Search

Why are there so many grass burs in the bermudagrass pastures this year? What can be done to inhibit the grass burs this spring? These two questions were posed by many producers this past fall. Not only is this a good time to ponder these questions, it is also the right time of year to develop a plan of action.

Timing of nitrogen application will obviously be different if you run only spring stockers versus in both the fall and the spring. How much difference does it make? To answer that, I'd like to share some data from our Red River Research Farm at Burneyville, Okla.

In early August you should evaluate your existing forage supply and the amount of forage needed from then until next spring. If additional forage is needed, consider applying nitrogen to increase the standing forage or purchase hay.

This is the time of year to apply nitrogen (N) for spring small grain forage production. Many of the phone calls we receive this time of year concern the amount of N that is needed for spring forage production.

Forage yield data from a replicated nitrogen (N) experiment on a rye/wheat/ryegrass mixture established by Jerry Rogers and Wadell Altom on the Red River Farm in the 1970's show that the response to applied N is linear up to the highest rate used (200 lbs of actual N per acre).

Despite high grain prices, nitrogen management has become more challenging in small grain production because of continued increases in fertilizer prices. Both grain and forage yield potential are reduced without adequate fertilizer nitrogen.

Nitrogen fertilizer prices have been high for several months now. In some cases, the price has gone up 50 percent or more. Why is it increasing?

Our typical nitrogen recommendation for wheat is 2 pounds per expected bushel of grain. Long-term data indicates that, on average, this is the correct rate. However, this average is too high a third of the time, too low a third of the time and about right the remaining third of the time.

This is the first year of results after applying 2.5 tons lime to the long term Rye-Wheat-Ryegrass nitrogen rate study at the Red River Research Farm.

Fertilizer prices are at a historic high, and, with the amount of corn acres predicted in 2008, the outlook is that prices will climb even higher next spring. So, at what nitrogen fertilizer price is it no longer economical to fertilize bermudagrass in a cow/calf enterprise?