Description:

• Organic Tall Fescue (Festuca arundinacea) is a cool-season perennial bunchgrass.
  
• It establishes rapidly, withstands trampling, tolerates summer drought and produces fall pasture when other grasses become dormant.
  
• Since the early 1970s, Organic Tall Fescue has been the predominant cool-season grass in the US, occupying nearly 35 million acres.
  
• Its wide use is due to several favorable characteristics: Adaptation to a wide range of soil conditions, good forage yield, long grazing season, excellent persistence, and tolerance of low-input management.
  
• Organic Tall Fescue closely resembles Organic Meadow Fescue.
  
• Approximately 227,000 seeds per pound

Best Uses:

• The principal use of Organic Tall Fescue in the United States is in cow-calf enterprises. Organic Tall Fescue provides abundant forage for spring-born calves. Calves can be kept on pastures until fall weaning by including legumes in pasture mixtures, feeding energy or hay supplements, or stocking on irrigated cool-season or warm-season grasses during the summer.
  
• Dry cows also can be over-wintered on Organic Tall Fescue pastures with supplemental hay. Producers can stockpile summer and autumn vegetative growth for deferred grazing in late fall and winter. Stockpiled Organic Tall Fescue loses less quality than other cool-season grasses. It remains relatively green and of acceptable quality into early winter.
  
• Makes an excellent alfalfa companion to alfalfa hay fields due to its rapid regrowth and drought tolerance.

Adaptation:

• Organic Tall Fescue grows best on deep, moist soils that are heavy to medium in texture and high in organic matter.
  
• More drought and heat tolerant than most other cool-season grasses adapted to the upper Midwest.
  
• It grows on soils that vary from strongly acidic (pH 4.7) to alkaline (pH 9.5). Best growth occurs when soil pH is maintained between 5.5 and 8.5.
  
• Organic Tall Fescue is suitable for use in soils ranging from excessively drained to poorly drained. It tolerates long periods of flooding (24 to 35 days) when temperatures are below 81°F.

Management considerations:

• Organic Tall Fescue is like two different grasses; the first cutting and then the rest of the cuttings. The first cutting should be taken based on the maturity of the grass. Subsequent cuttings should be based on the maturity of the alfalfa.
  
• Animal performance is better when the variety grown is endophyte-free.
  Endophytes reduce forage palatability and animal performance.

Planting Dates:

• Early to late spring, late summer.
  
• In southern MN: March 15 – May 15, August 1st - August 15th
  

Seeding Rate:

• 10-30 lbs/acre alone. 5-15 lbs/acre with alfalfa.
  
• Drill ¼ - ½ inch deep in a well-prepared seedbed. Can be drilled (best method), broadcast or bulk-spread and lightly dragged in.
  
• About 14 days to emergence.

Fertility requirements:

• Although tolerant of low fertility conditions, Organic Tall Fescue requires moderate fertility levels for good production. Fertilization should be based on a soil test.
  
• Organic Tall Fescue is very responsive to nitrogen (N) fertilization. For each pound of N added (up to about 250 lb N/acre/yr), per-acre yields of dry matter increase by 20 to 30 lb. Economical levels of N fertilizer are in the range of 160 lb N/acre/yr.
  
• Applications of total yearly N should be split as evenly as possible throughout the growing season. Make the first application at the beginning of the season and the others after each harvest except the last. Fertilization with N (50 lb/a) following each harvest cycle assures rapid re-growth of leaves and roots. This produces greater annual yield and better quality forage than does a single, early spring application.

Pasture management

• Grazing management should ensure large quantities of high-quality forage, rapid regrowth, and long-lived stands.
  
• For pastures, good management involves allowing plants to grow to 6 to 8 inches, grazing to 2 inches, and providing a regrowth period.
  Following each grazing or mechanical harvest cycle, fertilize with nitrogen at 50 lb/a.
  
• A recovery period of 3-5 weeks after cutting or grazing that allows regrowth of 6 to 8 inches is a reasonable rule of thumb for Organic Tall Fescue.
• Longer regrowth gets very fibrous, decreasing livestock intake.
  
• In pastures, regrowth can be utilized as frequently as 14 to 21 days or may require more than 40 days, depending on grazing period, temperature, and moisture.
  
• New seedings should not be grazed until fully established.
  
• Cut at least two hay crops prior to grazing.

Management for Hay

• Organic Tall Fescue routinely is conserved as hay or silage for late fall and winter feed.
  
• High yields of 6 to 7 tons of dry matter/acre are possible with a high management levels.
  
• A good alfalfa companion as it matures at a similar rate. NOTE: The first cutting should be taken based on the maturity of the grass. The rest of the cuttings should be done based on the maturity of the alfalfa.
  
• For dairy or sheep, cut forage grasses in the early boot stage.
  
• For beef cows, harvest can be delayed until heading stage. Yields are higher than in the boot stage, and forage is of acceptable quality for non-lactating livestock.
  
• Ensiling allows harvesting at an earlier stage, resulting in higher nutritive value.
  
• Organic Tall Fescue can provide 2-3 cuttings/year.

Organic Tall Fescue
http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu

Organic Tall Fescue
http://extension.missouri.edu/publications/DisplayPub.aspx?P=G4646