Selecting the Right Species and Variety for Your Hay Enterprise IFAS Selecting the Right Species and Variety for Your Hay Enterprise

Many Factors Affect Forage Quality 1. Forage maturity at harvest 2. Harvest and storage 3. Climate 4. Insects and diseases 5. Soil fertility 6. Forage species 7. Forage variety

Not all grasses (or legumes) are created equally

Pearl Millet and Crabgrass Forage Calendar Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Bermudagrass Bahiagrass Sorghum x Sudan Pearl Millet and Crabgrass Rye, Wheat, Triticale Oat Ryegrass, Pea, Clover Vetch

What can you do to improve forage quality? Choose the best species Choose the right variety Manage the forage for best quality

Red clover (early flower) Forage Species Species CP ADF TDN Alfalfa (bud) 22-26 28-32 64-67 Red clover (early flower) 14-16 Bermudagrass (4 wk) 10-12 33-38 58-62 Ryegrass 12-16 27-33 63-68 Adapted from Southern Forages, Ball et al.

Forage Species Perennial Bahiagrass Bermudagrass Tall Fescue Orchardgrass Timothy Bluegrass Perennial Peanut Alfalfa White clover

Forage Species Annual Pearl Millet Sorghum Sorghum-Sudangrass Crabgrass Alyceclover Forage Soybean Wheat Oat Rye Triticale Ryegrass Clover Vetch Medic Winter pea Forage Species

Forage Variety Variety CP ADF NDF Digestibility Improved 24 30 45 68 Common 18 33 40 60

Variety Trials

Forage varieties differ in when they mature

Variety selection is important to the timing of the hay or silage harvest Florida 401 Rye Wrens Abruzzi

Warm Season Grasses and Legumes

Bermudagrass Coastal Coastcross Tifton 85 Tifton 44 Russell Alicia Jiggs

Bermudagrass Coastal- oldest, 15 million acres Coastcross I- hybrid between Coastal and a highly digestible bermudagrass from Kenya. 12% more digestible than Coastal lacks winterhardiness Tifton 85- 26% higher yielding than Coastal and 11% more digestible Tifton 44- Coastal X German bermudagrass Russell- similar to Coastal, fast spreader Alicia- easy to establish, lower quality, less digestible, rust susceptible, likes wet sites Jiggs-quick to establish, likes wet sites, rust susceptible

Bahiagrass Argentine, Pensacola, Tifton 9, TifQuik, UF-Riata and Sand Mountain

Pensacola UF-Riata Tifton 9

Bahiagrass entry Cool season yield lbs/A Season total Tifton 9 885 Bahiagrass cool-season yield at the NFREC-Marianna FL Bahiagrass entry Cool season yield lbs/A Season total Tifton 9 885 8647 Pensacola 724 7433 Argentine 504 6425 Sand Mountain 945 7447 UF-Riata 1404 9461

Dollar Spot Fungus Comparison of dollar spot incidence on bahiagrass varieties

Sand Mountain (Alabama Crop Improvement) TifQuik (Georgia Seed Commission) UF-Riata (Ragan and Massey Seed)

Pearl Millet Tifleaf 3 SS 635 SS 501

Perennial Peanut

Perennial Peanut Varieties Florigraze Arbrook UF-Tito UF-Peace

Comparison of annual and perennial peanut with alfalfa Quality Florigraze perennial peanut Arbrook Ecoturf Annual peanut forage Annual peanut residue Alfalfa CP 18 17 20  10 17-20 ADF 34 40 27  35 32-39 NDF 45 51 43 33  41 39-49 TDN 55 57 60-70  58 50-64 RFV 128 105 132  130 110-160 NRC (2000) table values for alfalfa

Forage Soybean Tyrone and Hinson Long-Juvenile New RR forage soybeans

Cool Season Grasses

Wheat – grows later in the spring Triticale - late plantings Rye – most dependable Oat – planted earliest Wheat – grows later in the spring Triticale - late plantings Ryegrass – excellent quality Rye Oat Wheat

Rye Makes good growth even in low temperatures Well adapted to sandy soils with low fertility Usually more productive than other small grains Tends to stem up earlier than other grains Works well in blends with ryegrass Seed costs are usually higher

Oat Can be planted earlier- mid September Most palatable to livestock May be damaged by cold temperatures Seed is also harvestable Crown rust resistance is important Barley Yellow Dwarf Virus (BYDV) Stem rust-occurs infrequently

“Horizon 201” and “Ram” Oat

Wheat Must use Hessian Fly resistant variety Usually less productive than oats or rye Tends not to make much growth in the fall but a good spring producer Most varieties developed for grain production

Triticale (wheat x rye) good disease resistance, well adapted Silage and hay types: Trical 342, Trical 2700 and Monarch

Forage Triticale Trical 342 Trical 2700

Ryegrass Makes good growth even in low temperatures Needs good soil moisture to establish Works well in blends with other small grains Seed cost are usually cheaper than small grains Excellent silage and hay crop

Ryegrass for high quality hay or silage

Cool Season Legumes

Alfalfa Bulldog 805, Bulldog 505 New RR alfalfas

Red Clover Southern Belle and Red Ace (non-dormant) Barduro and Bulldog Red (mid dormant) Kenland and Redland II

Crimson Clover Dixie, AU-Sunrise and AU-Robin

Ball, Berseem, Hop, and Rose clovers and Vetch, Winter Pea and Medic low production, broadly adapted

Common Ball Clover

Take forage species and forage variety into consideration for your operation

Have your hay tested and enter the Southeastern Hay Contest!

Forage Variety Testing http://www.georgiaforages.com/  http://www.caes.uga.edu/commodities/swvt/  http://agronomy.ifas.ufl.edu/ForagesofFlorida