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Niva, Potomac, and Tekapo. Orchardgrass
is a cool-season grass that grows in clumps, producing open
sod. It starts growth early in the spring, develops rapidly
and flowers during late May or early June. Orchardgrass is shade
tolerant, but also will withstand high light intensity. It will
persist on shallow, reasonably infertile soil and be moderately
productive. At the vegetative growth stage, it approaches the
feeding value of alfalfa, whereas, at full bloom it has approximately
half value. Farmers customarily cut first-cut orchardgrass at
full bloom or later. In part, this results from use of early
heading cultivars. In addition, heading occurs when field curing
of hay is difficult due to inclement weather, and farmers often
delay cutting to more favorable hay making weather. By this
time it is often in poor condition when stored. Since this is
the usual procedure, its potential feeding value has been underestimated.
When high quality is important, orchardgrass should be cut for
hay or silage at head emergence. Growth characteristics make
it suited to early spring pasture and better suited to rotational
grazing than continuous grazing. Ladino clover is well suited
for use in combination with orchardgrass for pasture.
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