Native grass provides cost-effective summer forage alternative

Beef cattle production is the most extensive agricultural enterprise in North America. Development of heifers is one of the most expensive aspects of beef operations: for 30 months, producers feed these animals with no economic return.

Forage systems dominated by cool-season grasses (e.g., Fescue Belt) experience a slump in summer forage production, a problem compounded during extreme drought cycles. This can be a challenge for heifer development, especially where tall fescue toxicosis is an issue.

In a three-year grazing study recently published in Agronomy Journal, researchers compared a commonly used summer annual forage crop (sorghum × sudangrass hybrid) to a native warm-season species (eastern gamagrass) for pasture for yearling beef heifers.

They found that both options produced ample amounts of forage when tall fescue was semi-dormant. Forage nutritive quality was similar between the two grasses, but the perennial eastern gamagrass provided a longer grazing season (112 vs. 65 days) and allowed for heavier stocking (1,788 vs. 1,392 kg ha^–1), producing more gain. The perennial’s greater productivity, combined with lower average annual establishment costs, led to a lower cost of production than the annual.

These summer forage options can play a role in complementing cool-season grass pastures, particularly for animals with sensitive nutritional requirements like heifers. Productive, drought-tolerant summer forages can provide greater productivity, resilience, and profitability to the extensive beef sector where cool-season grasses are predominant.