White clover improves both grazing quality and quantity and enhances soil fertility through nitrogen fixation.
NovaGraz™ herbicide, the first product to offer broad-spectrum weed control while preserving white clover and annual lespedeza in pastures, is now registered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
This advancement in pasture weed control lets producers have clean pastures AND retain the benefits of white clover and annual lespedeza. The nitrogen-fixing capability of legumes, including clover and annual lespedeza, enhances forage quality for better animal performance and improved soil fertility.
Until now, pasture herbicides couldn’t take out broadleaf weeds without also removing white clover. NovaGraz changes that.
“This has been a long-standing need — something producers have asked us for,” says Morgan Bohlander, portfolio marketing lead, U.S. Range & Pasture, Corteva Agriscience. “Without effective broadleaf weed control, the harm weeds cause to forage production and quality can outweigh the benefits these legumes provide.”
Eliminating weedy competition in cool-season grass/white clover pastures increases the amount of forage produced and improves utilization. In research trials where NovaGraz controlled broadleaf weeds and preserved white clover, pastures produced 21% more total forage compared with untreated sites.
Increasing forage quality by adding clovers in grass pastures also can help improve animal performance. In a Georgia trial, a significant population of white clover in endophyte-infected (E+) tall fescue pastures improved stocker gain per acre by 58% compared with grazing only E+ fescue. Stockers’ average daily gain nearly tripled. In an Alabama trial, white clover in an E+ fescue pasture increased stocker gain per acre by 55% compared with E+ fescue alone. Average daily gains increased 44%. Improved forage quality also boosts cow-calf enterprises by delivering a higher plane of nutrition to benefit body condition, reproduction, milking and weaning weight.
“Anytime those gains come from grazed forages, it benefits the livestock producer’s bottom line,” says Sam Ingram, Ph.D., field scientist, Corteva Agriscience. “Grazing is the lowest-cost feed source.”
Multiple years of testing show NovaGraz provides broad-spectrum control of important broadleaf species, including ironweed, cocklebur, wild carrot, buttercup, biennial thistles, ragweed, plantain, woolly croton, poison hemlock and many others.
Among the features, NovaGraz herbicide:
Interested in learning more? Check out the following new web pages with a lot of information for you!
RangeandPasture.com/StewardByTheNumbers
NovaGraz™ is not registered for sale or use in all states. Contact your state pesticide regulatory agency to determine if a product is registered for sale or use in your area. Always read and follow label directions.
