Category: Forage and Pasture Management

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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. […]

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 […]

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 […]

By Liliane Silva, Forage-Livestock Systems Specialist   In the southeast, the majority of livestock systems are based on perennial grasses (bermudagrass, bahiagrass, and tall fescue). Bermudagrass and bahiagrass are warm-season grasses and become dormant when temperatures decrease in Fall. For this reason, it is crucial to plan for this period aiming to decrease hay feeding […]