Gage County
1115 West Scott St.,
Beatrice NE 68310
Phone: (402) 223-1384
FAX: (402) 223-1370

News Column

Paul C Hay, Extension Educator

Make Pasture Fertilizing Pay

Spring is approaching and cool-season grass pastures are greening-up. Cool season pastures include bromegrass and bluegrass pastures. So we should begin thinking about fertilizing. Let's see if it's worth it. Grass growth is stimulated by nitrogen fertilizer just like other crops. With nitrogen fertilizer costing over 60 cents per pound this spring, though, does it pay to fertilize pasture?

University of Nebraska - Lincoln research shows that you get one pound of additional calf or yearling gain for every pound of nitrogen fertilizer applied. This fertilization rule-of-thumb assumes that the amount applied is within our general recommendations, which are based on the potential amount of extra grass growth expected. This is affected mostly by moisture. It also assumes that your grazing management will efficiently harvest this extra growth.

Good brome grass pasture can use 70 - 80 pounds of nitrogen per acre very efficiently in Southeast Nebraska with the good spring soil moisture reserves we have this spring. If the brome pasture has eroded badly in the past from poor cropping practices, then a soil test will likely should the additional need for 40 pounds of phosphorus. Manure applications from cattle or horse lots can help fill this need as well as some of the nitrogen needs. Bluegrass pastures can only use 40-50 pounds on nitrogen and are usually damper lowlands where phosphorus is not likely needed. Cool season pastures should be fertilized in March or April.

Warm season native grass pasture of big bluestem, indiangrass, sideoats, and switchgrass should only be fertilized if they are in excellent condition with 40-50 pounds of nitrogen per acre applied in mid May to early June. Fertilizing poorer native pastures can switch them to cool season pastures and increase weed pressure.

If you fertilize pasture in spring and then let animals graze continuously on one pasture throughout the season, much of the extra growth is wasted. They trample, manure and foul, bed down on, and simply refuse to eat much of the grass. Eventually, less than one-third of the extra grass ends up inside your livestock.

To make fertilizer pay, manage grazing so more of what you grow actually gets eaten. This will happen if you subdivide pastures with some cross-fences and control when and where your animals graze. Give animals access to no more than one-fourth of your pasture at a time, and preferably less. Then graze off about one-half of the growth before moving to another subdivision. If your pastures aren't already subdivided into at least four paddocks, your fertilizer dollar might be better spent on developing more cross-fences and watering sites. Cattle at patchy grazers and will often ignore some areas in a large pasture while severely over grazing other areas. These is even more of a problem with horses. Follow these suggestions and more of your pasture growth will be eaten, and more profits will come from fertilizer and pastures.

View other Gage County News Columns & News Letters: http://gage.unl.edu/news/news.htm

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