There are a lot of misconceptions about these grasses floating around here. I’ll try to address them piecemeal. These grasses won’t work for everyone but I think they’ll work for more people than a lot of posters here suspect. Their best niche is on 20-30% of a moderate to large acreage in VA and TN.
1) Less productivity. In a four month span, you can get 3-4 tons of production in hay alone from NWSG. That’s equal to or exceeding the average pasture productivity of KY31. And then you can graze it after.
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Poorer nutrition. Cattle gain an average of .75lbs/day on tall fescue in summer. Contrast that with 1.5-3lbs/day on NWSG in summer. This isn’t sugar-driven, so I don’t believe it’s an IR risk despite the cattle gains.
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Establishment costs. When fertilizer and summer hay costs are factored in (as well as the oft-necessary herbicide applications on overgrazed horse pastures) the cost of establishment is less per lb/gain on cattle than introduced warm-season grasses. The University of TN in Knoxville has done a lot of study on this and produced an extremely useful economic decision tool that factors in every variable imaginable–you can use it to determine if converting a portion of your acreage is worthwhile financially. Gain is obviously less relevant to horses, but summer hay is still a factor for many people I know.
http://nativeforages.utk.edu/tool.html
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Can’t tolerate grazing. The pasture walk included pastures with set-stocked cattle on them summer-long. I saw for myself that the plants weren’t damaged long-term. The research they’re doing at UTK is intentionally delving into what Dr. Keyser calls “redneck management,” i.e. shoving animals out on the pasture in May and picking them back up in August, and the results are impressive thus far. I got my MS in rangeland ecology, so I’m very comfortable in my ability to evaluate the grazing and environmental stress of native grasses. All these were grazed above their apical meristems and were able to draw upon both photosynthesis and structural carbohydrate reserves to maintain growth. The grasses WON’T tolerate mowing below 8 inches, as this cuts off the growing point and severely stresses these C reserves, but aside from mowing, they’re tough and productive.
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Can’t compete with weeds. This is only true, as with any plant, when the seedlings are establishing and the roots are digging down. In an established pasture, you’d be hard-pressed to out-do a 10-foot deep root system and 6 foot tall blades of grass. As I said above, a guy we met on the tour who establishes these as his primary income said that he felt one spring application of herbicides, when done properly, was more than adequate for establishing a healthy stand.
Fescue has two advantages that account for its popularity in my opinion. It tolerates poor management better than most grasses thanks to its toxin-producing fungi, and it’s great for winter stockpiling. Aside from that, there are many grasses, native and introduced, that can do as well or better in many situations, and those grasses are especially necessary if one has broodmares of course.
Basically, I think the big disconnect in our area is that most people are used to cool-season forages and the idea of something that produces in summer is new and different. But for some farms, that 4 months of productivity per year could mean 4 months of extremely reduced hay costs, and when you consider the potential (for non-IR situations) use of cheap winter annuals to supplement that, the acreage in NWSG could be producing 11 months per year for less money long-term than just getting hay for X number of horses.
Like I said, it isn’t for every barn or property but I think it’s a seriously worthwhile option for places with dozens of horses and even more acres. For a place that’s say 10 acres with 3 horses, not so worthwhile. For places like a polo barn on a large estate or a breeding farm with lactating broodmares in summer, I think it’s definitely worth looking into.
Edit: I should add that since cattle are mentioned frequently here, the major momentum for the return of these grasses is cattleman-driven. Between fertilizer costs, droughts, hay costs, and the lack of decent summer forage, many producers in VA and TN have been switching 1/5 to 1/3 of their operation over, so as for “progress” and the way things are being done by the progressive ranchers and farmers…well, I’m seeing a definite trend in that regard in favor of these grasses. One more thing to mention is that I believe federal cost-shares are available in many situations for people who do switch over–your local NRCS personnel would have more info and understanding of that than anyone.
