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Productive winter pasture can be a valuable asset, but can also be expensive to establish and grow.

In light of the recent increased enforcement of the Plant Variety Protection Act, farmers and ranchers need options for affordably producing winter pasture for stocker cattle. One option is ryegrass.

Annual ryegrass is a cool-season grass that originated in southern Europe. It is sometimes called Italian ryegrass.

In fall 2014, we began demonstration plots of various cover crops overseeded into warm-season perennial grass pastures.

Adequate nitrogen is necessary for optimizing winter pasture production. One consideration for providing adequate nitrogen is to maximize nitrogen use efficiency (NUE). One way to improve NUE is to apply nitrogen during the late winter as a topdress application.

The vast majority of the winter pasture in the Southern Great Plains is wheat. There are many reasons for this, including culture, the opportunity to harvest and sell grain, and government and insurance programs.

As you are looking for next winter's hay, you should take a sample of each lot before committing to purchase. A hay analysis prior to purchase offers one of the greatest returns on investment in the ranching business.

Native grass plantings are of increased interest to producers. The pros relative to introduced perennial pasture grasses are noteworthy.

Many producers haven't restocked to pre-drought cow numbers, and the welcomed rains have resulted in excess forage. When frost arrives this fall, there will be abundant standing forage in many areas, but the quality will be more extreme than we typically encounter.

Lime and fertilizer make up a substantial portion of the costs of producing winter pasture. Lime may or may not be needed - only a soil test can tell you for sure. If lime is recommended, its application can pay good dividends.