Lespedeza

[TSYORK]

I'm thinking of very lightly over-seeding my pasture with some Kobe Lespedeza. Any thoughts? I've been told that it will actually make my hay better, and will cause cows to produce more milk naturally, without grain.

[genebo]

My cows love Korean lespedeza. They'll eat more if the hay or pasture contains lespedeza. Eating more should help milk production, I'd think.

A recent article told about the worming effect of native lespedeza. It is fairly effective at reducing the cow's worm load. A neighbor spoke to one of the researchers and learned that all varieties of lespedeza have the worming effect.

All winter I feed lespedeza seed to my cows, a little bit at a time. Come summer, the pasture is full of it. None ever gets to go to seed, for the cows and goats eat every bit before it can mature. Therefore I have to repeat the feeding trick every winter.

Genebo
Paradise Farm

[copperhead46]

I'm going to bale my clover and lespedeza in about ten days, it makes great hay. It's a really rich blend with the fescue and clover mixed in, should be good for the early spring when I put the mommas up to calve.
P.J.

[TSYORK]

We've had quite a bit of rain around here lately, and our ground is pretty dang moist. Do I need to plug/aerate the pasture before I broadcast the seed or could I just spread the seed just on top of the ground with my tractor and get ample germination?

[agmantoo]

TSYORK
What type of seed are you sowing?

[TSYORK]

Originally Posted by agmantoo

TSYORK
What type of seed are you sowing?

Kobe Lespedeza

[agmantoo]

According to my little red book it is too late to plant kobe in our area. The rate and date should be 20 to 40 lbs planted 1 Feb to 1 April. IMO you need to try to get some Teff sown and established. If you can get a stand Teff should boast the hay yield significantly. The timing for sowing Tiffany Teff is perfect now.

[TSYORK]

I read a couple different places that said in zone 7 it was okay to plant until July. Also, my feed and seed store said it was okay. They warned that it might get out of hand so I'm overseeding VERY VERY lightly. I will only broadcast 50 lbs of seed, so if it doesn't do very well, then I've not lost the bank; I can get it for around $30.00.

Tell me more about this Teff...... never heard of it, it's it high in protein and cattle grow well on it?

[agmantoo]

You have read and were given some bum information. Here is some accurate data
Time
In North Carolina, Tennessee, and farther south, annual lespedezas should be seeded in late February or the first half
of March. Farther north, seeding should be delayed until late March or early April.

Google Teff...there is a lot of good information out there. The hay is compared to timothy. If produces very quickly and in abundance. Hard to get established is its downside. Has to be sown on near surface and needs to have firm soil contact. Seed are extremely small. Plants tolerant to both drought and wet.

[matt_man]

We have sericea lespedeza growing here and the cows won't touch it while it's growing but they will eat it as hay. The crap is taking over though and I wish we didn't have it at all.

[ksfarmer]

Originally Posted by matt_man

We have sericea lespedeza growing here and the cows won't touch it while it's growing but they will eat it as hay. The crap is taking over though and I wish we didn't have it at all.

I think sericea lespedeza is different from other lespedezas. You are right tho, cattle will not eat it. Pastures are being overtaken with it and it is almost impossible to get rid of. In Kansas we consider it a noxious weed.

[agmantoo]

If you daily rotate the animals in a rotational grazing program they will eat the sericea lespedeza when it is less than 14 to 16 inches tall.

[RosewoodfarmVA]

Mattman and ksfarmer;
We have found the opposite to be true for Sericea Lespedeza. Under proper management, cows love it. The problem is that any plant will eventually get tough enough that nothing will eat it. Grasses and clovers may take a long time to reach that point, lespedeza gets tough by the time it's 16 inches tall. Under a hay program it works well as it is about that tall when the grasses and clovers are ready to cut. Cows love it when it's short, but the stalk quickly becomes woody. It does not seem to take over, atleast not here. The grasses hold their own, and the clovers are increasing. But under a continuous grazing, I would think that sericea would increase over time as any plant that is not eaten when young will be left alone to go to seed. I have never had it come up in pastures due to hay being fed, though I never allow it to set seed, as it would be inedible by that time. I have noticed that when we have a dry spell the sericea lespedeza grows and stays green longer than the clovers and grasses, I suppose it's root system is deeper?

My mom grew up in Ethiopia. Teff is the staple grain there, like wheat is here. It thrives on the hot weather and often 2 month dry spells they have there, in a climate and soil where only the hardiest of hardy plants make it. I have noticed in the last few years it is catching on as a summer supplement pasture plant here in the midsoutheast states. If you are overseeding a pasture you may want to try Sudan grass hybrid, Sudex, as it gives lots of summer growth and the roots grow very deep (up to 10 ft) breaking up hardpan and soil that has been trampled in winter. It's an annual and will not come back, but the channels created by the decaying root system will promote water infiltration and loosen the soil for the other plants to grow better.

[ksfarmer]

Agmantoo and Rosewoodfarm; you may very well be correct in that rotational grazing would utilize sericea, but, in much of our area rotating on a short term basis is impossible. We are talking about open range country where one fence line may run for miles and miles. The terrain is not conducive to building fences of any kind to set up small paddocks to rotate. As much as I would like to do it, we have enough problems maintain a division fence on property lines, some don't, thats why they have community roundups in the fall. If I have a 1000 acre pasture and am running 150 or more cow-calf pairs it just is not practical to set up a rotational system, and there are much larger pastures in the flint hills range. Thus, any problem plant like sericea, spurge, and others become a serious problem that is very expensive to control. Spraying has to be done by plane, and the current rate in my area is $7.50 per acre for the plane plus whatever cost of the chemical is.
So , I hope this gives you some idea of why we have the attitude we have towards these invasive species.

[RosewoodfarmVA]

While I am ignorant of many aspects of farming in that area, it seems to me that problem plants such as you mentioned are a result of the management of that land. If a nutritious and palatable plant is considered a weed it is not because the plant is bad but because the cows aren't made to eat it before it becomes woody: ie management. Studies have shown in the overgrazed parts of Africa that just by fencing off and only grazing a few times of the year, over a few years what was barren land with weeds becomes lush with palatable plants and chokes out the weeds. Agmantoo and others have shown in the eastern US that weed management drops to almost nothing with properly timed grazing management.
At the costs of spraying you mentioned $7.50 per acre. I would assume 24D with surfactant would be approx $5 per acre. This gives a cost of $12.50 per acre to spray, times 1000 acres gives a cost $12,500 for spraying the entire pasture. Assuming that spraying has to be done every 3 years (perhaps a low estimate depending on seed germination especially if the pasture is not mowed to prevent seed formation), this gives a cost of $125,000 for 30 years, the lifespan of a good fence. I would say that $125,000 would be able to install a lot of fence; we have been able to fence and crossfence 123 acres into approx. 5 acre divisions with permanent 47" woven wire and one strand of barbed on top, for less than $10k in materials. Perhaps you would not be able to make small pastures such as is common with rotational grazing, but atleast small enough to force the cattle to eat down the lespedeza and other unpalatables before they get tough, in other words a 1 week or less rotation stay. Also costs per acre go down the larger the lot size so it will cost far less to make 50 or 100 acre sections instead of 5 acre sections.
I don't mean to disagree, I just think that the cost of fencing is worth it in better management of pasture. With the 1000 acres and 150 cow/calf pairs continuously grazed you will always have a weed problem because the desireable plants will be constantly eaten and eventually driven out/killed while the undesireable plants will thrive... Plus the spraying will kill out desireable broadleafs such as clover and vetch.
Perhaps it's time someone in the plains pioneers their own style of rotational grazing within the constraints of the climate and soils unique to that area?

[matt_man]

Our cows won't eat it even when it is short. We do rotationally graze and the paddocks are small enough where they get moved every 12 hours. They won't even eat it when it's less than 8" tall and no where near being woody yet. They will go for the grass/clover/plantain and munch on those spots over and over and just leave the sericia. They will eat it as hay though.

[genebo]

Matt man,

Have you tried leaving them on the paddock longer? It sounds like they're only eating their favorite foods, then getting fresh pasture.

Genebo
Paradise Farm