The last number of years have not been kind to perennial forage stands throughout many areas of the province. Excess moisture has resulted in water sitting in forage stands for prolonged periods of time and we have seen a significant amount of forage acres lost. Livestock and forage producers are now faced with the question - What do I do with these acres to bring them back into production?
This is not an easy answer and there are a number of factors that need to be considered before a decision is made. These include:
1) What is the size of the area affected? Is the area one large area or is it spread out in a series of potholes (0.25 to 1 acre) throughout the forage stand?
2) Is the area currently being used for hay or for pasture? Do you have the option of keeping livestock off the area as the forage re-establishes?
3) What forage species were present in the stand before the flooding?
4) Do you anticipate flooding again?
5) What type of soils are you dealing with? Is it good quality soil or is it subject to other factors such as salinity or crusting?
When a large area is affected, it is often much easier to deal with than a number of smaller areas that are spread out. On large acreages, this can be addressed by killing the existing vegetation and trying to establish species which are more adapted to the current conditions. If the area has dried considerably and you are able to get in with equipment, tillage or chemical control are both good options. If the area is still wet, it may be beneficial to wait until conditions are desirable for preparing a good seed bed and getting a good establishment.
Late fall plantings are often the best time to establish forages in saline or wet soils when drier soils permit machinery to cross with minimal difficulty. Seeds will germinate early the following spring. Once established, perennial forages can have water-depleting characteristics which can be used to draw down the water table, leading to decreased soil salinity near the soil surface.
For those areas where it is not feasible to go in with large equipment and re-seed, one strategy that can be used to suppress the foxtail barley and weeds is to smother the weeds and create a thatch layer with hay that has some mature seed set in it. This may be a good option when the area to be re-establish-ed is in a pasture and the non-affected acres are still needed as a grazing resource, or you don’t want to invest a lot purchasing forage seed. Winter feeding on these sites can also be an option, but careful consideration must be given to nutrient loading, runoff, soil characteristics and the groundwater.
Another strategy for re-establishing small areas of drowned out forages within a pasture situation is to broadcast seeds in the areas to be re-established and then allow hoof action to increase the seed to soil contact. While this strategy may require limited investment in terms of land preparation and seeding costs, it is likely to be less efficient in terms of the number of plants that actually establish for the amount of seed that is broadcast. This strategy on its own is not likely to address any foxtail barley or existing weeds issues.
What we have seen in the last couple of years with these flooded forage acres, is not only an increase in soil moisture but also an increase in salinity. In some cases, this has created a shift in forage species to more moisture tolerant species such as timothy, alsike or red clover; or in cases where salinity has increased, the shift has been to quackgrass or more likely foxtail barley.
The factor to keep in mind is that these flooded areas are often quite variable in terms of moisture and salinity gradients, and that a simple bromegrass-alfalfa blend that many producers use is not likely going to be well adapted to these areas. More complex blends that include species such as timothy, red or alsike clover (moisture tolerance), wildryes, slender, pubescent or western wheatgrass (salinity tolerance) or tall fescue (moderate moisture and salinity tolerance) will ensure that the gradients of moisture and salinity are covered. It is still important to include some of the more common species, such as bromegrasses and alfalfa, to establish on the drier and less saline areas, however, they are not likely going to be as dominant in the seed blend.
Bringing flooded forage acres back into production is not an easy task. Strategies that may work on one parcel of land may not work on another and the path to re-establishment is often one will require a multitude of techniques.
By Charlotte Ward, PAg, Regional Forage Specialist, Saskatchewan Ministry of Agriculture
For more information on this or other forage related topics, please contact Charlotte Ward, Regional Forage Specialist in the York-ton Regional Office, at 306-786-1608.
