By Liliane Silva, Clemson Forages Specialist Management practices are crucial in determining forage production and quality in forage systems. Among them, fertilization is essential to supply nutrients needed by plants. Over the past decades, the fluctuation of costs of fertilizers has elevated the importance of improving nutrient use efficiency, while also seeking alternative strategies to […]
Clemson Forages Team
Managing Fescue Hay During the 2026 Spring Drought
By Christopher LeMaster, Clemson Extension Livestock Agent and Dr. Liliane Silva, Clemson Extension Forage Specialist Following a dry fall and winter, much of our region is now classified in Extreme Drought (D3). For a cool-season grass like tall fescue, which relies on spring moisture for the bulk of its annual forage production, this rainfall deficit is a […]
Grazing management methods for cow-calf operations in South Carolina
By Andrea Oyuela Zavala, M.S. student Effective grazing management directly impacts forage production and quality, which in turn affects livestock production. When designing management practices for a forage-livestock system, it is important to properly understand the needs of livestock and forages to balance them, and to plan for forage species and distribution of production and quality […]
Winter damage and management considerations for forage-livestock systems in South Carolina
By Liliane Silva, Forages Specialist, Clemson University Cool-season forages are widely used in South Carolina forage-livestock operations. In the upstate region, most operations rely on tall fescue stands as the basis of their forage systems, either planted in monoculture or mixed with cool- and warm-season species. Statewide, we also rely on cool-season annual forages […]
Cool-season forage mixtures for winter grazing in South Carolina
After the rain, remember to check for nitrates in your fields!
Liliane Silva, Forages Specialist Nitrate is a naturally occurring component in plants, and its accumulation is usually associated with plant stress conditions (e.g., prolonged drought). When plants grow slowly, they continue to uptake nitrates, but these do not convert to proteins and amino acids, so there is a buildup of nitrates in the plant. […]
Bermudagrass stem maggot overview and mitigation strategies for South Carolina
The bermudagrass stem maggot [BSM; Atherigona reversura Villeneuve (Diptera: Muscidae)] is an invasive species in the southeastern USA. This insect was first reported in California in 2009 and in Georgia in 2010, but it is native to South Asia. It is unclear how BSM was introduced to the United States. The suspicion is that the […]
Late summer considerations for forage systems
By Liliane Silva, Forages Specialist In the Southeast region, most livestock operations are based on the use of perennial warm-season grasses. Due to the seasonality of production, there is a need to provide supplemental feed to livestock during the cooler months. In this context, implementing management strategies such as stockpiling forages, feeding hay or non-forage […]
Improved management practices of forage stands to improve water conservation and quality
By Liliane Silva, Livestock-Forages Specialist, Clemson University Forages are the primary feed source for livestock production systems. Forage systems play an essential role in delivering ecosystem services (ES), and the management practices applied to them directly affect ES delivery. In recent years, forage research has expanded to better understand how management practices can be […]
New forage-livestock resources available for South Carolina producers
We are excited to announce the release of a couple of new educational handbooks. The “Establishment and management of silvopasture systems in South Carolina” (Figure 1) is a great multidisciplinary collaboration among 12 specialists and graduate students to discuss aspects related to the establishment and management of silvopasture. This handbook provides concepts and research-based […]
