Brome grass in need of ‘quick drink,’ and soon

Brome grass is close to the make-or-break point for 2015.

The consensus is that this No. 1 cool-grass tame crop for Marion County has to have rain, and it has to have it soon. It may happen this week. Rain possibilities are in the weather forecasts for three days.

Van Peters runs a cattle operation with his son, Ryan, near Lehigh, where they raise breeding cross-bred bulls, run a cow-calf herd, and feed out cattle.

Van Peters said the brome ?needs a good drink.?

The brome began emerging from the ground with the warm weather the first week of March. By now, Van said, ?It looks like it?s trying to come pretty good.?

Ryan and Van agreed the brome looks good to this point, but it needs an inch of rain this week, and then some sustaining rain to make cool-season pasture in April or a hay crop by June.

They are in the middle of calving now, and if the rain doesn?t come, Van said, ?We might not need so many calves (for grazing).?

Jeff Naysmith, agronomist for Cooperative Grain & Supply, said the servicing agency is just about finished applying fertilizer to brome this year, and everybody is just waiting to see if the moisture arrives in time to justify the great expense of applying it.

The nutrient mix for brome these days, Naysmith said, not only includes heavy nitrogen fertilization, but also phosphorus and sulfur.

He acknowledged that can be a big expense, and farmers need a timely rain for brome to justify it.

The sulfur in the mix can help the brome green up quickly in the spring, Naysmith said.

The past few years have included drought situations that didn?t justify the expense, and produced low brome yields.

Ryan said applying sulfur with the nitrogen gives ?a good pop? on brome growth. Most of the Peters? fertilizer is applied near the first of the year, and is a major investment.

According to researchers at Kansas State University, earlier winter fertilizer application leads to earlier green-up of brome in the spring.

Marion County Extension Agent Rickey Roberts said he will keep a wait-and-see attitude toward the brome. He is hoping for rain within the next week, but he also fears that any rain will be too little too late for making the most of the crop.

Van said some negative indicators would be that the ponds and the creeks are down on the amount of water they should carry.

?But we did have a lot of good winter moisture that will help,? he said.

The winter rain that came slowly, and soaked in over time will help greatly, he added.

Van said brome grass is a big part of the grazing program in the Peters? operation, probably of much greater proportion than it is for some cattlemen who graze predominantly native grass.

Although the family might plant new brome for hay and pasture, Van said one quarter section of brome was planted by his father, James Peters, in the 1950s.

The Peters regularly fertilize brome, and take cattle off of it when it is grazed.

?You take care of the grass,? Van said, ?and it will take care of you.?

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