A new year! Each January we make New Year's resolutions with the best of intentions. Of course, we all promise to eat better and exercise more, but have you ever given any thought to making resolutions about your pastures? Let's plan now to practice better pasture management this year. Assuming a good stand of introduced forage (such as bermudagrass), most of our management decisions for pasture forage production revolve around fertilizer, weed control and weather.
Most of us would like to spend the smallest amount of money on our pastures and get the greatest return on our investment. Therefore, let me tell you about a great, money saving secret for pasture fertilization: soil-test and fertilize your pastures according to the soil test recommendations. Rank your pastures according to productivity, and spend your fertilizer dollars on the highest yielding pastures first.
For those of you who apply a 17-17-17 or complete fertilizer each year without having a current soil test, you may be spending way too much. Why purchase nutrients if your soil is capable of supplying the necessary nutrients to the plants? Soil tests usually run around $10 to $15, not counting your time and effort.
As an example, if your soil analysis shows adequate potassium and you've been applying a complete fertilizer all these years, you will save money by not applying this nutrient. That money can be spent on other projects around the ranch or farm.
One of the important parts of the soil test is your yield goal. If you provide a soils consultant with a realistic yield goal for your pastures, they can better determine how much fertilizer to recommend. You'll still need Mother Nature to help you out with timely rain and seasonable temperatures, but you will have done everything in your power to stack the odds in your favor. A word of advice on yield goals: If the pasture has never achieved the yield goal that you write down, you most likely will not achieve your goal no matter how much fertilizer or rain you receive. I also encourage you to use either the Noble Foundation's soil testing service or a university lab for your results and recommendations.
Weed control in late January and early February is another often overlooked decision point. If you have a problem with thistles in your pastures, consider an application of about 1 quart per acre of 2,4-D amine formulation while the thistles are still in the rosette stage. When the thistles are in the rosette stage, they can be easily and inexpensively controlled with 2,4-D. The rosette stage is the vegetative stage of the thistle before it "bolts" or puts up a stem and seed head in the spring. Once the thistles start to bolt, it's all over.
Weather is the most consistently uncertain factor we have in agriculture. We can only say for certain that it will be cold in winter and hot during the summer. Most of us in agriculture are optimists - we believe that we will have an average year with average rainfall. Regardless, you won't get the forage production you expect if you don't have the fertilizer on your pasture when the rain arrives.
In summary, if you haven't had a soil test on a pasture in the past three years, take one. If you have thistles, control them in the very early spring. Finally, have fertilizer on the pasture before the rains come.