Hanging On To Warmer Weather

Brrrr we're starting to get some cold mornings. As we approach the inevitable cold weather to come, we are grateful for any "grass growing days" we can get. Ryegrass is a great forage for this time of year because it is able to continue to stay alive with cold weather and will grow when temperatures get back above 40-45 degrees. However, we do have some fields that are planted in other forages that are less winter-stable.

Sorghum Sudangrass is one of the biggest concerns. This forage will actually become poisonous to cattle after a frost. For this reason, we try to make sure all of these fields are grazed down before it gets cold. The grass will develop prussic acid which releases cyanide which is highly poisonous. This gas slowly dissipates into the air and the grass can be eaten again after an extended period of time without a frost but definitely not something to play around with so we use very high level of caution and keep the cows out of anything that still has any sorghum sudangrass.