It’s Time to Fertilize!

— Written By Clint Carty
en Español / em Português
Español

El inglés es el idioma de control de esta página. En la medida en que haya algún conflicto entre la traducción al inglés y la traducción, el inglés prevalece.

Al hacer clic en el enlace de traducción se activa un servicio de traducción gratuito para convertir la página al español. Al igual que con cualquier traducción por Internet, la conversión no es sensible al contexto y puede que no traduzca el texto en su significado original. NC State Extension no garantiza la exactitud del texto traducido. Por favor, tenga en cuenta que algunas aplicaciones y/o servicios pueden no funcionar como se espera cuando se traducen.


Português

Inglês é o idioma de controle desta página. Na medida que haja algum conflito entre o texto original em Inglês e a tradução, o Inglês prevalece.

Ao clicar no link de tradução, um serviço gratuito de tradução será ativado para converter a página para o Português. Como em qualquer tradução pela internet, a conversão não é sensivel ao contexto e pode não ocorrer a tradução para o significado orginal. O serviço de Extensão da Carolina do Norte (NC State Extension) não garante a exatidão do texto traduzido. Por favor, observe que algumas funções ou serviços podem não funcionar como esperado após a tradução.


English

English is the controlling language of this page. To the extent there is any conflict between the English text and the translation, English controls.

Clicking on the translation link activates a free translation service to convert the page to Spanish. As with any Internet translation, the conversion is not context-sensitive and may not translate the text to its original meaning. NC State Extension does not guarantee the accuracy of the translated text. Please note that some applications and/or services may not function as expected when translated.

Collapse ▲

It is that time of year again! Hopefully, you have already started to fertilize your hay fields and pastures. If you haven’t then now is the time to act! Your forages need to be fed nutrients in order to be bountiful and have high yields. This is the most important step in the process when it comes to growing forages besides actually sowing seeds. Top dressing your fields during the spring is what will set the pace for the rest of the summer. Just think about this previous year, we had decent hay yields in the spring and then the summer put a hurt on us. Having no rain for 6 weeks made most of my hay fields look like lawn clippings when we were baling second cutting hay. But, because I top dress aggressively I had a lot of first cutting hay which is the only reason I made it through this winter.

Yes, fertilizer is costly, but it is necessary to have adequate forages. The money spent now in the next couple weeks is well worth it come grazing and haying time. We as cattle producers should have the mindset of being forage producers. Our forages are what we use to feed our cattle so if we don’t have good forages for them to eat then they will not be as productive as they should be. After all, “we are what we eat”.

As we move into warmer weather another production tool that can be utilized in a hay and pasture program is warm season grasses. If you have a pasture or hay field that isn’t performing as you would like it to an option is planting some warm season grasses. If you were to plant some warm season grasses this spring and harvest or graze the field throughout the summer it could benefit you and your animals. Then this fall after you had some decent production in the warm season you could plant new cool season grasses this fall and keep your production going. Warm season grasses work great for winter feed when baled, they also have a lot of biomass so this winter you would have plenty of hay in case we run into another tough summer.

Please feel free to call our extension office with any questions and concerns for your farming operation. 336-694-4158.

By: Clint Carty

Livestock Extension Caswell County