First Year Results of a Grazing Evaluation of Cool-Season Forages with and without Legumes.

Reducing the length of time that cattle must be sustained on stored forages during the winter by extending the grazing season is a growing interest of cattle producers. This project was conducted to evaluate several of the predominant cool-season forages and forage mixtures for their capability to extend the grazing season. Six cool-season forage treatments were assigned to 0.8-ha paddocks in an incomplete block design with two replications and continuously grazed at a fixed stocking rate of 4 steers/paddock.  The treatments were as follows: ‘Texoma’ MaxQ II novel endophyte tall fescue grown in combination with ‘Durana’ white clover (TF+WC) or treated with 50.5 kg N/ha (TF+N), ‘Nelson’ annual ryegrass grown in combination with ‘Dixie’ crimson clover (RG+CC) or treated with 50.5 kg N/ha (RG+N), and a mixture of ‘Graze King 90’ cereal rye and ‘Nelson’ annual ryegrass grown in combination with ‘Dixie’ crimson clover (RG+R+CC) or treated with 50.5 kg N/ha (RG+R+N). Steers were put on pasture when forage mass was estimated to be greater than 1600 kg dry matter (DM)/ha and taken off when steer average daily gains (ADG) fell below 0.45 kg/d. Treatments containing tall fescue furnished 75d of grazing while all other treatments furnished 68d. Steer ADGs were greatest on RG+CC and RG+N but did not differ significantly from TF+WC, which was similar to all treatments. Clover inclusion or N treatment had no effect on ADG of steers within grass and small grain-grass treatments.