Fall Forage Tips

 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.