Air April 12, 2000

Thank you Mark, and good morning everyone. For you corn growers, the current soil temperature data from Manhattan shows a recent weekly high of 55.5 a low of 48.6 and an average of 52. That’s up about two degrees in the past week. Sounds like corn planting conditions to me.

I’m sure I’ll get a few chuckles out of this, BUT it looks like it’s about time to start burning pastures. I’ve been out checking pasture grasses, specifically I’ve been digging up big bluestem and indiangrass plants and looking at new shoots. We want to burn when these grasses have new shoots 1 to 1.5 inches in length. A week ago today they were just coming through the ground. Now they are just getting to the proper length. But you tell me if you wait any longer the pasture will be too green too burn! Well, it sounds to me like you are paying the price for burning too early for too many years. When you burn will have a very big influence on what the species composition of your pasture is. The grasses that have nice new shoots about an inch long when you burn will be the ones most likely favored by the fire. An early burn favors things like Kentucky bluegrass, little bluestem and many of the annual bromes or cheat. These can all produce some very high quality forage, but not necessarily a whole lot of it. The two grasses that you really want to encourage, are Big Bluestem and Indiangrass. These are both high quality grasses with a lot of production potential. I can probably walk through your pasture with you in late summer or before you burn in the spring and pretty well tell you about when you’ve been burning in the past. Now, if you are also trying to control woody plants other than cedars, then the earlier you burn, the less control you will get. You need to burn as late as possible to get the most control from burning. Burning early will also increase the amount of forbs present in your pasture which is why those managing grass for wildlife will burn earlier than we should. Remember, in the long run, you will do more long term damage by burning early than you will by burning late.

This is Chuck Otte, Geary County Extension Agent, with Ag Outlook 2000.

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