Grasslands Matua Prairie Grass is an amazing forage. It’s an excellent cropping grass for harvest by machine for hay and silage. It grows like oats, thick and tall, but is a perennial. It can also be grazed, but with care. It makes superior quality hay, especially beneficial for the horse market, and yields are very high too. The Oregon State University Research Station at Klamath Falls got a yield of 8.5 tons of dry matter per acre in their 1991 trials. In 1992 they obtained 10 tons! Forage tests commonly peg Matua at the 17-22% protein level with high TDN.
There are five cardinal rules for growing Matua:.
Rule #1: It is a nitrogen lover and needs a good application after each cutting to reach maximum potential, with about 300 units of N/acre total for the year at the minimum. This pays. Tests in New Zealand reveal Matua can uptake and utilize up to 800 units of N/acre/year. This is perfect for dairies, hog and chicken farms, and sewage treatment plants with excess nitrogen to use.
Rule #2: In humid southern areas, Matua should be planted only in the fall, the same time as annual ryegrass. Spring plantings don’t give it enough root mass before the heat comes. It is also not competitive so should not be planted as part of a cool season type grass mix. For best results, fields should be sprayed to kill the previous grass. Plant alone as the only cool season grass. It can, however, exist in conjunction with a warm season grass such as bermuda or crab grass. Adding a clover, vetch or other legume, or forage chicory to the stand after it is established is acceptable.
Rule #3: Proper harvest is critical Cut at the boot or seed head stage, this is just before or when the seed head has emerged. Cutting earlier sets the growth back as the plant must regenerate a new growing point. Continual cutting abuse will kill the stand. Farmer feedback indicates that the seeding rate of 30 lbs. of seed per acre is the bare minimum, with 40-50 lbs. being better, especially in the spring when weeds are rampant. Use an herbicide to control serious weed infestations.
Rule #4:Matua, atypical of a cool season forage grass, is an indeterminate heading plant
that produces seed constantly throughout the growing year. We can use this special gift to our advantage. If a stand thins for any reason, letting a crop reach the mature seed stage then drop seed will thicken and revive the stand. Regardless of stand condition, it is good life insurance to let it seed out every year, with the seed drop timed for late fall. This way the seeds will sit in the ground and not germinate until next spring. By doing this, a stand will be preserved even if winter zaps the mother plants. A farmer in Alaska has used this method with good success.
Rule #5: Matua is also a very strong winter grower which can make it vulnerable to winter kill if you get a Chinook or warm spell, followed by a cold snap. Contrary to other times of the year, keep it grazed short during the winter or cut it to a 4” stubble to enhance winter survival. Do not attempt to stockpile as tall Matua under snow lodges-over and smothers which kills the stand!
Those who have mastered the rules love Matua with a special passion. It is a specialized grass requiring careful management. Most failures are farmer caused. Unfortunately, Matua has been hyped by some sales people as a wonder grass, which no grass is. Start small and learn the management before planting Matua on the whole farm.
Matua is being grown in the Amarillo, Texas and Clovis, New Mexico areas under irrigation and being grazed by beef cows. Matua is performing well there considering the abuses of under watering, under fertilization, and the 100+ degree F heat. It thrives best in situations of good moisture and high nitrogen fertilization but we now know that Matua can also provide good feed in some adverse conditions. The poorest stand observed was still producing 1000 lbs. of gain per acre! The farmer was more than satisfied. A dry land farmer in Kansas reported that Matua provided more feed in the summer than his other grasses. This proves that Matua can be a star performer under many varied conditions. Once again, there are five cardinal rules. If you follow them, you will most likely enjoy success. Break them and you will fail!
Barenbrug Matua is de-awned for free flow seeding and is fungicide treated to prevent smut.
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