Forage systems for beef production from conception to slaughter: I. Cow-calf production

Six year-round, all-forage, three-paddock systems for beef cow-calf production were used to produce five calf crops during a 6-yr period. Forages grazed by cows during spring, summer, and early fall consisted of one paddock of 1) tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea Schreb.)-ladino clover (Trifolium repens L.) or 2) Kentucky blue-grass (Poa pratensis L.)-white clover (Trifolium repens L.). Each of these forage mixtures was combined in a factorial arrangement with two paddocks of either 1) fescue-red clover (Trifolium pratense L.), 2) orchardgrass (Dactylis glomerata L.)-red clover, or 3) orchardgrass-alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.), which were used for hay, creep grazing by calves, and stockpiling for grazing by cows in late fall and winter. Each of the six systems included two replications; each replicate contained 5.8 ha and was grazed by eight Angus cow-calf pairs for a total of 480 cow-calf pairs. Fescue was less than 5% infected with Acremonium coenophialum. Pregnancy rate was 94%. Cows grazing fescue-ladino clover maintained greater (P less than .05) BW than those grazing bluegrass-white clover, and their calves tended (P less than .09) to have slightly greater weaning weights (250 vs 243 kg, respectively). Stockpiled fescue-red clover provided more (P less than .05) grazing days and required less (P less than .05) hay fed to cows than stockpiled orchardgrass plus either red clover or alfalfa. Digestibilities of DM, CP, and ADF, determined with steers, were greater (P less than .05) for the orchardgrass-legume hays than for the fescue-red clover hay. All systems produced satisfactory cattle performance, but fescue-ladino clover combined with fescue-red clover required minimum inputs of harvested feed and maintained excellent stands during 6 yr.