pelletized mulches you may have seen.
So there's some other mulches that you can use.
And typically, I would suggest you use those in areas where really plants are not the emphasis of that particular part of your landscape.
Many times, you're going to want to make sure you put down some sort of fabric, some sort of landscape fabric, as a barrier to keep that mulch from mixing in with the soil.
And you'll use those in areas, maybe if you have a area in your basement that's getting wet.
You want to protect that and stop the water from penetrating through there.
You'll put down the fabric, put down the inorganic mulch, the rock, or rubber, or whatever it is, to help protect those areas.
But again, you might want to use the inorganic mulches in places where we don't have plants, and we want to use an organic mulch where we have plants.
[Brad Mills, Program Host]
Inorganic mulch has its place, as it can help keep water from your foundation, provide a weed barrier and difficult to reach places, or it can be part of a design landscape. But as Jeff said, rock or rubber pellet mold shouldn't be used around plants, is they have a tendency to hold heat and potentially damage your plants. Organic mulch contributes to your plants health by conserving water, having soil nutrients and keeping the weeds down. For Nebraska extension almanac, I'm Brad Mills. Nebraska Extension Almanac is a production of IANR media and Nebraska Extension. For more information on how your university is serving Nebraskans, go to extension.unl.edu.
Need Summer Grazing? Sudangrass Might Be Worth a Try
For producers needing reliable warm-season grazing, sudangrass might just be worth a second look. Nebraska Extension Beef Systems Specialist Mary Drewnoski says sudangrass thrives in hot weather, regrows quickly after grazing, and can offer producers a flexible alternative to perennial grazing options.
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[Brad Mills, Program Host]
Nebraska Extension Almanac. On a previous almanac program, extension specialist Mary Dornowski talked about some of the benefits of grazing summer annual Sudan grass. On today's program, shall detail some of the advantages and disadvantages of grazing annuals versus perennials.
[Mary Drewnowski, Nebraska Beef Specialist]
On grazing all annuals.
Uh, when you think it's ready or when you think it's going to be ready, say in a few days, it's ready.
Oh, that's the 1st one, like, don't delay, just go.
The other one is you typically with perennials, right?
You really need to be thinking about, what am I doing to my root reserves?
Am I ensuring that that plant is going to be be able to make it and is going to maintain?
And so, you know, you want to be conservative about how much you take off?
They talk about take half, leave, half.
Throw all that out the window with annuals.
These guys are a little bit different in terms of what they're thinking about, right?
I mean, if you want to say plants think.
So a perennial, it wants to survive, right?
And then it wants to reproduce, if it can.
Annuals are going to go to sea.
That is their whole job, right?
And so one of our biggest challenges is that the quality declines as the plant matures and annuals want to mature rapidly.
Your grazing management will dictate how high of quality that forage will be.
And so you're actually sometimes better off, especially early on, to maybe go through and hit some of the field hard if you have enough animals to do so.
That's why I like to split it up.
Because if you can keep it to where you actually maybe even set it back a little bit so that as you move on, it's not getting away from you the next time, it actually helps with the grazing management.
So I actually graze fairly severely when I am initially grazing some of my annuals, because I know that in the end, that's going to keep that from getting too mature on me.
And so that's one of the things that I think is a little bit different in terms of the mentality.
And I think, uh, I've had several, including, uh, some of my students who, when they 1st go out and they see how I'm suggesting to graze, they kind of look at me like I'm crazy.
Eventually, they get on board and they understand, especially when they see the pastures that maybe we move to the next one because we thought, oh, the next one is really needs to get on it because it has too much forage and it's getting mature, and so we don't graze the one as hard as we should.
Then what happens is you have some plants. That actually get mature in other plants, right, that got grazed, and then the cattle only eat the plants that got grazed, and it's almost magnified like a 100 fold in annual systems than in perennial systems.
One of the risk of grazing Sudan grass is a chance of prussic acid in the plant.
Mary talks about minimizing the risk of cattle grazing on high concentrate oppressic acid.
Prussic acid happens really in 2 situations, right?
One is the very immature plant has a prussic acid risk and it is really, really high risk when you talk about sorghum.
And sorghum sedan is kind of in between, like we tell you never to graze sorghum until it's 2 foot tall, right?
And Sorum Sedan usually, that's the same suggestion.
But for sedan grass, it still has that risk, but it's lower, and in fact, we tell you that, um, you can graze it at 15 inches.
So, one of the things it's not about like how far down you graze it, like once the plant gets above 15 inches.
You can graze it down to the ground and that's fine.
That's one of the questions I sometimes get.
It is just about how young the plant is, if that makes sense.
[Brad Mills, Program Host]
Today's program was a portion of an interview taken from a recent beef watch podcast offered by Nebraska extension. To hear the entire interview, go to beef.unl.edu or download from Apple Podcasts. For Nebraska Extension Almanac, I'm Brad Mills.
Nebraska Extension Almanac is a production of IANR Media, and Nebraska Extension. For more information on how your university is serving Nebraskans, go to extension.unl.edu.