– Haley Shoemaker, OSU Extension AGNR Educator, Columbiana and Mahoning Counties (originally published in The Ohio Cattleman)

It can be tempting to set pasture management on cruise control once summer rolls around – plants are still lush and green from the springtime, and tasks such as making hay tend to bump grazing rotations down the priority ladder.  However, if a producer has grazed for any amount of time, they know all too well the impact hot and dry weather can have on a forage stand if managed improperly.  As the traditional July heat builds and we head into a period of slower growth and increased recovery time for our pastures, there are some tried and true management practices that can maintain pasture productivity and success for grazing seasons to come.

Resist the urge to overgraze

There’s a long-held principle within the grazing community known as “take half, leave half”.  In essence, this means that grazing should ideally begin once a pasture reaches an average of 8-10 inches of plant height.  Once that forage is grazed to approximately 4 inches (think pop can height), cattle should be moved to the next pasture.  One of the primary benefits here is the preservation of root mass – when at least half of the leaf area of the plant is left, photosynthesis can still occur, and plants have the chance to Continue reading Summer’s here, now’s the time to step up those pasture management practices! →

– Christine Gelley, Agriculture and Natural Resources Educator, Noble County OSU Extension

Horsenettle is a member of the tomato family, and the berries are not safe to eat.

A couple pesky and prickly weeds that often go unnoticed until mid-summer in pastures and hayfields are common cocklebur and horsenettle. Both have the potential to cause toxicities if consumed in high enough amounts. As mentioned in prior articles, the most common situations where animals are poisoned by toxic plants occur when there isn’t enough good forage to eat. Overgrazed pastures or forced feeding of hay containing toxic plants are more often the cause of a poisoning than the plant itself. The amount of plant material that mut be consumed to create a negative reaction depends on the species, age, and stage of the animal and the plant.

Horsenettle is a member of the Solanaceae (tomato) family. It’s leaves and flowers are similar in appearance to tomatoes, except the leaf midvein on the underside of the leaf is lined with sharp spines. The berries of the plant will appear similar to yellow cherry tomatoes when mature. Although they look safe to eat, they are not. While all Continue reading Prickly Pasture Pests →

– Christine Gelley, Agriculture and Natural Resources Educator, Noble County OSU Extension

This ‘native’ is not poisonous, and does have pollinator value.

July is the time for questions about ironweed, which is a common native perennial plant from the aster (daisy) family readily found in the Ohio and Mississippi valleys. It grows from three feet up to ten feet tall, depending on the specific species (of which there are seventeen in North America). It generally bears clusters of purple to magenta flowers at the peak of the plant’s stalk that are highly attractive to many pollinators.

I am anticipating that you’re already thinking something like – “What! It’s native!? But it is so awful. I have got to do something about it in my pastures.”

It is true that ironweed can become a significant agricultural pest in areas with limited soil disturbance. It is especially displeasing to pasture managers that see it as an eyesore in the pasture mix, towering above the grasses and legumes that most livestock prefer to graze. Ironweed typically gets a start in Continue reading Ironweed Problems and Solutions →