Forage / Pasture
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It’s been a slow season for our winter forage. We had another 2 inches of rain this week. It is just very wet and hard to do anything in the field. The fall rains affected our forage by not allowing it to get off to a good start. This is mostly from soil saturation and…
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We have been looking at recently sprigged pastures this past month to determine weed control needs. We can use Diuron immediately after sprigging, but for most everything else, the pasture needs to be established. So, when is it established? Sprigging Bermuda There are a few ways to look at this. One way to look at…
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This is the time of the year we need to be applying post-emergent herbicides to our pastures and hayfields for winter weeds. If we have issues with crabgrass, we generally wait until the first of March to put out pre-emergent herbicides. However, we may think about doing both now due to the current soil temperatures. Before…
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We’ve been looking at some oats this week, and they are struggling quite a bit. This time last year they were twice as tall in the field. Our biggest issue now, of course, is the rain. After 6 inches of rain in Pineview last weekend, we still have water on the field edges. Even with…
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It’s been three weeks since the storm came through Wilcox County. The eye of the hurricane went right above Pineview which put Wilcox right in the devastating path. Over 90 mph winds were reported in Rebecca, and the storm remained Category 1 as it passed our way. Our county was so fortunate to not have…
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This year has been a challenging year to make hay. I was a new county agent 5 years ago when we had a similar situation (even worse that year) and we ended up having a lot of cattle starving to death with a belly full of hay that was too fibrous to digest. So, UGA…
Posted in: Forage / Pasture -
I was in the hayfield today collecting samples of Bermudagrass Stem Magget for post doc Dr. Lisa Baxter. In doing my sweet net portion, it was obvious the number of armyworms present. To complete this project for Lisa, I had to visit the field for times today and sample each time with the sweepnet. Each…
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Across the state, foxtail in pastures and hay fields seems to be higher this year than in years past. The weather we have had this season could be the cause. Scout hay fields for this weed and DO NOT feed foxtail infested hay to horses, cattle, or other livestock. The awns can become impelled in the…
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We’re seeing “bronzing” of bermudagrass stem maggot around Wilcox County. This is typical of bermudagrass stem maggot. We’ve had reports of damage for over 2 weeks. I’m seeing damage from Pineview to Pitts to south in the county. It’s definitely showed up a little earlier than normal. Colquitt County Agent Jeremy Kichler has also noted it earlier at their Expo plots. We…
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We’re seeing lots of thistles in the pastures right now, and we got to get them before they get too big. Just last week, they were hard to spot. Now they are bolting and getting ready to flower. We have good options on thistle but the real issue is timing. In the roseett stage, they…