Farm Director, KC Sheperd, had the chance to visit with Oklahoma State University Extension forage systems specialist, Alex Rocateli, about Bermuda grass hay and more.
“All the rain that we didn’t get last year is coming this year,” Rocateli said. “It has been amazing the amount of rain that we are having. I see lots of Bermuda grass pastures that were in a bad condition last year come and recover this year.”
Rocateli said that around Oklahoma, one could see the great amount of hay that has been baled, so producers are feeling some relief about winter hay storage.
“Perhaps some of them are even experiencing an excess of forage where they already have hay, and after this coming rain, more forage is going to grow,” Rocateli said.
There are several different types of Bermuda grass grown in Oklahoma, Rocateli said, some in particular that produce more hay than others. Rocateli said producers who already have enough hay stocked up and baled could save some money by leaving the remaining Bermuda standing in the field.
When it comes to rotational grazing, Rocatelli said that standing Bermuda grass can play a valuable role because less is wasted than when continuously grazing. Leaving Bermuda grass standing in the pasture, Rocateli said, is called stockpiling.
Rocateli said it is better to use and graze this stockpiled Bermuda in November and December.
“I would utilize 60 to 65 percent of that forage, because if you go using more than that, then we start to use portions of the stockpiled Bermuda grass that is going to be low in quality so that we will lose on gain,” Rocateli said.
