Cool Season Grasses

Birdsfoot trefoil (Perennial legume)
Birdsfoot trefoil is a long-lived perennial legume ideally suited for many grass-legume pastures in Missouri. It grows and produces forage during July and August when most cool-season grasses are semi-dormant. Trefoil does not cause bloat, as do many other commonly used legumes. A combination of trefoil and bluegrass or other cool-season grasses will produce three times as much feed as unimproved grass. Even heavily fertilized grass will produce one-third less beef per acre than a trefoil-bluegrass combination. Other benefits from introducing trefoil into grass pastures include 30 percent higher daily gains by the grazing animals and more uniform distribution of forage production. Trefoil makes 60 percent of its production during June, July and August. It requires a special inoculum for first plantings and is slow to become established. The plants grow 12-30 inches. The nutritive value is equal to or greater than alfalfa with a digestibility of 70-78%. Plants contain tannins that prevent bloat and could be important to reduce barberpole worms.

•  Crude protein – 16-21%

•  Can yield 1.5-4 tons per acre

Chicory (Perennial herb)
A perennial plant that is suited to well-drained or moderately drained soils with medium- to high-fertility levels and a pH of 5.5 or greater. Chicory produces leafy growth which is higher in nutritive and mineral content (if managed properly) than is produced by alfalfa or cool-season grasses. It has a relatively deep taproot which provides for tolerance to drought conditions. Chicory provides both spring and summer forage with average growth rates from April through October of 50 pounds per acre per day. During peak growth periods chicory produces 73 pounds per acre per day. Forage chicory is a low-growing rosette plant with broad leaves in the winter, very much like dandelion. With warm temperatures in the spring it produces large numbers of leaves from the crown. In late spring, after the establishment year, a few flower stems begin to develop from the crown and will reach heights of 6 feet if ungrazed.

• Crude protein – 10-32%

Crimson clover (Annual legume) 
 is among the most widely planted annual forage legumes in the United States. Crimson clover can be grown as a winter annual from Kentucky southward and from east Texas to the Atlantic ocean, though it is most commonly grown on sandy, droughty soils in the Deep South where perennial clovers are not well adapted. It can also be grown as a winter annual in the western parts of the Pacific Northwest, and is sometimes grown as a summer annual in Canada or the extreme northern portion of the United States. Crimson clover is a versatile plant used to produce forage for livestock, for soil conservation, as a green manure crop, as a source of pollen and nectar for bees, and for land beautification. It is an erect plant with a growth period between October to June. The peak months of production are November, March to May. It is very high quality with 70-75% digestibility. Can cause bloat in animals.

• Crude protein – 16-22%

• Can yield 1-2 tons per acre

•  Crude protein – 12-20%

•  Can yield 1.5-3.5 tons per acre

Kentucky Bluegrass (Perennial)
is a short-to medium height, cool-season, long-lived, highly palatable, perennial grass that has smooth, soft, green to dark green leaves with boat-shaped tips. General period of growth is March to November with the peak months being March to May and September. It spreads via rhizomes to form a dense sod and grows best during cool, moist weather on well-drained, fertile soils. Kentucky bluegrass is found in most pastures in the northeastern United States because it tolerates close and frequent grazing better than other cool-season forage grasses. This ability makes Kentucky bluegrass an ideal species for permanent pastures that are continuously grazed. In addition, the dense sod formed by Kentucky bluegrass rhizomes make it ideal for erosion control, particularly in grass waterways. Digestibility is 75-80%. It is not as productive as orchardgrass or tall fescue.

• Crude Protein 14-20%
• Can yield 2-3 tons per acre

• Crude protein 25%
• Can yield 3-4 tons per acre

Orchardgrass (Perennial)
is a bunch-type, tall-growing, cool-season grass. It is one of the most productive cool-season grasses, tolerant to shade, fairly drought resistant with moderate winter hardiness. Orchardgrass does not exhibit as much tolerance to drought or winter hardiness as tall fescue and bromegrass.  Orchardgrass is fast-growing and matures very early in the spring. There are some varietal variations but, in general, orchardgrass matures about one week earlier than tall fescue and about two weeks before smooth bromegrass. It also regrows quickly after harvest, making it well suited for seeding with frequently harvested alfalfa. It produces less fall growth than tall fescue under similar growing conditions. The bunch-type growth characteristic and shade tolerance combine to make orchardgrass well adapted to grow with competitive tall growing legumes such as alfalfa and red clover. One undesirable trait is that forage quality of spring growth declines rapidly as maturity increases. However, orchardgrass re-growth, which is mostly leaves, is very high in quality. It grows well with legumes like ladino clover and red clover and has 73-78% digestibility when immature. It declines with maturity to 58-65%.

• Crude protein 14-20 % immature.
• Can yield 2-4 tons per acre

• Crude protein – 18%

• Can yield 3-4 tons per acre.

Ryegrass (Annual)
Adapted to most soils. It is a bunch-type leafy growth. Even though it is an Annual, it can self reseed readily. The peak season is early spring. Annual ryegrass has very little cold tolerance and therefore would behave like an annual in the Midwest except in mild winters or with excellent snow cover.  It has potential, as an annual forage crop,  to provide high quality grazing.  It will produce high yields and maintains productivity through the mid-summer slump better than most other cool season grasses. It is easy to establish and grows rapidly.  Plants will produce heads in the seeding year. This characteristic reduces quality unless plants are grazed prior to seed head emergence.  Planting later maturing varieties will make it easier to graze plants before heading occurs.

Annual ryegrass is the grass of choice for frost seeding to improve pasture quality because it establishes rapidly, yields better than other ryegrass types through summer, and has the highest yields in the seeding year.  It is also recommended for use as a cover crop when establishing new seedings of pasture.  Adding it to a seed mixture with a legume and a more permanent cool season grass, like bromegrass, timothy or orchardgrass, will provide rapid growth and high quality forage in the seeding year.  The ryegrass will die in 1 to 3 years leaving behind the other grasses and legumes. (see our Ryegrass & Hairy Vetch usage)

•  Crude protein 14-17% early

• Can yield 2-4 tons per acre

Tall Fescue (Perennial)
Tall fescue is one of the most adaptable grasses grown for grazing purposes. Fescue is used to overseed warmer grass pastures in  areas of adaptation and fill in while the warm season forage is in dormancy. can withstand heavy grazing pressure, has a massive root system that aids in erosion control, survives drought and flood, and can be stockpiled for winter grazing. Laboratory analyses also indicate that tall fescue is as high in quality as other cool-season grasses such as orchardgrass and smooth bromegrass.

Unfortunately, because of tall fescue toxicosis much of the benefit of the grass's superior agronomic characteristics is wasted. Ruminant livestock and horses seldom have performed as well on tall fescue as they have on other cool-season forages. Livestock have been noted to exhibit one or more of the following symptoms when consuming tall fescue pasture or hay: nervousness, rough hair coat, elevated body temperature, reduced forage intake and weight gain, low conception rate, excessive water consumption and urine volume, reduced milk production, and more time spent in the shade.

Turnips (Annual)
Cool-season perennial grass and grass-legume pastures typically become less productive as the grazing season advances from June to November. Forage brassica crops such as turnip, swede, rape, and kale can be spring-seeded to supplement the perennial cool-season pastures in August and September or summer-seeded to extend the grazing season in November and December. Brassicas are annual crops which are highly productive and digestible and can be grazed 80 to 150 days after seeding, depending on the species (see table on back page). Studies in southwestern Pennsylvania showed that turnip can accumulate dry matter in October as fast as field corn does in August. Growing “out of season” (October/November) makes turnip a valuable crop for late fall grazing.

The proportions of tops and roots varies markedly depending on variety, crop age, and planting date. Research by the USDA Pasture Laboratory showed that turnip crops can vary from 90 percent tops/10 percent roots to 15 percent tops/85 percent roots. Some hybrids have fibrous roots which will not be readily grazed by livestock. All varieties produce primarily tops during the first 45 days of growth. Sixty to 90 days after seeding, turnip varieties such as ‘Savannah’ and ‘All Top’ continue to produce a high proportion of tops. During the same period, other turnip varieties have nearly equal top and root production, except ‘Purple Top’ has a greater root than top production. The significance in the proportion of tops and roots is that the crude protein concentration (8 to 10%) of roots is approximately one-half of that in turnip tops. Therefore, greater root production tends to reduce the crude protein yield of the total crop.  (see our Turnip usage)

·         Crude protein - 15 to 25 percent in the herbage and 8 to 15 percent in the roots, depending on the level of nitrogen fertilization and weather conditions.