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Pasture systems that include cool‐ and warm‐season species have the potential to enhance tall fescue (TF) [Schedonorus arundinaceus (Schreb.) Dumort.] forage systems beyond their typical season. The objectives of this study were to incorporate crabgrass (Digitaria ciliaris Retz.) into TF swards and compare the production of monoculture TF to a binary mixture of crabgrass and TF as well as its effect with different sources of nitrogen (such as red clover [Trifolium pratense L.] or sunn hemp [Crotalaria juncea L.]). The experiment was conducted in Crossville, TN, in 2020 and 2021. The treatments were as follows: (1) TF + 0 N (T), (2) TF + ammonium nitrate (TA), (3) TF + red clover (TR), (4) TF + sunn hemp (TS), (5) TF + crabgrass + 0 N (TFC), (6) TF + crabgrass + ammonium nitrate (TCA), (7) TF + crabgrass + red clover (TCR), and (8) TF + crabgrass + sunn hemp (TCS). The plots containing red clover indicated a greater herbage mass (HM) and crude protein (CP) along with lesser neutral detergent fiber compared to the other treatments. Sunn hemp performed best during the mid‐summer, contributing to the increase of HM. Tall fescue swards that were mixed with crabgrass and a source of N (legumes or N fertilizer) had greater HM during the warm season, having the potential to decrease the stationarity of production. Thus, including crabgrass, red clover, and sunn hemp (grass and legumes, respectively) in TF pasture can be a great strategy to increase HM and improve nutritive value. Core Ideas: Inclusion of cool‐ and warm‐season grasses increases the seasonality of production.Crabgrass is a warm‐season grass that improves nutritive value in mixed pasture.Nitrogen fertilizer increases forage mass and nutritive value.Increasing the use of legumes in pastures may decrease the use of synthetic N fertilizer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rising prices of N fertilizer led to exploring cost‐saving efforts, such as intercropping cool‐ or warm‐season legumes serving as alternative sources of N for managing fall‐stockpiled tall fescue [Schedonorus arundinaceus (Schreb.) Dumort.; TF]. We aimed to evaluate red clover (Trifolium pratense L.; RC) and sunn hemp (Crotalaria juncea L.; SH) mixed with TF as alternative sources of N for stockpiling TF to increase productivity and animal performance. The experiment was conducted in Crossville, TN, in 2020 and 2021 and consisted of TF pastures mixed with RC (TRC) or SH (TSH), and TF fertilized with urea (TU). The experiment was divided into two periods: the pre‐grazing period (stockpiling) (April–October) and the grazing period (October–December). After the stockpiling period, Black Angus beef (Bos taurus) steers were used for the grazing period. The study evaluated the botanical composition, herbage mass (HM), nutritive value, steer average daily gain (ADG), and net returns (NR). The TRC pastures had a greater proportion of legumes compared to TSH plots in May, October, November, and December of both years. There were no differences among treatments for the total HM and nutritive value in 2020; however, in 2021, TU had greater HM at the beginning of the grazing period and greater average crude protein values compared to the other treatments. In both years, there were no differences among treatments for ADG or NR. Therefore, producers can make the same profit considering the beef steer price and the cost of conventional and alternative N sources. Core Ideas: Legumes have the potential to suppress weeds when mixed with grasses.Nitrogen is the most important nutrient that contributes to forage production.Stockpiling forages contributes to the extension of grazing season.Grass and legume mixtures can increase the nutritive value and, consequently, improve animal performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Living mulch (LM) production systems are gaining traction as an alternative to the use of annual cover crops in the southeastern United States, warranting research on the viability and functionality of this system. Our objective was to evaluate the benefits of LM in corn silage and grain production and to evaluate the potential of LM grazing during the corn (Zea Mays L.) growing season. The experiment was conducted in Spring Hill, TN in 2020 and 2021 and consisted of two mulch species, white clover (WC) (Trifolium repens L.) and a mixture of crimson clover (Trifolium incarnatum L.) and cereal rye (CCCR) (Secale cereale L.). Cull cows were used for the grazing periods (4 weeks before planting and after the harvest of corn). The study evaluated the botanical composition, mulch mass, nutritive value, corn silage and grain production, and cow average daily weight gain (ADG). The WC treatment had a greater weed control than CCCR. In 2020, when differences in mulch mass were observed, CCCR had greater mass than WC mass due to the weed presence. Meanwhile, in 2021, the mulch mass did not differ between WC and CCCR, with both treatments showing less mass in spring and early summer. Grain production was 30% less than silage in 2020 and 90% less in 2021. The ADG was only observed for WC (0.5 kg−1) paddocks. It was concluded that WC as LM has greater corn production than CCCR treatments. The LM for grazing is a beneficial strategy if feeding costs are greater than $2.22 head day−1. Core Ideas: White clover living mulch improves corn production systems.White clover living mulch promotes weed suppression in corn production.White clover enhances the average daily weight gain of cows. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the Southeastern United States, native warm‐season grasses (NWSG) are not harvested during autumn to rebuild root reserves, resulting in de facto stockpiled winter forage. Senesced NWSG forage is considered nutritionally inadequate by temperate livestock managers, but comparable forage is regularly utilized in rangeland systems. This experiment compared the forage characteristics of two NWSG pastures: switchgrass [Panicum virgatum L. (SG)] and a two species mixture of big bluestem/indiangrass [Andropogon gerardii Vitman/Sorghastrum nutans L. (BBIG)] to tall fescue [Festuca arundinacea Schreb. (TF)]. During two winter periods (January‐April), monthly samples were collected and measured for dry‐matter herbage mass (HM), crude protein (CP), in‐vitro true dry‐matter digestibility (48 hr; IVTDMD), neutral detergent fibre (NDF), NDF digestibility (dNDF) and lignin. Across sampling dates, TF provided adequate forage for low‐input animal maintenance (90.3 CP g/kg; 488 g IVTDMD/kg; 4,040 kg DM/ha), while SG had lowest nutritive values and greatest DM (21.0 g CP/kg; 366 g IVTDMD/kg; 7,670 kg DM/ha). Samples of BBIG had results intermediate to SG and TF (32.1 g CP/kg; 410 g IVTDMD/kg; 5,160 kg DM/ha). Leaf sub‐samples of NWSG indicated greater forage nutritive value compared to whole plant samples (e.g., SG: 65 vs 27 g CP/kg respectively). This indicates that selective grazing could allow superior outcomes to those expected from whole plant NWSG nutritive values. Although consistently nutritionally inferior to TF, further research could reveal strategies to make stockpiled NWSG economically useful to livestock managers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]