permaculture

[Lawrence London <lfljvenaura@gmail.com>]

Read more <http://agresearchmag.ars.usda.gov/2015/aug/forage/> about this
research in the August 2015 issue of *AgResearch*.

http://agresearchmag.ars.usda.gov/2015/aug/forage/
A New Forage Comes to the Midwest, Courtesy of Mother Nature

By Dennis O'Brien <http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/contacts.htm#Dennis>
August 27, 2015

A forgotten forage grass imported from Europe in the 1800s could soon begin
to help boost cattle and dairy production in parts of the Upper Midwest. U.S.
Department of Agriculture <http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/usda/usdahome>
(USDA) scientists in Madison, Wisconsin, recently released the grass for
commercial production.

The grass, named "Hidden Valley," was discovered on a farmer's shaded
hilltop in a long-time pasture that had never been seeded with commercial
forages. Cattle thrived on the grass, and it gradually spread from the
hilltop into gullies and open areas. The farmer fed hay made from the grass
to more cattle and spread the seeds in the manure. He also eventually began
consulting with Michael Casler
<http://www.ars.usda.gov/pandp/people/people.htm?personid=32258>, a plant
geneticist with USDA's Agricultural Research Service
<http://www.ars.usda.gov/main/main.htm> (ARS).

Casler and his colleagues at the U.S. Dairy Forage Research Center
<http://www.ars.usda.gov/main/site_main.htm?modecode=50-90-15-00> spent
more than a decade evaluating Hidden Valley, named for the farm where it
was discovered. They found that cattle digest it more easily and eat more
of it than other forages, thus gaining more weight when it's available and
producing more milk.

DNA tests show that the grass is a meadow fescue that has adapted to the
Upper Mississippi River Basin since its arrival in the 1800s. It is drought
tolerant and will survive freezing temperatures and repeated grazing.
Surveys of the Upper Midwest "Driftless Region," which includes parts of
Illinois, Iowa and Minnesota, show that the grass can be found in a wide
range of habitats. It also grows well on land taken out of crop production
and allowed to revert to pasture.

By the 1950s, meadow fescues had largely been replaced by farmers in favor
of higher yielding tall fescues and other grasses. But they never
completely disappeared as forages.

Casler released Hidden Valley in June 2014, publishing an announcement in
the *Journal of Plant Registrations*
<https://dl.sciencesocieties.org/publications/jpr>. Seed is now available
through the USDA-ARS National Plant Germplasm System
<http://www.ars-grin.gov/npgs/>. ARS is the USDA's chief intramural
scientific research agency.
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: ARS News Service <NewsService@ars.usda.gov>
Date: Thu, Aug 27, 2015 at 7:12 AM
Subject: A New Forage Comes to the Midwest, Courtesy of Mother Nature
To: ARS News subscriber <lflj@bellsouth.net>


------------------------------

ARS News Service
Agricultural Research Service, USDA
--View this report online, plus photos and related stories, at
www.ars.usda.gov/is/pr
--Follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/USDA_ARS
------------------------------


*Read the magazine story
<http://agresearchmag.ars.usda.gov/2015/aug/forage/> to find out more.*

[image: Pasture of Hidden Valley grass. Link to photo information.]
<http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/graphics/photos/aug15/d3466-3.htm>
A lost fescue forage grass on which dairy cattle thrive has been released
by ARS scientists.* Click the image for more information about it. *


[image: For further reading]

   - Finding New Forages for Rangeland Cattle
   <http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/pr/2012/120124.htm>

   - Grazing of Cattle Pastures Can Improve Soil Quality
   <http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/pr/2011/110303.htm>

   - Grass Germplasm Collection Also Includes Fungal Endophytes
   <http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/pr/2011/110127.htm>

A New Forage Comes to the Midwest, Courtesy of Mother Nature

By Dennis O'Brien <http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/contacts.htm#Dennis>
August 27, 2015

A forgotten forage grass imported from Europe in the 1800s could soon begin
to help boost cattle and dairy production in parts of the Upper Midwest. U.S.
Department of Agriculture <http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/usda/usdahome>
(USDA) scientists in Madison, Wisconsin, recently released the grass for
commercial production.

The grass, named "Hidden Valley," was discovered on a farmer's shaded
hilltop in a long-time pasture that had never been seeded with commercial
forages. Cattle thrived on the grass, and it gradually spread from the
hilltop into gullies and open areas. The farmer fed hay made from the grass
to more cattle and spread the seeds in the manure. He also eventually began
consulting with Michael Casler
<http://www.ars.usda.gov/pandp/people/people.htm?personid=32258>, a plant
geneticist with USDA's Agricultural Research Service
<http://www.ars.usda.gov/main/main.htm> (ARS).

Casler and his colleagues at the U.S. Dairy Forage Research Center
<http://www.ars.usda.gov/main/site_main.htm?modecode=50-90-15-00> spent
more than a decade evaluating Hidden Valley, named for the farm where it
was discovered. They found that cattle digest it more easily and eat more
of it than other forages, thus gaining more weight when it's available and
producing more milk.

DNA tests show that the grass is a meadow fescue that has adapted to the
Upper Mississippi River Basin since its arrival in the 1800s. It is drought
tolerant and will survive freezing temperatures and repeated grazing.
Surveys of the Upper Midwest "Driftless Region," which includes parts of
Illinois, Iowa and Minnesota, show that the grass can be found in a wide
range of habitats. It also grows well on land taken out of crop production
and allowed to revert to pasture.

By the 1950s, meadow fescues had largely been replaced by farmers in favor
of higher yielding tall fescues and other grasses. But they never
completely disappeared as forages.

Casler released Hidden Valley in June 2014, publishing an announcement in
the *Journal of Plant Registrations*
<https://dl.sciencesocieties.org/publications/jpr>. Seed is now available
through the USDA-ARS National Plant Germplasm System
<http://www.ars-grin.gov/npgs/>. ARS is the USDA's chief intramural
scientific research agency.

Read more <http://agresearchmag.ars.usda.gov/2015/aug/forage/> about this
research in the August 2015 issue of *AgResearch*.

------------------------------

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-- 
Lawrence F. London
lfljvenaura@gmail.com
https://sites.google.com/site/avantgeared/