Synopsis Data from 6 growing seasons show the following general comparisons: less gains from tall fescue‐clover than from other mixtures; less daily gains from grasses alone fertilized with N than from Ladino mixture with no N; less gains from tall fescue alone with N and in Ladino mixture than from orchardgrass in these same treatments; lowest carrying capacity and lowest live weight gains per acre from orchardgrass ‐ lespedeza ‐white clover; higher gains per acre from orchardgrass and tall fescue fertilized with N than from the same grasses in Ladino mixture with no N; highest carrying capacity from tall fescue fertilized with N.

Six year-round, all-forage, three-paddock systems for beef cow-calf production were used to produce five calf crops during a 6-yr period. Forages grazed by cows during spring, summer, and early fall consisted of one paddock of 1) tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea Schreb.)-ladino clover (Trifolium repens L.) or 2) Kentucky blue-grass (Poa pratensis L.)-white clover (Trifolium repens L.). Each of these forage mixtures was combined in a factorial arrangement with two paddocks of either 1) fescue-red clover (Trifolium pratense L.), 2) orchardgrass (Dactylis glomerata L.)-red clover, or 3) orchardgrass-alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.), which were used for hay, creep grazing by calves, and stockpiling for grazing by cows in late fall and winter. Each of the six systems included two replications; each replicate contained 5.8 ha and was grazed by eight Angus cow-calf pairs for a total of 480 cow-calf pairs. Fescue was less than 5% infected with Acremonium coenophialum. Pregnancy rate was 94%. Cows grazing fescue-ladino clover maintained greater (P less than .05) BW than those grazing bluegrass-white clover, and their calves tended (P less than .09) to have slightly greater weaning weights (250 vs 243 kg, respectively). Stockpiled fescue-red clover provided more (P less than .05) grazing days and required less (P less than .05) hay fed to cows than stockpiled orchardgrass plus either red clover or alfalfa. Digestibilities of DM, CP, and ADF, determined with steers, were greater (P less than .05) for the orchardgrass-legume hays than for the fescue-red clover hay. All systems produced satisfactory cattle performance, but fescue-ladino clover combined with fescue-red clover required minimum inputs of harvested feed and maintained excellent stands during 6 yr.

The effect of harvesting an early maturing corn hybrid when the grain was at the milk, as compared to well dented, on chemical composition, ear to plant ratio, grain and silage yield, digestibilities, palatability, and milk production was studied for 2 years. The ears of corn at the latter harvest as compared to the earlier harvest made up a considerably larger portion of the total silage yield. Correspondingly, the leaves, stalks, and husks were a smaller portion of the mature than of the immature corn plants. There was a large incrcease in silage and grain yields by delaying harvest to a more mature stage of growth. Each year the crude protein and crude fiber were significantly lower and the nitrogen‐free extract significantly higher for the silage harvested at the mature as compared to the immature stage. The total digestible nutrients values were slightly higher for the corn cut at the dent stage. The mature silage was more palatable than the immature silage. The persistency of milk production of the cows fed mature silage was slightly higher than for those fed immature silage.

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Synopsis Daily gains of the steers on the lighter stocked pastures were greater than those on the heavier stocked pastures. However, a large difference in stocking pressure had to be imposed before the difference in either steer gains, carrying capacity, or herbage dry matter digestibility were significant.