Integrating bermudagrass into tall fescue-based pasture systems for stocker cattle

The daily BW gain of stocker steers grazing tall fescue [Lolium arundinaceum (Schreb.) S.J. Darbysh. = Schedonorus arundinaceus (Schreb.) Dumort.]-based pastures typically declines during summer. To avoid these declines, in part to mitigate the effects of tall fescue toxicosis, it is commonly advised to move cattle to warm-season forage during this period. A 3-yr (2006, 2007, and 2008) grazing study was conducted to evaluate the effect of replacing 25% of the area of a tall fescue/clover (81% endophyte-infected) pasture system with "Ozark" bermudagrass [Cynodon dactylon (L.) Pers.] overseeded with clover (Trifolium spp.) to provide summer grazing for stocker steers (TF+BERM). The TF+BERM treatment was compared with a grazing system in which tall fescue/clover (TF) pastures were the only type of forage available for grazing. Our objective was to determine if replacement of 25% of the land area in a fescue system with bermudagrass would increase annual beef production compared with a system based solely on tall fescue. The study was conducted at the Southwest Research and Education Center of the University of Missouri near Mt. Vernon. Each treatment was rotationally stocked with 5 steers (248 ± 19.3 kg) on 1.7 ha. Fertilizer applications were applied at rates recommended for each respective forage species. Total forage production, BW gain per hectare, and season-long ADG of steers was greater (P < 0.06) for TF+BERM than for TF in 2006, but none of these measures differed (P > 0.19) in 2007 or 2008. In vitro true digestibility of pastures was greater (P = 0.01) for TF (84.4%, SEM = 0.64%) compared with TF+BERM (80.6%, SEM = 0.79%), even in summer. The decreased in vitro true digestibility of the bermudagrass pastures likely negated any benefit that animals in TF+BERM had in avoiding the ergot-like alkaloids associated with endophyte-infected tall fescue. Renovating 25% of the pasture system to bermudagrass provided some benefit to the system in years when summertime precipitation was limited (2006) but provided no value in wetter years (2007 and 2008). Although renovating endophyte-infected tall fescue pastures to a warm-season forage is a widely used practice to mitigate tall fescue toxicosis, the benefits of this practice are limited if forage quality of the warm season component is poor.