When managing grazing livestock, matching forage production potential and animal intake seems to be often overlooked or incorrectly assumed. When I drive by a ranch in the first week of June and pastures are grazed as tight as putting greens, I know the forage system will soon fail.

The Southeast is home to more than 7.3 million beef cows (USDA 2018) and likely marketed more than 4.6 million feeder calves in 2018.

In the upper transition zone, most of our pastures consist of cool-season forage species. There are some natives that have been reintroduced; however, the vast majority of the forage acres are improved with Kentucky 31 tall fescue.