Control of Individual Honey Locust Trees in Grazed Pasture

Honey locust (Gleditsia triacanthos) is a deciduous tree that produces large brown seed pods and thorny appendages, and is present throughout most of the US. The pods are highly nutritious for livestock and wildlife, and are easily spread by animals in dung pats. Honey locust is typically found in greatest concentrations in the central U.S. in the same general range as historical tallgrass prairie. Fire suppression and introduction of honey locust into shelter belts has allowed honey locust to increase into more arid regions associated with mixed grass prairie. When cut, honey locust is capable of producing abundant new sprouts from buds around the trunk and along the root system. Because of this, herbicides are usually required to effectively control trees when cut. Several herbicides have been labeled for honey locust control through various application techniques, including basal bark, thin line basal bark, cut stump, frill or girdle, and foliar applications. However, picloram, one of the most effective herbicides on honey locust, is not labeled for individual basal bark or cut stump treatment in grazed pasture. Aminopyralid recently received a new label addition for individual tree treatment of honey locust in grazed pasture

Purpose, Acknowledgments, Contributors

Roundup is the major beef cattle education and outreach event sponsored by the Agricultural Research Center–Hays. The 2016 program is the 102nd staging of Roundup. The purpose is to communicate timely, applicable research information to producers and extension personnel. The research program of the Agricultural Research Center–Hays is dedicated to serving the people of Kansas by developing new knowledge and technology to stabilize and sustain long-term production of food and fiber in a manner consistent with conservation of natural resources, protection of the environment, and assurance of food safety. Primary emphasis is on production efficiency through optimization of inputs in order to increase profit margins for producers in the long term

Ropewick Application to Control Old World Bluestems

Old world bluestems (OWB) were introduced into the United States in the early 1900s for conservation and forage purposes. The two main OWB species found throughout the southern Great Plains are Caucasian bluestem (Bothriochloa bladhii) and yellow or King Ranch bluestem (Bothriochloa ischaemum). These introduced OWB grasses are warm-season grasses with excellent persistence and production characteristics for regions with low rainfall. These grasses also produce abundant seed and establish more easily under arid conditions compared to some of our most common native warm-season grasses of the Great Plains. The characteristics that enable OWB to be well adapted and to grow and persist in the Great Plains also enable OWB to become invasive and encroach areas where it is not wanted. Several studies have examined herbicides to control OWB, and glyphosate products showed the most economical and promising short-term control success. However, glyphosate is a non-selective herbicide and has the potential to injure almost all vegetation with which it comes into contact, including desirable native species that may be growing among a stand of sprayed OWB. Wick applicators have been used extensively in grain row crop systems to wipe herbicide on weedy species that grow taller than the desirable grain crop. Because OWB matures more quickly than many native species, OWB could potentially be treated with a wick applicator as it matures following its elongation and elevation above native grass species. Therefore, applying glyphosate with a ropewick applicator to control OWB warranted investigation

Old World Bluestem Seedling Emergence and Vegetative Cover Following Glyphosate Treatment

Old world bluestems (OWB) are perennial warm-season grasses introduced into the U.S. from parts of Asia, eastern Europe, Africa, and Australia. The two most common old world bluestem species found in Kansas are yellow bluestem (Bothriochloa ischaemum), otherwise known as King Ranch bluestem, and Caucasian bluestem (Bothriochloa bladhii). These grasses were introduced for soil conservation and forage production in arid regions of the southern Great Plains; however, in Kansas and elsewhere, they have escaped areas where planted and have been invading native rangelands and pastures that were old crop fields seeded back to native grasses. Efforts to control OWB in native rangelands and native seeded pasture have had short term success, but the abundant seed produced from mature OWB plants has resulted in a soil seedbank capable of producing high populations of new seedlings. However, the length of time that this seedbank is capable of producing new seedlings has received relatively little investigation. The goal of this project was to evaluate new OWB seedling emergence from the soil seedbank for two years following OWB control with glyphosate

Grazing wheat did not reduce beef cow pregnancy rates

Beef producers can lower feed costs by extending the grazing period and reducing the need for harvested forages. Complementary forage systems extend the native range grazing season; wheat pasture is common in the southern portion of the High Plains. Anecdotal reports have been made concerning lowered fertility in beef cows bred on lush forage such as wheat pasture; however, ruling out other possible causes of low fertility is difficult. In lactating dairy cows, fertility is lower during consumption of high-protein diets that result in high blood urea nitrogen content. Lower uterine pH that in turn affects embryo survival is thought to be the general mechanism responsible for lower fertility. Little information is available on the fertility of beef cows consuming high-protein diets. Therefore, the objective of this study was to compare pregnancy rates of springcalving cows consuming either wheat pasture or native range before and during the early breeding season

Interseeding Warm-Season Annual Grasses into Perennial Cool-Season Western Wheatgrass Pasture

Conversion of pastureland into cropland has occurred at a rapid rate on the central to northern Great Plains. A reduction in total acreage of pastureland from this conversion has resulted in a decline of total numbers of beef cows in the same region. One method to mitigate the decline in cow numbers is to increase carrying capacity of the remaining pastureland acres. Introducing warm-season annual grass species into perennial coolseason grass pastures to increase dry matter production during the mid-summer time period that perennial cool-season grasses would be most dormant is one strategy that may be able to boost production. An increase in production during this time period could result in an overall increase in total land area biomass production to be able to maintain or increase the number of cow units per acre of pastureland

Can Modified Intensive Early Stocking Be Used in Cow/Calf Production?

Intensive early stocking (IES) was introduced nearly a half century ago in eastern Kansas and has since been adopted as a major management tool to increase animal production, efficiency of production, and economic return on tallgrass rangelands. These increases have come almost exclusively by using IES with young stocker animals. Intensive early stocking and its gains have been proven effective repeatedly in published research. A similar modified IES (MIES) system has increased production efficiency of stocker animals on western Kansas rangelands. Perennial grassland acres for cattle production, as well as cattle numbers, are declining. Using management practices that mimic a MIES system to increase beef cattle stocking density for breeding herds may allow producers to maintain or increase cow numbers for beef production on fewer perennial grassland resources. The objective of this project is to compare cow and calf growth and performance in traditional continuous season-long stocking (SLS) and MIES beef production systems

Using Modified Intensive Early Stocking for Grazing Replacement Heifers

Even though Kansas native rangelands often have steep slopes or shallow soils not conducive to many other uses other than livestock grazing, native rangeland and peren­nial grassland acres in Kansas have been declining. Cropland acreage over this same time frame has increased, and so has rangeland fragmentation into small ranchettes and urbanization. Producers may be looking to increase production efficiency on a shrink­ing forage land base. The use of intensive early stocking (IES) is one the most efficient stocking strategies to produce beef on rangeland acres. The IES strategy has been widely used in eastern Kansas and is capable of increasing beef production by 30-40% com­pared to continuous season long stocking (SLS). In western Kansas, IES and continuous SLS have resulted in similar beef production. However, a modified IES (MIES) system, which combines greater early season animal density on high-quality forage of IES, and late season individual animal selectivity for a high-quality diet of SLS, has increased beef production by 26% compared to continuous SLS alone on western Kansas rangelands. Even with this significant increase in production efficiency, stocker production is largely overshadowed by cow/calf production in terms of acres grazed in western Kansas. The question then arises, can the efficiencies of greater beef stocker production from modi­fied IES be utilized with reproductive animals of the cow/calf production system? The purpose of this study was to compare the use of continuous SLS and MIES in a replace­ment heifer system for western Kansas

Performance of Beef Replacement Heifers Supplemented With Dried Distillers Grains With Solubles Versus a Mixture of Soybean Meal and Finely Ground Sorghum Grain

Costs of feed, labor, and equipment to develop heifers in a traditional confined feeding system are relatively high. Producers can greatly reduce input costs by developing heifers on dormant native range; however, heifers are unable to consume sufficient protein from the forage base. Suboptimal protein intake will reduce forage digestion and result in poor performance. Supplemental protein is required during these times to increase forage intake and digestion. The most efficient way of providing supplemental protein to heifers consuming lowquality (\u3c7% crude protein) forage is by feeding high-protein supplements (\u3e30% crude protein). Producers traditionally have used high-quality oilseed meals to supplement the necessary protein, but expansion of the ethanol industry has made dried distillers grains with solubles (DDGS) a potentially less expensive supplement option for producers in corn- and sorghum-producing areas. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of daily supplementation of DDGS vs. a mixture of soybean meal and finely ground sorghum grain on performance of replacement heifers grazing low-quality dormant native range

Performance of Beef Replacement Heifers Supplemented with Dried Distillers Grains or a Mixture of Soybean Meal and Ground Sorghum Grain

The feed, labor, and equipment costs of developing heifers in a confined feeding system are relatively high. High Plains beef producers can reduce input costs by developing heifers on dormant native range; however, heifers are typically unable to consume sufficient crude protein (CP) from the low-quality (\u3c 7% CP) forage base. Insufficient dietary protein reduces forage digestion and performance potential of growing heifers. Supplementing protein when forage quality was poor has previously been reported to increase forage intake and forage digestibility, which resulted in acceptable levels of performance. An efficient means of supplying supplemental protein to heifers consuming low-quality forage is through the use of supplements with relatively high crude protein concentrations (\u3e 30% CP). Traditionally, producers have used oilseed meals in this capacity, but with the expansion of the ethanol industry, dried distillers grains with solubles (DDG) have become widely available as an alternative protein source for producers in corn and sorghum-producing regions. Adequate heifer body weight and body condition score at first breeding are essential to minimize age at first calving and to increase lifetime productivity. Therefore, the objective of our study was to evaluate the effects of supplementation of DDG or an approximately isonitrogenous mixture of soybean meal and ground sorghum grain on growth and reproductive performance of replacement heifers grazing low-quality, dormant native range