Cool-season annual pastures with clovers to supplement wintering beef cows nursing calves

Stacey A Gunter,Whitney A Whitworth,Paul A Beck,T Gregory Montgomery

doi:10.1186/2049-1891-3-25

Stacey A Gunter, Whitney A Whitworth + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1186/2049-1891-3-25

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Abstract

In December of 3 years, 87 beef cows with nursing calves (594 ± 9.8 kg; calving season, September to November) at side were stratified by body condition score, body weight, cow age, and calf gender and divided randomly into 6 groups assigned to 1 of 6 cool-season annual pastures (0.45 ha/cow) that had been interseeded into a dormant common bermudagrass (Cynodon dactylon [L.] Pers.)/bahiagrass (Paspalum notatum Flugge) sod. Pastures contained 1 of the following 3 seeding mixtures (2 pastures/mixture): 1) wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) and ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum Lam., WRG), 2) wheat and ryegrass plus red clover (Trifolium pretense L., WRR), or 3) wheat and ryegrass plus white (Trifolium repens L.) and crimson clovers (Trifolium incarnatum L., WRW). All groups had ad libitum access to grass hay (12% crude protein; 58% total digestible nutrients). The second week in December, cow estrous cycles were synchronized and artificially inseminated. In late December, a bull was placed with each group for 60-d. Data were analyzed with an analysis of variance using a mixed model containing treatment as the fixed effect and year as the random effect. Body weight and condition scores did not differ (P ≥ 0.27) among cows between February and June. Calf birth weights or average daily gain did not differ (P ≥ 0.17) among treatments; however, calves grazing pastures with clovers did tend (P = 0.06) to weigh more than calves grazing grass only. Weaning weight per cow exposed to a bull was greater (P = 0.02) for WRR and WRW than WRG. Cows grazing winter-annual pastures containing clovers tended to wean more calf body weight per cow exposed to a bull than cows grazing the grass only pastures.

Highlights

Complementary forage systems based on warm-season perennial grasses and cool-season annual grasses have proven successful for cow/calf production in providing supplemental nutrients and decreasing hay requirements during the winter [1,2,3,4,5]; common advantages noted in these reports are extension of the grazing season and decreased days and quantities of hay feeding required
We evaluated the use of Trifolium species in cool-season pasture mixtures overseeded in to warm-season pastures to replace the need for fertilizer nitrogen, using the fixation of atmospheric nitrogen by associated Rhizobium bacteria
This tendency for greater cow body weight in the early winter for cows grazing WRR probably resulted from red clover seeming to be more productive in the fall and winter, while crimson and white clover were more productive in the late winter and spring

Summary

Introduction

Complementary forage systems based on warm-season perennial grasses and cool-season annual grasses have proven successful for cow/calf production in providing supplemental nutrients and decreasing hay requirements during the winter [1,2,3,4,5]; common advantages noted in these reports are extension of the grazing season and decreased days and quantities of hay feeding required. Gunter et al [5] reported that interseeding wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) and annual ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum Lam.) into a common bermudagrass (Cynodon dactylon [L.] Pers.) pasture in southern Arkansas completely eliminated the need for grain-based. In an Australian experiment, nitrogen loss from total denitrification were 116% less from unfertilized pasture of clover and perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.) mixtures compared with all perennial ryegrass pastures fertilized annually with 200 kg of nitrogen/ha from urea [7]. An experiment in northern Florida evaluated the use of wheat or rye (Secale cereale L.) with crimson (Trifolium incarnatum L.) and arrowleaf (Trifolium vesiculosum Savi) clovers as a supplement to Argentine bahiagrass (Paspalum notatum Flugge) hay and discovered that winter-annual pasture grazing could decrease hay intake by as much as 30% compared to bahiagrass hay, plus a grain-based supplement [3]

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