Early summer is a key time for production of our warm-season perennial grasses such as bermudagrass and bahiagrass in the southeast U.S. But what about summer annuals? Do they fit in our system – and if so, which ones?

The focus for graziers has always been on forage quality in meeting the nutrient requirements of pastured cattle. The content of crude protein, neutral- and acid-detergent fiber (structural carbohydrates), water-soluble carbohydrates, crude fiber and minerals in a specific forage has been used for estimating forage quality and for formulating supplemental concentrate rations.

Kentucky was covered mostly by trees, briars, broadleaf weeds and very little forage when the original cultivar of tall fescue, Kentucky 31, was commercially released in 1943. However, in the early 1950s, cattle producers began to complain that their cattle did not perform well on tall fescue and lacked thriftiness in warm temperatures. But it was not until the early 1980s that it was discovered that most tall fescue plants are infected with a fungal endophyte.

People have always used food to overcome illness and improve health. Human nutritionists have recently started calling foods with medicinal value functional foods. We borrowed that idea to look for a functional feed, a plant, or plant-based product, which could be used to achieve the same benefit as antibiotic growth promoters.

Tall fescue is a cool-season perennial grass that is productive and well adapted to the soils and climate in a region of the U.S. commonly called the “fescue belt.”