We have had our first frost in the Valley but it was not a killing Frost in most locations so you may still have time if you have not done any of these actions. Fall is a busy time of year for most farmers, but it is also an important time to pay close attention to your forage crops.
• Take soil samples and get a soil test. Apply fertilizer to
correct any soil deficiencies and replace nutrients that were removed in hay
and silage, stock pile or prepare the crop and soil for winter.
• Scout hayfields and pastures for current and emerging weed
problems. Many perennial, biennial, and winter annual weeds are much easier to
control in the fall with appropriate weather conditions than next spring. The
spring planting rush may delay your application as well.
• Harvest or take a final grazing of summer annual grasses
now before frost events begin. Watch or be careful as this can help avoid
potential prussic acid poisoning, which is associated with forages/crops in the
sorghum family or weeds like Johnsongrass.
• Allow a fall rest period for forage stands, especially
legumes.
• Avoid overgrazing pastures in the fall. Grasses, like
legumes, need to accumulate energy reserves for the winter, and they need
plenty of leaf area to accomplish that. Light grazing or even resting pastures
completely in the fall will ensure more vigorous stands next spring.
• If you are planning to frost seed legumes into pastures in
the winter, you should overgraze the pasture hard enough so that patches of
soil are exposed, and if it grows back before winter, graze it hard again!” This
opens spaces in the grass canopy or sod and allows good seed-soil contact for
the legume seed to be broadcast in late winter (Feb-March). It will also weaken
the grass competition next spring when the legumes are beginning to establish.
• If you have corn stover or other residue resources start
to prepare fencing and water supply needs for grazing corn stover after grain
harvest is complete.
• Plan fencing and water supply needs for winter strip
grazing of stockpiled pastures and annual cover crops sown this summer. Strip
grazing can control consumption and improve the utilization of those forages in
late fall and into the winter months.
• Decide where and how to feed your hay this winter to
livestock. Unrolling, distributing bales around winter pastures, moving feeding
rings or trailers can be strategically used with strip grazing to build up soil
fertility with manure from livestock during winter feeding on pasture. It may also help stop or limit the damage
stationary feeding areas can cause with foot traffic.
• Collect core samples from hay, haylage bales, and silage
and have them tested for nutritive value in preparation for winter feeding.
This will make you aware of supplementation needs before you begin feeding
winter hay. Price out and obtain sources
for supplementation where appropriate.
Giving these tips some thought and action will increase the
forage production and utilization, crops security and resilience next year. Contact
your local Extension Agent or me cchilds@vt.edu
for more information.
