The dry, brown grass crunches under my boots as I walk through our pasture. It’s depressing. All our pastures have dried up except one: the native warm-season grass pasture. It’s thriving. It flourishes in warmer temperatures and can tolerate drought conditions.

Native warm-season grasses ready to be cut for hay at our River Farm in Swoope. Photo credit R. Whitescarver

In the mid-Atlantic states, I recommend planting 15 to 20 percent of a livestock grazing farm with native warm-season grasses.

For the second year in a row, our farm is in “extreme” drought according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. Our pasture grasses are short, and they turned brown from lack of rain and excessive heat. Sadly, we had to start feeding our cows hay because they were out of grass. Every livestock farmer in our area is in search of hay to replace the hay they are using now so they will have feed this winter.

The entire Shenandoah Valley is in a D3 Extreme Drought area. Photo credit Lindsay Johnson, National Drought Mitigation Center

The USDA’s Livestock Forage Disaster Program helps livestock producers suffering from drought by providing monetary relief for buying hay. We enrolled in this program at our local USDA Service Center.

Cool-Season Grasses

Most pastures in the mid-Atlantic states are dominated by cool-season grasses such as Tall Fescue, Orchard Grass, and Bluegrass. These grasses grow best in the cooler months during spring and fall and will shut down or go dormant and turn brown when we have hot days, warm nights, and little moisture. Producers in our region prefer the cool-season grasses because we have more cool months than warm ones.

Native Warm-Season Grasses

In 2012, we converted one of our cool-season pastures at the River Farm in Swoope to native warm-season grasses. We planted two varieties each of Switchgrass and Big Bluestem. These grasses grow best in the warmer months of summer and can withstand drought conditions because their roots grow deeper into the soil than cool-season grasses.

I went to the River Farm a few weeks ago to check on the warm-season pasture. I was amazed at how lush, green, and tall it was. The blades of the grasses were up to my chest, and the seed heads were over six feet high. We decided to cut this field for hay.

Native warm-season grasses being cut for hay in July. Photo credit R. Whitescarver

Native warm-season grass hay. Photo credit R. Whitescarver

Nutritional Value of Warm-Season Grass Hay Compared With Cool-Season Grass Hay

Cool-season grass hay averages between 55 and 68 percent Total Digestible Nutrients (TDN), depending on when it’s cut; the earlier it’s cut the higher the TDN. We sent a sample of our native warm-season grass hay to a lab to analyze its nutrition. To our delight, it came back within the same range, at 55.9 percent. The crude protein was 6.7 percent. Cool-season grass hay averages between 5 and 9 percent for fair quality large round bales.

Wildlife Benefits of Native Warm-Season Grasses

I have logged over 30 species of birds that use our pastures for food such as seeds, insects, worms, and voles. Some birds—including Bobolinks, Eastern Meadowlarks, Northern Bobwhite Quail, and Grasshopper and Savannah Sparrows—nest in the grasses. Native warm-season grasses aren’t mature enough to harvest until after these birds have nested and fledged their young, and therefore, no harm comes to them when we cut the grasses for hay.

A male Eastern Meadowlark. Photo credit Marshall Faintich

Most of our grassland bird populations are in steep decline especially the Eastern Meadowlark. Its population has declined by 75 percent since 1970. There are many Best Management Practices to help our grassland birds such as delayed harvest and stockpiling summer pastures. Virginia Working Landscapes has a program to assist producers seeking to help our grassland birds.

Establishing Native Warm-Season Grasses

I recommend that 15 to 20 percent of a grazing farm be native warm-season grasses because they fill a gap during the warmest part of the year. The USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service offers technical and financial assistance to convert cool-season pastures and cropland to native warm-season grasses. Contact your local USDA Service Center for more information.

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