REAPING WHAT THEY SOW

Cattle and Horse farmers across the U.S. are replacing their old fescue fields with healthier forage

Whitey Hunt can read his heifer herd like a book. Like the morning one of his cows turned up its nose at a green grassy patch on the family farm in Madison, Georgia.

“That cow rubbed her nose in that grass and left it standing,” Hunt said, pointing to the suspect turf. “That tells you a lot about Kentucky 31 fescue. Cows don’t like it.”

Hunt doesn’t like it either, convinced his old fescue fields are taking a bite out of his breeding business. “I’ve walked these pastures enough over the years to see how the toxins in Kentucky 31 are reducing my cattle pregnancy rates, weight gains and profits,” explained Hunt, who burned off 40 acres of kudzu nearly a decade ago to expand his grazing grounds.

“We planted brown top millet and we rotated that with wheat, with dove fields in mind. We finally opted against all that plowing every year and turned to a new type of persistent, livestock-friendly fescue called MaxQ,” Hunt said, recalling the extension agent who first suggested he plant the breakthrough forage. The increasingly popular fescue features friendly endophyte, or fungus, which fosters the same toughness and persistence of Kentucky 31 without harming cattle, horses and other livestock.

“Eight years later, this grass is just as green, tolerant and persistent as the first day my cattle grazed it,” explained Hunt, who plans to replace 200 acres of pastureland with the healthy variety.

“I’m determined to get rid of all the Kentucky 31 in my fields,” said Ron Locke, who is in his fourth season of systematically killing off 25-acre swaths of the old Kentucky 31 across his 400-acre cattle farm in Long Lane, Missouri. He breeds cattle, develops Black Angus bulls and is adamant about his grassland renovation. “The vast majority of our forage in Southwest Missouri is Kentucky 31 and it’s causing big economic losses across the state,” said Locke, who follows a recommended spray, smother, spray procedure to eradicate his old fescue.

“There are upfront costs involved in fescue replacement, but my cattle are gaining an additional three-fourths of a pound every day eating the non-toxic fescue,” Locke explained, noting Pennington’s MaxQ maintains the hardiness associated with Kentucky 31 without the harmful side effects to his livestock and his business. “My cattle weight gains and pregnancy rates are up and so are my profits,” Locke added.