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Adding White Clover to the Menu
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Edward O’Neal’s cattle are used to grazing a combination of ryegrass, bermudagrass and bahiagrass-based pastures, depending on the time of year. But recently, they were able to try something new — 70 acres of white clover-enhanced pasture.
O’Neal planted white clover in 2023 when the opportunity to trial NovaGraz™ herbicide presented itself.
“One of the reasons we haven’t planted white clover in the past is that we don’t have a good pasture herbicide to control the weeds,” says O’Neal, who manages a 200-head commercial cow-calf herd near DeRidder, Louisiana. “Pastures with heavy weed pressure don’t provide the same amount of quality forage that the treated pastures do.”
NovaGraz herbicide allowed O’Neal to control his most challenging pasture weeds and preserve the valuable white clover. “After spraying NovaGraz you could see a huge difference between the test plot and the heavily infested untreated pasture.”
NovaGraz test plot. Treated (left) vs. untreated (right)
Now that he’s seen the benefits firsthand, O’Neal looks forward to planting white clover again and adding NovaGraz to his pasture herbicide lineup.
“Grazing is more cost-effective and less time-consuming than going out and mechanically cutting the pastures multiple times each year,” he says. “We save so much time by spraying herbicides upfront.”
O’Neal also implements cross-fencing, regular soil sampling and fertilization to ensure pastures can support cattle grazing nearly year-round.
“We’ll typically let cattle graze an area for a week or so, and then move them on to the next pasture and give the ground some time to rest,” he says. “We follow best management practices to keep the pastures and the cows in the best condition possible.”