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This publication provides information on two forage conservation techniques to help producers select a technique that maximizes nutrient conservation efficiency and minimizes production costs.
This publication is designed to help you identify common weeds found in southeastern North Carolina pastures, hayfields, and sprayfields. It presents descriptions and pictures of some of the most common weeds, and it provides references for other weeds that are not in this publication. Weeds are categorized here as broadleaf, grass, or other, and as warm season or cool season. This publication does not recommend specific chemical control methods because differences in situations, rapidly changing labels, and new products make generalized recommendations impractical.
This planting guide provides the best available information about planting rates, depths, and stand evaluation for forage crops commonly grown in North Carolina.
This publication compares novel-endophyte tall fescue forage varieties and includes renovation planning information on choosing and purchasing seed as well as establishment and management.
This publication defines and discusses the factors that affect forage quality and the prediction indices that can be used to assign a science-based measure of quality to evaluate forages.
This publication addresses aspects of hay production as a method of conserving forage crops.
This publication discusses appropriate fertilizer application for forages in North Carolina.
Grazing behavior and nutrient requirements in forages for meat goats is discussed in this factsheet.
This publication provides information for making grazing management decisions using rotational stocking. It covers canopy heights for stopping and starting grazing, days of pasture rest, and balancing plant and animal requirements.
This publication is an overview of forage species and their use in livestock production systems in North Carolina.
This publication reviews research on silvopasture systems in Virginia and North Carolina, showing how combining trees, forage, and livestock can help farms in the southeastern U.S.
Forages can be conserved in the form of hay, baleage, and silage. It is important to keep in mind that, at best, conserved forages can rarely match the nutritive value of fresh forage. Some losses of highly digestible nutrients start immediately after cutting and are unavoidable. The goal in forage conservation is to focus on minimizing losses.
This publication discusses the basic concepts of stockpiling as a forage management practice, including the purpose of stockpiling, which grasses can be stockpiled, nutritive valued of stockpiled tall fescue, and fertilization management.
This publication discusses methods to measure the amount of grass available for grazing to help farmers better manage their fields and animals. It covers techniques like hand-clipping and indirect methods such as using tools to estimate grass height. Estimating forages is important for ensuring animals have enough food and maintaining healthy pastures.
This publication provides an overview of the differences in forage quality by reviewing a summary of forage hay samples submitted to the N.C. State Fair Forage Contest over a 20 year period. It also discusses tools for ranking the quality of forages.
This bulletin publishes the results of two experiments—one with switchgrass and one with gamagrass—that address responses of dry matter yield and nutritive value to nitrogen fertilization when the grasses are cut as hay.
Grazing management can have profound impact on how forage mixtures develop and persists over time. It is the art and science of grazing management that determines whether a potentially good forage, or mixture of forages, will actually be a good one. Department of Crop Science Forage and Grassland Program www.forages.ncsu.edu
This bulletin publishes the results of 10 experiments that addressed aspects of nutritive value (i.e., laboratory estimates of dry matter disappearance and chemical composition) and quality (i.e., animal responses) of cool-season perennial forages preserved as hay. The focus of this bulletin is the evaluation of tall fescue cultivars, forage maturity, drying methods, and diurnal changes in forages. However, experiments on other forages (i.e., reed canarygrass and alfalfa) have also been included. The purpose of this bulletin is to provide original research data in a summarized format, with associated methodology, for future reference.
This bulletin publishes the results of eight experiments that addressed aspects of nutritive value and quality of perennial warm-season forages preserved as hay, baleage, and silage.
This publication summarizes results from 26 studies addressing the establishment, cell wall content, cultivar improvement, defoliation management, nutritive value, and utilization of switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.) as pasture, or its conservation as hay or silage or harvested as biomass. Both lowland and upland commercial cultivars and lowland germplasms were evaluated and, in some experiments, compared for yield, nutritive value, and quality characteristics. Comparisons were also made with other warm-season grasses. Switchgrass is a forage species having very flexible potentials as a pasture, stored forage, or biomass crop. Cytotypes, also referred to as ecotypes, and cultivar selections within cytotypes are important considerations when growing switchgrass in the Mid-Atlantic because they depend on its intended use and the crop’s geographic location
This bulletin brings together 13 independent experiments that address aspects of fermentation, nutritive value, and quality of cool-season and warm-season annual forages preserved as silage.
The dry matter yield and nutritive value of perennial warm-season grasses and corn silages were evaluated for preference and nutritive value when cut a different maturities and supplemented with crude protein and energy.
The studies described in this publication show the potential productive capacity of combinations of hybrid bermudagrass with different annual or perennial grasses or legumes.
This publication addresses a wide spectrum of forage production and utilization principles and practices. Contributions to this effort were made by 37 authors from four organizations: Agricultural Research Service, USDA; North Carolina Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services; North Carolina State University (researchers and extension specialists from eight departments); and Soil Conservation Service, USDA.
