Finishing cattle with grazing versus a feedlot requires a similar or higher quality forage. In fact, if one hopes to produce grass finished beef, or choice beef, a bovine needs an unending supply of digestible, high-energy feed from conception to harvest. The best grass finishing systems use a pasture base of cool season, C-3, grasses, legumes and forbs. On the Southern Plains, warm season pastures under irrigation have been the go-to maintenance grazing system. They provide bulk feed and persist year after year. They cannot, as C-4 plants, supply the digestible energy requirements for the weight gains needed to grow and finish beef in a grassfed system. A persistent, cool season pasture can be the answer for the digestible, high-energy feed needed. PGG Seeds, a brand of PGGWrightson Ltd. of New Zealand, breeds, produces and markets cool season grasses, forbs and brassicas for all classes of livestock. PGG Seeds has a portfolio of certified perennial grasses and forb varieties fit for irrigated grazing systems on the Southern Plains. These cultivars are winter active and tolerant of summer heat. This will extend the quality grazing required for a reliable pasture base needed for grass-finished livestock. For more information, see a representative or visit www.pggseeds.us.
