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Cutting Heights
ELDON COLE
MT. VERNON, MO.
Is your fescue stand getting a little sparse? I’ve heard quite a few folks indicate their stands weren’t as thick as they once were. If you have an old Kentucky 31 stand this can be a good thing unless you’re taking a seed crop off of it. A thinning Ky31 stand might be an ideal situation to interseed with a legume in the next month or so.
Now, back to a possible reason for the thinning stand. The long-time cutting height recommendation is 4 inches for cool season grasses like fescue, orchardgrass and brome. Disc mowers are possible culprits as they allow you to get closer to the ground then you could with a sickle bar mower. Getting below the 4 inch mark may add some tonnage to that cutting but if done consistently you’ll thin your stand. Essentially, it’s the same principle that happens when you overstock your pastures with cattle and graze it too hard. ∆
ELDON COLE: Extension Livestock Specialist, University of Missouri
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