October 27, 2008

"In July 2008 I put my Heifers out to graze the Beef Bank pasture for 3 weeks. These cows will normally gain about 1.5 lbs per head per day while grazing. After the first week of grazing the Beef Bank paddocks, I could definitely see that they were packing on a lot of weight. As it turns out, they gained an average of just over 2 lbs/head/day from the High Sugar Grass Pasture! I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it with my own two eyes. The pastures quickly recovered from the grazing and in September I took a hay crop off the Beef Bank pastures. The District Manager from the NRCS was out to see me and we were both amazed to see that I got 3,000 lbs per acre DM of very high quality hay after just 8 weeks of recovery. Next Spring, all of my remaining pastures will be planted with SucraSEED. It is hands down the best pasture seed product on the market."

Greg Fenno

Columbus Junction, IA

August 2008 - This Spring I renovated an old K31 tall fescue pasture by spraying it with glyphosate and then drilling Beef Bank right into the tall fescue sod.  This has greatly improved the productivity of this paddock.  Last year my cattle would graze very little of the tall fescue and would have productivity problems and over-heating issues from the endophyte.  This year, while there is still some tall fescue in the pasture, when I turn the cattle out into the renovated Beef Bank paddock, they go straight for the high sugar grasses.  I plan on planting more paddocks to SucraSEED next season.

Larry Padget 

Rotational Grazing Cattle Farmer

Birmingham, IA

June 3, 2008
This is a picture of a new Beef Bank Pasture that was drilled into thick tall fescue sod 5 weeks ago in Southeast Iowa. The farmer mowed the fescue down to about 2 inches and sprayed with glyphosate then drilled right into the sod. There is still some fescue that survived the spraying but hopefully not enough to crowd out the High Sugar Grasses and clovers. Farmers in this area are desperate to find an alternative to tall fescue in their pastures and if this planting works, it will be a great example of a low cost, low labor method of replacing tall fescue pastures. We've already shown that the Beef Bank mix works well here in an area where Perennial Ryegrass generally struggles.

Brent
Fairfield, IA

May 22, 2008
The cows were turned lose in the Beef Bank pasture last week and the sound of these 30 or so cows huffing and puffing and inhaling the Beef Bank was amazing. Sounded like someone was driving a street sweeper thru the pasture. They were in the pasture for 2 days and grazed it down to about 3" uniformly. The rapid re-growth of the HSG's should have this ready to be grazed again for cut for hay in about 6 weeks.

Brent
Fairfield, IA

May 21, 2008:  I talked to Bruce and he said a deer knocked down his electric fence yesterday and the cows made a bee-line for the Beef Bank. They weren’t in there long but he had a helluva time getting them out. The fields are dry for the first time in a month so he thinks he may put the cattle in the BB pasture today or tomorrow. He promised he’s call me when he does that. The Quickdraw really looks healthy and the HSG’s are coming on strong.

Brent
Fairfield, IA

July 2007  “I was eager to see how the cows would like the Beef Bank pasture. When I turned them out, they first went to finish off some corn stubble but it didn't take them long to leave it and go straight for the Beef Bank. They grazed steady for a week and left the field looking like it had been mowed. No clumps of grass that they didn't find palatable were left behind. What really struck me was that they left a strip of alfalfa and bromegrass alone while they grazed the Beef Bank pasture.”

Spring 2007 - “I was pleased with the establishment of the Beef Bank pasture that I planted this Spring. It came in quick and clean without a nurse crop despite some cool weather in April. I look forward to turning the cattle onto it later this summer.”

Bruce
Cattle Farmer
Fairfield, IA