Portions of the state experienced a drought last year, which hampered hay and pasture ground’s growth. But while those drought conditions have eased a bit in some areas, other parts of the state are still struggling with unfavorable conditions.

Gentry Sorenson, field agronomist with Iowa State University Extension based out of Algona, said hay and pasture ground in his region experienced stress heading into the winter. In the counties where drought stress existed, hay and pasture ground was grazed and harvested, leaving the regrowth slow due to the lack of rainfall.

“With the lack of regrowth before winter there could be reductions in stands due to winter injury,” he said. “Producers will need to evaluate their stands in hay and pasture crops to understand if interseeding will be necessary. Severe drought may cause plants to go dormant. When they are dormant they use their carbohydrate reserves and become weak. When the forages become weak, they enter the winter with a reduced carbohydrate supply if they are not able to replenish it before winter.”

ISU Extension beef specialist Russ Euken said north central Iowa experienced varying drought conditions.

“Pastures and hay ground were definitely affected, some more than others depending on the area, rainfall and grazing pressure,” he said. “Most areas had some rainfall in later fall before it froze, which helped with topsoil moisture, but the plants were still stressed without a lot of regrowth if grazed or hayed in earlier fall. If it stays dry, pastures and hay will take some time to recover. With ample moisture things could return to normal fairly quickly.”

Denise Schwab, beef specialist with ISU Extension, said northeast Iowa’s hay and pasture ground “looked great” all summer and fall and seemed to have received more rain than surrounding areas.

“The bulk of northeast Iowa was in a ‘just in time’ situation for a lot of rains, so pastures got by but were short through the normal summer slump and running out of grass in the fall,” she said. “The good thing was we had a lot of good cornstalk grazing. I’d also say a lot of our pastures are being pushed to the limit for stocking rate, which further stresses pastures. I anticipate a lot of pastures will be slow to recover this spring, both because of the stress from last summer and because of the cold and somewhat light snowfall we had. We did have snow, but not a lot of snow to insulate the forages from the very cold temps of January and February, so I’d expect some freeze damage especially to our alfalfa fields. As always, it will depend on rainfall and temps in the next month or two.”

Based out of Knoxville, ISU Extension beef field specialist Patrick Wall said southeastern Iowa took quite a hit. The fall regrowth in the area for September through October was “virtually non-existent.”

“The pastures that were abused last fall will need more time to recover prior to turnout,” Wall said. “The winter has been fairly mild, to the point where some moisture would be welcomed to spur on spring growth. The unseasonably warm temps in the last two weeks has appeared to ‘wake up’ some of the rye cover crops in the region. Despite the tough fall, hay production in southeast Iowa was pretty good the first and second cutting where the bulk of the tonnage comes from anyway.”

Heading into spring, Sorenson expects to see a wide range of conditions in each stand depending upon rainfall and the intensity of haying or grazing that was done in 2021. He recommended producers scout their stands and understand the level of winter injury in those areas.

“In April we encourage growers to scout their hay and pasture ground,” he said. “Growers should consider the number of plants per square foot and consider the age of the stand. A suggestion would be to do stand counts at random sites every five to 10 acres and inspect for new growth. Check the crown and buds to determine if it is alive and count the number of live plants per square foot. ISU has a publication that is available from the Iowa State Extension store that is titled ‘Evaluating Hay and Pasture Stand for Winter Injury,’ publication ID PM1362, that can help growers with these decisions.”

Sorenson and fellow ISU Extension beef specialist Beth Doran have held three meetings in the counties affected by the drought. Growers learned how to make the best decisions for their ground and operation, highlighting frost seeding, interseeding, scouting of stands and fertilizing grass pastures and hay fields.

Doran said soil moisture probes done in northwest Iowa fields indicated that soil moisture profiles had recovered, but pastures had been overgrazed.

“It’s too early to know what spring rainfall will be, but the seasonal outlook suggests improving conditions for much of northwest Iowa,” she said. “However, there’s a smaller area of persistent drought forecasted for some of my southwestern counties.”

Producers with drought conditions should scout their fields closely.

“First, do not panic,” Doran said. “Spring rains and improving moisture conditions are possible. But, be on the watch. If the density of forage plants was not as thick last fall, consider frost seeding red clover in March. Be patient and wait to see how the fields look as it warms this spring before interseeding other forages or starting a new seeding. Temperatures are still cold and plants are not actively growing. Ultimately, trying to thicken or start new forages depends on rain and soil moisture.”

Delay turning animals loose onto the pasture ground until the grasses are at least eight inches tall. Do not overgraze.

“Limit stocking density and provide adequate rest periods between grazing periods for forage plants to grow and recover,” Doran said. “Consider spring fertilization to increase grass forage production.”

Schwab recommended producers hold off grazing damaged ground too soon and if growing slow, consider supplementing with dry forward as the cows transition to the pasture.

“I know producers want to get cows off stored feed and out of the calving lots, but turning out too soon reduces the season-long productivity of the pasture,” he said. “Frost seed red clover in February or March to boost pasture’s resilience to drought and improve forage diversity. Simply broadcast seed after the majority of the snow melts early in the spring. Snow on top of the seed is fine, but if seeded on top of a lot of snow some or most of the seed may move as the snow melts. This is also a great way to improve pasture quality on steep slopes.”

Also, producers should be ready to apply nitrogen fertilizer.

“If we have adequate spring moisture and pastures are slow to green up, consider 30 to 60 units of nitrogen in the spring and again in June,” Schwab said. “If nitrogen prices stay high, consider varying applications based on pasture growth and apply early to only a fraction of the pastures just to get some early growth and apply the June application to the majority of the acres. If cover crops are available for grazing, consider holding off nitrogen application until after first grazing on all pasture acres.”

Also, plan for next year. Consider pasture subdivisions for rotational grazing, what water sources and fencing are needed for that, and contact your Natural Resources Conservation Service office for options on cost-share for pasture renovation.

“Consider seeding a few acres to a summer annual forage to help fill the gap of the summer slump on pastures,” Schwab said. ”Including a few acres of summer annual forages and seeding a winter annual cover crop into crop ground can significantly help fill in grazing gaps of perennial pastures and improve the health and overall production of pastures.”

Be sure to have a supplemental feed plan in place if pastures don’t bounce back quickly this spring.

“If they’re slow to recover, do not graze too soon,” Euen said. ”If we get decent moisture, evaluate stands and try to get most value from fertilizer dollar with split applications of nitrogen and using soil test to evaluate other fertility needs.”

Drought wasn’t the only challenge affecting hay and forage fields in northwest Iowa. Fall armyworms were a big problem, too.

“Growers have had questions about fall armyworms and regrowth of their forages if they were affected by this pest,” Sorenseon said. “Growers should evaluate their stand if they had fall armyworms last fall to understand if interseeding will be needed to improve their stands.”

Hay has been selling at a reasonable price, ranging from $50 to $60 for an average quality round bale.

“As a result, the advice would be to feed hay a few weeks longer if possible to allow more time for pastures to recover and re-establish,” Wall said. “Better yet, use the favorable weather to reseed any areas that need it. Fertilizer certainly isn’t economical to enhance pasture growth, but it may be necessary in certain areas to avoid further damage and potential erosion of areas where over-grazing occurred last fall.”

Erika Lundy-Woolfolk, ISU Extension beef specialist, said southwest Iowa wasn’t as impacted by drought conditions as were other parts of the state. However, forward acres in this region struggled from the drought conditions since 2020.

“In many places, pastures have been abused for two years,” she said. “We’ve been fortunate enough to have a relatively mild winter, so it’s saved stored winter feed for many operations which will be crucial to allowing pastures adequate growth prior to turnout this spring. I’ve already had a couple of producers express interest in utilizing annual forages to add to the grazing rotation, knowing they will be short on forages this summer. However, current surging corn and bean prices and limited movement in the cattle futures quickly changes things.”