By: Lucy Ray, Morgan County Extension Agent
Temperatures are getting cooler and we are not far from the beautiful fall foliage that makes this season one of my favorites! Along with being the perfect time for trail riding, fall is the perfect season to start thinking about your winter forage needs. Fortunately, in Georgia, we have several excellent options that will extend our grazing period. While hay is necessary in most operations for at least part of the year, good quality pasture is a cheaper, and in some ways healthier, source of forage for our animals. Bermudagrass, bahiagrass, and even crabgrass are excellent warm season grazing options for horses. In most cases overseeding with a winter annual forage or utilizing a mixed forage pasture that incorporates perennial cool season grasses is an excellent way to extend the grazing season. Let’s talk about some of the common cool season options that we see and hear about in Georgia!
Fescue
Fescue is one of the most common cool season grasses in the state. It is a perennial, meaning that it should return year after year. Fescue can be drilled in at 15-20 pounds/acre or broadcast at 20-25 pounds/acre. Because fescue thrives in cooler temperatures, it is not recommended for establishment in Georgia counties south of I-20 and may struggle in extremely hot and dry years north of this line. In a mixed forage pasture, it should be planted the year after Bermudagrass, as fescue does run the risk of shading out Bermuda that is not well established. Perhaps the most controversial part of a fescue pasture is the effect that it has on pregnant mares. Conventional tall fescue (Kentucky 31) has an endophyte that improves the grass’s ability to tolerate close grazing and drought. However, this same endophyte is harmful to pregnant broodmares and increases the risk of problems such as agalactia (lack of milk production) and a “red bag” delivery. It is necessary to remove broodmares from infected fescue pastures or hay 60-90 days before their due date to minimize these problems. The majority of naturally occurring fescue will have the toxic endophyte. Fortunately, there is a novel endophyte fescue that provides the same forage benefits and none of the harmful side effects as conventional fescue. The most well-known variety is Jesup Max Q or Jesup MaxQII (currently available). If you are interested in renovating a conventional fescue pasture into one of the novel endophyte varieties, contact your local UGA Extension Agent for more information.
Annual Ryegrass
Annual ryegrass is the standard when it comes to cool season annual forages. With costs from $35-$40/bag and a seeding rate of 15 pounds/acre when overseeding in a permanent pasture and 30 pounds/acre if it is to be the only forage in the pasture, ryegrass is an affordable cool season pasture forage option that germinates and grows well throughout the state of Georgia. Annual ryegrass can be confused with perennial ryegrass, but they are different species. Perennial ryegrass is not recommended for use in Georgia because it is not persistent past one season and has an endophyte that can cause neurological issues in horses in certain conditions. One of the best characteristics of ryegrass is that it will establish anywhere you can make good soil contact. Pastures, dry lots, dirt roads and the bed of your farm truck are fair game!! All kidding aside, ryegrass is such a popular winter forage because it’s affordable, easy to establish, and high in digestible nutrients. In some circles, horse owners have expressed concern about the sugar content (nonstructural carbohydrates) specifically in ryegrass for horses with metabolic disorders. Unfortunately, there is not a lot of conclusive data on the association between grass types and laminitis rates/metabolic issues in grazing forages for horses at this point. As a general rule, all cool season forages will have a higher nonstructural carbohydrate (NSC) content than warm season forages. An increased NSC content can be connected to higher blood glucose and insulin levels. It should be noted that NSC levels in grasses vary greatly and are influenced by environmental factors such as temperature and water availability. Although cool season forages tend to have higher NSC content than warm season forages, there is no research to show that one of these forage species or varieties is consistently higher than any other. For those with metabolically sensitive horses, weight and grazing management should be a discussion with your nutritionist and veterinarian.
Cereal Grains (Rye, Wheat, Oats)
There are several cereal grain options that are excellent for use in horse pastures. In a mixed pasture, rates from 60-90 lbs of seed/acre are recommended and at least 90 lbs of seed/acre if planting into a prepared seedbed. A few things to keep in mind are: (1) cereal rye (cereal rye is different than annual ryegrass!) is more tolerant of acidic soils than wheat or oats, (2) wheat tolerates heavy, wet or poorly drained soils better than either oats or rye, and (3) oats don’t tolerate very cold temperatures as well as either of the other aforementioned options. For this reason, many horse owners will use a mixture of cereal grains with ryegrass when overseeding pastures for fall. For example, oats tend to establish a stand faster than ryegrass, so a successful mixed stand of ryegrass and oats would give cool season options for a longer grazing period. Consider planting multiple forages on your farm to extend the grazing or harvest season. Rye is the earliest maturing winter annual and provides the most aggressive fall growth. Rye is followed by oats, and then wheat. Ryegrass has early, late, and season long varieties. However, even the early varieties are not as early as rye.
Orchardgrass
Orchardgrass is an excellent cool season perennial and very popular with most horse owners. It is less tolerant of poor drainage and drought than tall fescue and therefore is not as common in the Deep South. It requires more soil fertility than fescue. In addition, it prefers cooler temperatures than fescue and is only somewhat successful for many of the mountain counties in Georgia. Even in those counties, orchardgrass can struggle. In the lower South, stands do not persist for more than two years. However, where it is adapted, it can be an excellent, high quality pasture grass and hay crop.
Timothy
Timothy is one of those forages that we get asked about the most. Although it can be a good option for horses, particularly for the easy keepers, the reality is that it does not grow well in Georgia. Our climate is much too warm for the majority of the year. Although we can potentially establish a stand in the North Georgia mountains, it typically does not persist as a reliable forage. Since cost of establishing timothy is approximately $16-$20/acre, it is not a recommended forage in horse pastures in this area of the country.
Clovers
Clovers can be a welcome addition to pastures since, as a legume, they naturally fix nitrogen in the soil. There are both annual and perennial clover options available for use in Georgia. It is necessary to do a good job of weed control in pastures before trying to establish clover, as it is susceptible to most broadleaf herbicides one would use in this situation. Another factor to consider is that some horses have a clover “allergy” which results in them producing large amounts of saliva while grazing clover. This reaction is actually caused by a fungus that grows on many clover varieties during warm, moist weather.
Alfalfa
Alfalfa is another legume that can be established in Georgia pastures. Although we typically think of alfalfa as a hay crop, there are grazing tolerant varieties that can mix well with warm season forages such as Bermudagrass. As a general rule, alfalfa requires a bit more management than other forages, so care should be taken to make sure that there is appropriate soil fertility and a fairly neutral pH before planting. Even in good conditions, a stand of alfalfa will likely not last more than 5-7 years in Georgia.
Conclusion
Although hay consumption will likely never be completely eliminated in Georgia, we have several excellent cool season forage options for horse pastures from the mountains to the Coastal plains of South Georgia. For more information on planting annual forages for use in Georgia, please check out our new UGA Extension Bulletin here:
For further pasture questions and information on what grows well in your area, call your County Extension Agent at 1-800-ASK-UGA1.
*The excellent publication, Southern Forages, was used as the primary resource for this article. The author strongly recommends purchasing this book for further reading on pasture and hay production for a variety of different animals.*