Research Progress Report 342 Project 1428 (final) August, 1968

Supplemental Feeding of Steers on Tall Fescue Pasture Fertilized at Three Levels of Nitrogen
Randall Peterson, Jr., C.J. Kaiser, G.O. Mott, and K.J. Drewry
Southern Indiana Forage Farm, Agronomy, and Animal Sciences Departments

The 1967 grazing season was the fourth year of this trial which was designed to determine the effects of fertilizing tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea Schreb.) pastures with three levels of nitrogen and feeding a limited amount of crimped corn to the grazing steers. The fescue pastures were established on field 10 during 1962 and 1963 and the current field plan is illustrated on the following page.

Establishment of Pastures
All pastures were plowed in early July 1962 to destroy the existing vegetation and to obtain the uniform seedbed for a new seeding. The tall fescue was bandseeded with a press wheel drill at the rate of 15 pounds of Ky-31 an acre between August 30 and September 4 with 200 pounds per acre of 5-20-20. Excellent stands of fescue were obtained, although some sheet erosion occurred during the following winter and spring seasons. Attempts were made to establish ladino clover in one half of the pastures by broadcast seeding during the springs of 1963, 1964, and again in 1965. All attempts to establish ladino clover failed. For purposes of this report, the pastures during the 1967 season were essentially pure stands of tall fescue with small amounts of volunteer white clover and ladino clover.

Experimental Objectives
1. To determine the production of beef as influenced by three levels of nitrogen fertilization on tall fescue pasture.
2. To determine the influence of concentrate feeding upon the gain per animal, the carrying capacity of the pastures, and the beef production per acre.

Experimental Treatments
Three levels of nitrogen, 0, 75, and 150 pounds per acre were applied as a split application in the fall of 1966 and early spring of 1967 on the same pastures which have received a similar quantity of nitrogen annually beginning in 1958. Crimped corn was fed at the rate of 1 pound per 100 pounds of body weight on one-half of the pastures. On the remainder of the pastures no grain was fed. The treatments in this trial represented a 2x3 factorial set in four replications. The pastures were arranged in a split plot design -- the main plots being the grain variable and the nitrogen levels the split plot feature.

The tester animals were yearling Hereford steers which were wintered to gain about

PURDUE UNIVERSITY • Agricultural Experiment Station • Lafayette, Indiana