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Athens, TX | I have some bottom pasture that I plant in oats / ryegrass for the winter that I would like to plant a summer annual in. I have planted sorghum / sudan the past 2 years and find that hard to manage and the calves did not like it when it got too tall. There was quite a bit of volunteer crabgrass that they would eat first, so I got to thinking that it might be better to plant the whole thing in an improved crabgrass (Red River or Quick and Big). I plant the oats by light disking then drilling and broadcast the ryegrass with the fertilizer once the oats are 6 inches. Ryegrass plays out in May most years. I can irrigate this area with K-line but Sorghum was too tall to drag the lines over it except right after grazing it down.
My questions are, is crabgrass a good option for summer grazing after oats / ryegrass? Would it come back once established? Other concern is weed control. Goat weeds come up really thick in here during the summer. I cannot apply any organophosphate weed spray because of how I market. I can use a weedwiper with roundup but would really like a thick stand of grass to choke out the goat weeds.
What do yáll think? Crabgrass is $9 / lb so would be fairly expensive trial but worth it if it will come back every year.
By the way, I am in east Texas. | |
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