Figure 10. Harvesting a bermudagrass-weeping lovegrass mixture for hay with good yield and quality as if it were only weeping lovegrass.

Figure 11. Overmature weeping lovegrass in a bermudageass-weeping lovegrass mixture.

Figure 12. An excellent eleven-year-old bermudagrass-weeping lovegrass mixture on a good soil site (top) and an area of spotty weeping lovegrass and pure bermudagrass on eroded, shallow, droughty soil of higher silt and clay content in the same pasture (bottom).

Weeping lovegrass is grazed very well during early spring, since little or no bermudagrass is available. In a well-managed pure stand, it is ready to be grazed about two weeks earlier than weeping lovegrass in the mixture, which is ready three to four weeks before bermudagrass. Weeping lovegrass in the mixture is often 6 to 10 inches tall before bermudagrass is available for grazing. With both grasses in good grazing stages, cattle often graze indiscriminately and uniformly (figures 5, 8, and 9). During summer, fall, and winter when both grasses are of moderate quality and readily available, cattle initially prefer bermudagrass in the mixture and, as it is topped, preference alternates between bermudagrass and weeping lovegrass. If summer grazing is done after weeping lovegrass is near maturity, cattle often graze bermudagrass very short before grazing the weeping lovegrass to the preferred height (figure 4). This type of grazing, caused by adverse quality and declined palatability of weeping lovegrass, is best avoided by more frequent grazings or haying and controlled fertilizer applications to maintain lusher, better-quality pasture.

Supplemental feeding may be needed to maintain the nutritional level of cattle that must graze the overmatured grass. Cattle sometimes preferentially or impartially graze weeping lovegrass during the fall when bermudagrass becomes dry and less desirable.

Haying or grazing is best in a rotational system. Grazing the established mixture begins during spring when weeping lovegrass attains 4 to 8 inches of growth that has three to four leaves per stem.

The mixture should be regrazed each time the weeping lovegrass reaches a four-leaf stage that is about 8 to 10 inches tall.

The mixture use management is much like that for pure weeping lovegrass. Bermudagrass is grazed well during these rotations and weeping lovegrass can be kept vigorous. Improper grazing that induces severe spot grazing and weakening must be avoided bercause the grass must grow thick, healthly clumps to prevent overcompetition by bermudagrass. Weeping lovegrass should be prevented from dominating the overstory to allow bermudagrass to form a full soil cover and be a part of the mixture.

The mixture is grazed or hayed to leave a 4- to 6-inch weeping lovegrass residue (figures 9 and 10). Bermudagrass residue will be shorter under grazing and 1 to 4 inches tall (figure 4), depending on the circumstances. After sufficient deferment for regrowth, the mixture is reavailable when weeping lovegrass reaches the proper height and leaf stage. At this point, a full stand would produce about 1 ton or more per acre.

Good rotational grazing systems allow the mixture to be used year round except during very early initial spring growth and during late summer to early winter freezes. Weeping lovegrass is prone to being weakened by the latter and should not be grazed or hayed then because this overuse followed by a very cold winter can cause a high rate of winterkill. Even without the winterkill, use during this period regularly causes later spring growth initiation, slow-growing weak plants, and less early-season production. Managers are advised not to use these mixtures from about two months before the first fall frost date until the first hard freeze in fall.

The exception would be to allow cattle to topgraze it only and to leave in excess of 6 inches of residue. Late summer production is best reserved for winter stockpile use. weeping lovegrass may be allowed to produce seed for harvest or volunteer establishment, which also helps maintain vigorous clumps.

A good form of rotational stocking is essential for successful grazing of these mixtures. Occasionally producing hay from the mixtures helps control weeping lovegrass residue height, ensures use of the entire pasture, creates a uniform weeping lovegrass residue height, which helps control future grazing residue heights, and makes recovery more uniform.

Use rotational stocking that will produce a stock density between about five and thirty cow units or equivalents per acre. The greater the stock destiny, the more uniform the micture grazing and the better the manager can control residue heights. Grazing periods shorter than one week are recommended, particularly those one to four days long. Our recommendations assume proper grazing within any guidelines discussed.

Recovery periods should be based on weeping lovegrass growth, but a rough guide of twenty- to thrity-day recovery periods during spring and early summer and twenty- to over forty-day recovery periods from summer to fall may help you plan grazing events. Lengthy recovery periods allow weeping lovegrass to overmature (figures 4 and 11).