Coming this spring–

This spring we will for the first time be offering our own summer annual forages. RAM hybrid pearl millet BMR and RAM sorghum sudan BMR will be available in very limited quantities.

Both of these hybrids are “brown mid rib”(BMR). The BMR trait significantly raises the palatability of the plants. For example with the sorghum sudan producers can expect 75-100% increases in daily gain over conventional sorghum sudan. Producers using hybrids with this trait are really seeing a lot of difference.

Our hybrid pearl millet is really a get summer annual for anyone wishing to graze or make hay. It is a sterile plant that grows between 5 and 6 feet tall. Irrigated producers can expect yields of 15-20 tons per acre. (Do not cut the plant lower or allow grazing lower than a height of 8 inches.) RAM hybrid pearl millet grows fast and will be flowering in 60-65 days. Planting rates are broadcast at 5-8 lbs to the acre on dry land or in irrigated or high moisture areas 15-20 lbs per acre. Our observations are that cattle prefer the BMR hybrid pearl millet over any of the conventional or BMR sudan grasses or sorghum sudan.

RAM Sorghum Sudan BMR gets to be between 6 and 7 feet tall and does make a grain. It is a very good multi purpose summer annual that can be grazed, cut for green chop and is a great quality silage. Under irrigation or in areas of good moisture producers can expect 20-25 tons of forage per acre. Planting rate are 5-15 lbs per acre on dry land and up to 40 lbs per acre on high moisture or irrigated land. For out and out tonnage of quality summer forage RAM Sorghum Sudan BMR is a great product.

Prine, Earlyploid tetraploid annual ryegrass update—

We have had several calls about all our Oregon crops.

I can not recall a year where we shipped less seed in July than we have this year.  Generally we have shipped annual ryegrass from the valley by now and fescue and perennial ryegrass has begun to ship. We came into this year with fewer acres of seed production in the Willamette Valley than I can remember. To top that off this year there was hardly any inventory of some major crops like K-31 and annual ryegrass so there was no carry over seed to start the shipping season. Now the Valley is experiencing an unusually cool and wet summer so harvest is about 4 weeks late.

We don’t expect this to significantly impact the supply of Prine and the introduction of Earlyploid BUT shipping is going to be very hectic as we get the seed to the cleaners and then onto the rail cars. Certainly by the first of September we will have what we need to start the season.

Earlyploid is our new tetraploid annual ryegrass. It looks a lot like Prine in that it is big plant. What makes it different is that it matures about 3 weeks earlier than Prine. This is good for people who want their ryegrass to move on out so their permanent pastures can grow in. Many of these people had to plant diploids in the past but now with Earlyploid available they too can take advantages of the yield advantages of good, disease resistant tetraploids and still bring their permanent pastures on as they wish. We will have a relative small amount of this seed this year but we do still have some seed that has not been booked so give us a call if you want us to save some for you.

Thanks for you business  and call us and let us know how Ragan and Massey forages are doing for you.

RAM Forage Oats Survive Flooding Mississippi River

Many of our customers know that we produce our oats and wheat in area of Louisiana that borders the Mississippi River. We have had a nervous Spring! We are happy to report we got our seed off the fields and into safe storage and now the river is receding albeit not as fast as we would like.

Riata means earlier grazing

This is a field of UF-Riata bahia grass in Decatur County, Georgia. The picture was taken on April 3. The field was hit by a hard killing frost on 2/13/2011 and by a lighter frost on 2/18/2011. (click on the picture for a larger view)

Because UF-Riata is cold tolerant and has little sensitivity to day length, it starts growing as soon as the days are warm.

Around here and over in Decatur County we just don’t see much growth on other bahia pastures right now but Riata fields are producing great, high quality forage only 6 weeks after a killing frost.

The University of Florida has really done a great job breeding this new bahia grass. The advantages are clear — UF-Riata is the real deal and makes a dramatic difference in your grazing program.

Here is another picture made on the same day. (Click on the picture for a larger view.)

UF-Riata is the “real thing”

We are really impressed with the advantages UF-Riata has over other bahia grasses.

This year we took a seed crop in July, a hay crop in September and a hay crop in October before frost slowed it down.

It is easy to see the advantages of UF-Riata in the Spring and Fall. It is different from other Bahia grass because it is not photo period sensitive. What does that mean? Well researchers at the University of Florida found that bahia grass quits growing when the day length gets short. That is why sometime in September we see the old bahia grasses slow down and stop producing grass. Well UF-Riata isn’t like that. It wants to grow till frost and it wants to start growing as soon as the ground warms up in the Spring. We say most producer will gain 3-4 weeks of grazing in the Spring and 3-4 weeks of grazing in the fall. That is a lot of grazing! If you are cutting hay that could be two extra cuttings.

People are asking us how much to plant. You should be happy with 20 lbs. of seed per acre if you plant it on a good seed bed and do not plant it too deep and do a good job of dispersing the seed evenly. We planted one seed field in March and took a small seed crop off of it in September so with good moisture you should get a stand in the first year on spring planted seed. We have fall planted it and summer planted it. Each season presents different challenges. In  the fall it is best to plant it early enough to get it past the 2 leaf stage before winter. This way the plant has more root system to get through the winter and to get an early start on Spring growth. When spring planting expect to have cool season weed competition. When planting in the summer beware of drought. Those tiny seedling plants will have a hard time surviving long dry spells in hot weather but if there is adequate moisture UF Riata really grows well planted in the summer.

Call me if you have any questions and check back from time to time. I hope to keep the blog up and current from now on.

UF-Riata—A Major Improvement in Bahia Pastures

We feel very fortunate to have been chosen to market UF-Riata bahia grass. Riata represents a major break through for cattlemen in the Southern United States and in Sub Tropic climates worldwide.

What is unique about Riata is that it is not as day length sensitive as other Pensacola type bahia grasses. This means Riata will continue to graze latter in the fall and will start to graze earlier in the Spring. We are all familiar with how Pensacola Bahia growth almost stops after September hay cutting. Well Riata will continue to grow until the weather is too cool. Producers can expect 4 to 6 weeks more grazing with Riata than with other bahia grasses.

We have about 200 acres of seed production under irrigation in South Georgia. This will be our first seed crop and we expect it to be light. We should harvest in late summer and have seed available by September.  We are maintaining a list of those interested in acquiring seed so please call us and let us reserve your seed now. 800-264-5281

(Producers must agree not to harvest Riata for seed purposes before we will deliver the seed. We will not be selling seed for seed production purposes.)

TangiPak and Compare.N.Save

TangiPak is our newest company.  The company will package and formulate lawn and garden chemicals. Tom and I just built a new 48000 sq. foot building to house TangiPak and our equipment should here and set up to go by the end of October.

 

TangiPak Building Ponchatoula La.

 TangiPak will package our new line of chemicals–Compare.N.Save—which we are taking orders for now.  Our strategy with Compare.N.Save is to be formulator direct to our customer. Our first two products are Glyphosate and Tree and Shrub Drench with Imidacloprid. The labels for both of these products will soon be on our website in pdf form.  Our intentions are to add more products through the year so be sure to check often to take advantage of our formulator direct products.