D: Fall pasture management
may not be at the
top of your priority list
now, because you might
think, “Well I got time, I
don’t have to do that quite
yet,” but guess what?
Harvest is coming up as
well, so getting this taken
care of now could be really
important for your farm. B:
Alright, one of the big
questions we get from people
is, “When’s the best time to
control weeds out in my
pasture? Should I spray in
the spring or the fall?” And
I always say, “The best time
is always today! Whenever
the weed is growing, we want
to go kill it! So, I don’t
care if it’s the spring,
it’s the summer, it’s the
fall. It does not matter to
me. But the one key thing
that I’m going to tell you
is spray at least a couple
weeks before your first
killing frost. If you don’t
spray early enough, what’s
going to happen is your
herbicide won’t truly get
down all the way through the
extensive root system of
many of these perennials -
or sometimes even biennial
weeds - and you don’t get a
complete kill. So, what
we’re after here today is
not just to burn the top
growth, we’re after complete
control on every weed out in
that pasture, so hopefully,
you have a more productive
pasture next year. D: And
there are some new tools out
there, too, that you could
consider using on your farm.
One of those being DuraCor.
We talk a lot about
Milestone; that’s been a
really fun product to work
with - aminopyralid is the
active ingredient - it’s the
best product we’ve ever seen
on thistles. It’s fantastic
and like Brian said, it gets
down in the roots and kills
them. The problem is most
pastures don’t just have a
few thistle plants; they’ve
got a variety of weeds.
Using a product like DuraCor
has two different active
ingredients - one being
Milestone - for control of
things like thistles, but
the other is a new
component. B: Well the other
one is basically a 2,4-D
replacement, and let’s step
back for a second. For years
there was Grazon, that was
Tordon and 2,4-D. Then
GrazonNext - Milestone and
2,4-D. With the DuraCor,
it’s Milestone, and I’ll
just call it the new 2,4-D
replacement. Less drift,
little bit better efficacy.
So, we would encourage you
to at least be checking that
out on your farm or on your
ranch. The thing with two
mode of action products -
it’s fine if you have a
variety of weeds, but I’ll
be honest - I’m not a huge
believer in two mode of
action products when I have
patches of perennials. So,
here is what I would
encourage you to do - number
one - if thistle is your
number one problem on the
farm, you just go out there
with straight Milestone at
seven ounces - yes, it’s
going to cost more than
DuraCor or GrazonNext, or
almost anything else, but
who cares? You’re after
complete control - not just
this year - but FOREVER.
FOREVER. And what I mean by
that is - what happens
commonly is you go out to
your pasture, you burn the
weed down a little bit, and
it keeps coming back - same
weed - year after year after
year because these thistles
are either perennial or
biennial. So, you’ve got to
get ahead of them, you’ve
got to get complete control.
Milestone’s the thistle
product. Tordon is an
excellent product if let’s
say you have leafy spurge or
a number of other
perennials. If you have
brush species - that’s where
we’d probably have you move
over to something like
Remedy Ultra - that’s
triclopyr - or potentially
you could go Vastlan; that’s
going to be a little bit
lower drift product, similar
to Remedy Ultra, like a
triclopyr. There’s also
Chaparral. And that’s a
combination of the active
ingredients you’ll find in
Ally and Milestone. So,
you’ve got a number of
different products there for
perennial weeds, and for
longer term control, that’s
usually what I talk to
people about. D: Brian, I
can’t believe it, you
haven’t even mentioned your
favorite pasture product
yet! B: Well, Distinct is my
favorite pasture product,
but that, Darren, is for
annual weeds; maybe biennial
weeds. So, the perennials –
again, you’ve got to go with
something stronger; you’ve
got to go with something
that’s going to cost a
little more money like
Milestone or Tordon; that’s
the way to go there. But the
annual weeds - maybe some
biennials - I really do love
Distinct – it’s just Status
without the corn safener,
and it’s one-third the price
of Status. Now a lot of
people will say, “2,4-D or
dicamba, that’s the way I
want to go,” But try to find
the newer formulations,
especially on the 2,4-D.
Something like Enlist One or
Freelexx - you don’t have
all that drift and
volatility of the old 2,4-D.
I’d just really be thinking
about that, because very
commonly, out of pastures,
we see drift and volatility
that hurts cropland. D: Well
weed control is one big
issue, and now is a great
time to get that under
control on your farm, but
the other things that I
wanted to focus on are the
health of the grass and the
fertility of the soil. So
when we look at grazing well
into the fall, as
temperatures begin to
decline, and we start seeing
daytime temperatures down
into the 60’s, or even
lower, that’s a great time
to get some RyzUp SmartGrass
out on your pasture. Now
this is gibberellic acid
that’s going to increase
stem elongation and lengthen
your grazing window. It’s
been a game changer for a
lot of ranches that are
starting to run a little bit
short on pasture and want to
get the cattle out on
pasture longer and have some
more grass for them to eat.
B: In terms of fertility we
would just encourage you –
soil test out in your
pasture. That’s a really
good way to go, and then
look at everything - not
just nitrogen - but look at
sulfur and boron, potassium,
phosphorus. There are a lot
of nutrients where you could
really help your overall
pasture production. We say
it very often, but so many
pastures around the country
- and really around the
world - are neglected. If we
just properly fertilize. We
use RyzUp SmartGrass. We do
some rotational grazing. If
you do the right things,
it’s very common to double
your grass production. And
while you may not look at
grassland as a cash crop, I
do, because the more grass
you have, the more you’re
going to overall increase
your net income. D: The
other thing is drought
tolerance, Brian - as we
feed the grass properly, it
uses less water. So, we can
produce more grass with less
rainfall with the proper
fertility. So, managing
weeds - very important in
drought situations too,
because weeds are very
inefficient users of light
and of nutrients. If we
manage the weeds, we get
good grass growth well into
the fall with something like
RyzUp SmartGrass, and then
we also manage that pasture
- as you mentioned - with
rotational grazing and
fertility; we can do a great
job out in the pasture, and
now is the time to get these
things done. B: Well coming
back to weeds – we’ll talk
about our Weed of the Week
next.
