AGR-235: Baleage: Frequently Asked Questions

Jimmy Henning, Brandon Sears, Ray Smith, Chris Teutsch | Dec. 13, 2022 (Minor Revision)

Baled silage, or "baleage," is an excellent method for forage harvest, storage, and feed efficiency. This publication focuses on common questions about baleage. Together with AGR-173: Baling Forage Crops for Silage, this information will help producers better understand the production and use of baleage as livestock feed.

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PR-821: 2022 Annual and Perennial Ryegrass and Festulolium Report

Jimmy Henning, Gene Olson, Tim Phillips, Ray Smith, Chris Teutsch | Dec. 13, 2022 (New)

Annual ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum) and perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne) are high quality, productive, cool-season grasses used in Kentucky. Both have exceptionally high seedling vigor and are highly palatable to livestock. In Kentucky, winter survival can be an issue for many annual ryegrass varieties, so before planting, review winter survival results in this publication.

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PR-819: 2022 Tall Fescue, Bromegrass and Meadow Fescue Report

Jimmy Henning, Gene Olson, Tim Phillips, Ray Smith, Chris Teutsch | Dec. 6, 2022 (New)

Tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea) is a productive, well-adapted, persistent, soil-conserving, cool-season grass grown on approximately 5.5 million acres in Kentucky. This grass, used for both hay and pasture, is the forage base of most of Kentucky's livestock enterprises, particularly beef cattle.

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PR-818: 2022 Orchardgrass Report

Jimmy Henning, Gene Olson, Tim Phillips, Ray Smith, Chris Teutsch | Dec. 6, 2022 (New)

Orchardgrass (Dactylus glomerata) is a high-quality, productive, cool-season grass that is well-adapted to Kentucky conditions. This grass is used for pasture, hay, green chop, and silage, but it requires better management than tall fescue for greater yields, higher quality, and longer stand life. It produces an open, bunch-type sod, making it compatible with alfalfa or red clover as a pasture and hay crop or as habitat for wildlife.

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PR-817: 2022 Alfalfa Report

Jimmy Henning, Gene Olson, Ray Smith, Chris Teutsch | Dec. 5, 2022 (New)

Alfalfa (Medicago sativa) has historically been the highest-yielding, highest-quality forage legume grown in Kentucky. It is an important part of Kentucky's cash hay enterprise and is an important component in dairy, horse, beef, and sheep diets. Choosing a good variety is a key step in establishing a stand of alfalfa. The choice of variety can impact yield, thickness of stand, and persistence.
This report provides yield data on alfalfa varieties included in current yield trials in Kentucky as well as guidelines for selecting alfalfa varieties. Tables 13 and 14 (Roundup Ready varieties) show a summary of all alfalfa varieties tested in Kentucky during the past 18 years. The UK Forage Extension website (https://forages.ca.uky.edu) contains electronic versions of all forage variety testing reports from Kentucky and surrounding states as well as a large number of other forage publications.

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PR-816: 2022 Red and White Clover Report

Jimmy Henning, Gene Olson, Ray Smith, Chris Teutsch | Dec. 5, 2022 (New)

Red clover (Trifolium pratense L.) is a high-quality, short-lived, perennial legume used in mixed or pure stands for pasture, hay, silage, green chop, soil improvement, and wildlife habitat. This species is adapted to a wide range of climatic and soil conditions. Stands of improved varieties generally are productive for 2.5 to 3 years, with the highest yields occurring in the year following establishment. Red clover is used primarily as a renovation legume for grass pastures and hay fields. It is a dominant forage legume in Kentucky because it is relatively easy to establish and has high forage quality, yield, and animal acceptance.

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PR-809: 2021 Annual Grass Report: Warm Season and Cool Season (Cereals)

Bill Bruening, Jimmy Henning, Gene Olson, Ray Smith, Chris Teutsch | Dec. 21, 2021 (New)

Summer annual grasses provide an important forage crop option for producers in Kentucky. These grasses are mainly used as emergency or supplemental hay and pasture crops, but little information is available on their yield potential. The purpose of this publication is to summarize the University of Kentucky 2008-2021 forage yield trials with sudangrass, sorghum/sudangrass, millets, teff, and cereal crops. Cool season annual grasses (specifically cereal crops) are also used as forages crops for hay, baleage or grazing. The cereal crops used in this report are wheat (Triticum aestivum), rye (Secale cereale), oats (Avena sativa) and triticale (Triticum secale).

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PR-810: 2021 Long-Term Summary of Kentucky Forage Variety Trials

Jimmy Henning, Gene Olson, Ray Smith, Chris Teutsch | Dec. 21, 2021 (New)

Forage crops occupy approximately 7 million acres in Kentucky. Forages provide a majority of the nutrition for beef, dairy, horse, goat, sheep, and wildlife in the state. In addition, forage crops play an environmentally friendly role in soil conservation, water quality, and air quality. There are over 60 forage species adapted to the climate and soil conditions of Kentucky. Only 10 to 12 of these species occupy the majority of the acreage, but within these species there is a tremendous variation in varieties. This publication was developed to provide a user-friendly guide to choosing the best variety for producers based on a summary of forage yield and grazing tolerance trials conducted in Kentucky over the past twenty years.

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PR-807: 2021 Cool-Season Grass Grazing Tolerance Report

Joao Costa, Jimmy Henning, Gene Olson, Tim Phillips, Ray Smith, Chris Teutsch | Dec. 7, 2021 (New)

Cool-season forages such as tall fescue, orchardgrass, and Kentucky bluegrass are the primary pasture grasses in Kentucky. Other species such as perennial ryegrass and festulolium can also be used in pasture systems. Little is known about the effect of variety on the grazing tolerance of these cool-season grass species. The purpose of this report is to summarize current research on the grazing tolerance of varieties of tall fescue, orchardgrass, perennial ryegrass, and other species when they are subjected to continuous, heavy grazing pressure by cattle within the growing season. Overgrazing is not a recommended practice, but is done in these studies to determine how different varieties perform under conditions that are worse than occur during the life of a typical pasture. Varieties are primarily rated for percent survival but data on seedling vigor and grazing preference are also presented.

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PR-808: 2021 Cool-Season Grass Horse Grazing Tolerance Report

Jimmy Henning, Laurie Lawrence, Gene Olson, Tim Phillips, Ray Smith, Chris Teutsch | Dec. 7, 2021 (New)

Cool-season forages such as Kentucky bluegrass, tall fescue, and orchardgrass are dominant pasture grasses for horses in Kentucky. Variety evaluations for yield have been carried out for many years, but little work has been done to evaluate varieties of these grasses for persistence when subjected to close, continuous grazing by horses. The purpose of this report is to summarize current research on the grazing tolerance of varieties of tall fescue, orchardgrass, and other species when subjected to continuous heavy grazing pressure by horses within the growing season. The main focus will be on stand survival but data on seedling vigor and grazing preference are also included