The lure for high-producing, warm-season forage pushes Bermudagrass past its traditional northern limits.

For years, you could almost gauge winter severity by how far Bermudagrass moved north of the southern one-third of Missouri. In years with relatively mild winters, the warm-season perennial crept north by a county or two. Then, after a couple of colder-than-average winters, Bermudagrass retreated southward.

Now, a new hybrid, Ozark, promises to push the Bermudagrass belt north by 150 miles or more.

“Ozark is the most cold tolerant Bermudagrass available today,” said Rob Kallenbach, University of Missouri state forage specialist. “It has thrived at Elsberry, in northeast Missouri, for 10 years now and consistently produces high yields of high quality forage. My standard recommendation for Ozark is the southern two-thirds of Missouri, for a consistently productive stand, and we may be able to move it even farther north.”

Ozark was developed at Oklahoma State University (OSU) as a joint effort of OSU, University of Missouri, University of Arkansas, Kansas State University, USDA-ARS and the Noble Foundation of Ardmore, Okla. Three years ago, it was released by the Missouri Agricultural Experiment Station. Production of foundation sprigs (rooted cuttings) is under the direction of Missouri Foundation Seed Stocks and Oklahoma Foundation Seed Stocks.

“Last year was the first year we had enough sprigs produced to actively promote Ozark,” said Kallenbach. “But we’re getting more sprig producers all the time.”

Bermudagrass is a warm-season perennial (native to Africa, not Bermuda), sod-forming grass that spreads by stolons and rhizomes. It can grow to a height of 2 feet. A big advantage: Bermuda is most productive from June to August, when the quality and quantity of cool-season grasses decline. Also, production is more uniform through late spring and summer than most other warm-season grasses.

“Bermudagrass is pretty site-specific; it does best on deep, well-drained soils,” said Kallenbach.

“In that respect, it’s much like alfalfa, although Bermudagrass doesn’t have as many disease and insect pests. But you need almost an alfalfa-production mentality to reap the benefits of Bermudagrass,” he said.

And that good management needs to start at the beginning. Bermudagrass should be sprigged (or planted) into a well-tilled, firm seedbed. Like most grasses, it does best at a soil pH of 5.5 or higher. Phosphorus and potassium should be applied to soil test and incorporated.

“Bermudagrass typically is established in April or May, although later plantings can work if soil moisture is adequate,” said Kallenbach.

Hybrids usually are established by sprigs, which are live vegetative cuttings. Sprigs, sold by the bushel, have a short shelf life. Kallenbach recommends that they be planted within 24 hours after they are harvested.

Derriell Brooks, a dairyman and hay producer in Laclede County, Mo., wasn’t taking any chances when he established a Bermudagrass stand in the late 1990s. Brooks sprayed out a stand of fescue, worked up a good seedbed, then sprigged “Hardie,” an F1 hybrid.

“I went to Oklahoma, picked up the sprigs and put them in that same day, with a sprigger borrowed from the Dade County Soil and Water Conservation District,” Brooks recalled. “I sprigged the Bermudagrass on June 6, which was a bit later than I had intended. But we had cows grazing it in early August.

“NRCS recommends 20 bushels of sprigs per acre, but I put in 30 bushels,” he added. “The grass takes off slowly, and even after it’s growing, it doesn’t look as if it would produce much hay. But it’s deceiving. On the first cutting last spring, 6 acres produced 21 tons of hay.”

Bermudagrass is a hungry user of plant nutrients, Brooks has found. Each ton of hay removes about 50 pounds of N, 10 pounds of P and 40 pounds of K.

“We went to Bermudagrass partly to take care of the nutrients in cow manure, and it has worked well that way,” he said. “But we also wanted something that would make dependable summer grazing, and Bermudagrass has saved our bacon more than once during hot, dry summers.

It produces when nothing else is doing anything.”

While he still grazes Bermudagrass to fill hot-weather gaps, Brooks has turned the grass into another cash crop: horse hay.

“I sell a lot of my Bermudagrass to horse owners,” he said. “It makes great horse hay—on a par with bromegrass. I bale it in small square bales for horse people.

“When I’m grazing Bermudagrass, I turn in when it’s about 6 inches tall, and don’t graze it any shorter than about 3 inches,” he added. “I don’t leave cows on it overnight; I don’t want them lying on the grass for any length of time. And I don’t graze or mow Bermudagrass after Sept. 1.”

Brooks has good management counsel, said Rob Kallenbach. “Some producers make the mistake of waiting too long to start grazing Bermudagrass,” he said. “Don’t wait until you graze out the fescue. By then, Bermudagrass will be beyond the ideal time to start grazing.

“With hay, the first Bermudagrass cutting usually comes off about June 1,” he added. “Plan to mow every 28 to 30 days after that. Bermudagrass produces an amazing number of tillers; you need to mow it early and often.”

Early weed control can pay with the slow-starting grass. Kallenbach recommends Diuron, at 1.5 to 2 pounds active ingredient per acre, sprayed right after a field is sprigged. “You can use 2,4D each year, if it’s needed,” he said. “Or you can make a prescribed burn of the stand well before greenup.”

“Bermudagrass is a fairly high-management forage,” he added. “But it’s the most productive warm-season grass we have when it’s taken care of. Cattlemen can add an extra 100 to 200 pounds of beef per acre per season with Bermudagrass—again, with good management.”

True hybrid Bermudagrasses produce little or no seed. However, several open-pollinated varieties and blends may work for producers in the southern quarter of Missouri and on south.

“The right seeded variety can work well, if you establish it right,” said Rob Kallenbach. “Most yield 25 to 30 percent less than sprigged hybrids. Hybrids generally are bred for more production and they devote more energy to vegetative growth, rather than to making seed.”

Gary Fields, Barry County, Mo., cattleman, decided to go the seed route when he established 10 acres of Bermudagrass last spring.

“I didn’t know what to expect, and from what I’ve read and heard since, we probably did most things wrong,” said Fields. “But I have a great stand of grass.”

Here’s how he did it: In late summer, 2003, Fields killed out a stand of fescue with Roundup, plowed and worked up a seedbed and drilled rye in the 10-acre tract. His cattle grazed the rye through winter and early spring. In spring 2004, Fields sprayed the rye, brush-hogged the field and broadcast a forage Bermudagrass blend.

“We mixed the seed in with fertilizer and spread both seed and fertilizer at the same time,” said Paul Adams, manager, MFA Agri Services, Cassville, Mo. “We put on 10 pounds of seed per acre, which is on the high side of recommended seeding rates. But there was a lot of ryegrass residue on the ground, and we wanted to spread enough seed to get thorough contact with the soil. The seed cost was about $5.25 per pound.”

Fields seeded the Bermudagrass on May 23, 2004, and waited to see what happened.

“For the first month, it looked like I didn’t have anything,” he recalled. “Then, patches of grass began to come up. Over the next several days, it kept emerging—and growing.

“In early July, I clipped the Bermudagrass back to about 3 inches,” he added. “I turned 98 heifers on the 10 acres in early August and let them ‘flash-graze’ the grass. In mid-August, I top-dressed the pasture with nitrogen and magnesium. I believe I’ll have some top-quality summer pasture out of the Bermuda this year.”

For more information on Ozark, the new cold-tolerant Bermudagrass, log on to www.ozark.missouri.edu