Extension Matters
Volume 11 Number 2
What’s New in Extension
Cattle producers turned out for the Mississippi Forage and Grazing Management Conference in June.
Extension forage conference highlights best practices
Story and photos by Leah Bowers
Is it possible to cultivate livestock, forage, row crops, and cover crops all on the same farm?
If a producer has access to cropland, a realistic rotation plan, and an understanding of the best, most efficient management approaches, the answer is yes.
In June, the Mississippi Forage and Grazing Management Conference offered cattle producers the latest research implications for the best forage management approaches. More than 60 attendees learned about how to use non-traditional forage species, new varieties of corn and sorghum silage, how to improve hay’s nutritional value, planting and rotating cover crops, and grazing management.
Cattle producers from Alabama, Mississippi, and Tennessee attended the event, and 21 Mississippi counties were represented at the event, including Bolivar, Chickasaw, Covington, Forrest, Hinds, Jasper, Kemper, Lauderdale, Leake, Madison, Neshoba, Newton, Oktibbeha, Pearl River, Pontotoc, Rankin, Tishomingo, Union, Warren, Wayne, and Yazoo Counties.
Led by the Mississippi State University Extension Center for Forage Management and Environmental Stewardship along with the Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station, the conference was held at the Coastal Plain Branch Experiment Station in Newton. Dr. Rocky Lemus, Extension forage specialist, and Brett Rushing, Extension forage agronomist, hosted the conference.
As part of the field tour, attendees observed experimental trials that evaluate summer annuals. This also included a grazing trial comparing sunn hemp and prussic acid-free forage sorghum. Another stop along the tour focused on sorghum silage varieties that generate more tonnage and cost less to produce than traditional corn varieties. Finally, attendees were shown an integrated crop-livestock system, where researchers are comparing various tillage, crop rotations, and cover-crop grazing management treatments to evaluate the impacts of each on soil health, crop production, and revenue.
Participants also listened to several presentations from experts across the Southeast. Topics included pasture weed control, forage and livestock market updates, current issues of beef cattle diseases and management, utilizing forage variety trial data, and regenerative grazing. The Mississippi Cattlemen’s Association and Mississippi Farm Bureau shared policy updates, too.
