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UltiGraz℠ Pasture Weed & Feed saves these operations time, money and effort
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Often, choosing from saving money, convenience and effectiveness is a pick-one or pick-two proposition at best. That’s not the case with UltiGraz℠ Pasture Weed & Feed. Producers across the country say UltiGraz delivers on all three promises and more.
Just ask Carl Allison with Tombstone Cattle Company near Lake City, Florida.
“I don't see how you can maintain pastures without UltiGraz. You can’t keep the weeds out in a more efficient way,” Allison says. Tombstone Cattle Company — primarily on land that’s been in the family since 1914 — consists of a high-quality commercial hay business, catering to the horse market, along with a relatively new and growing pasture-based cattle backgrounding enterprise.
Bring on the Beef!
About six years ago, Allson’s daughter and son-in-law began buying 400- to 500-pound weaned calves and backgrounding them at the ranch before moving them to pastures in northern Texas or Oklahoma.
“Florida is a really good cow-calf state,” Allison says. “We can buy less expensive calves here compared with what they bring out west. And grazing is the least-cost way to put weight on.”
Calves — mostly steers, but also some heifers — arrive at the ranch, where they’re processed and sorted into small groups and placed on 10-acre pastures. After the new arrivals acclimate and pass health protocols, they stay on grass or, depending on the time of year, graze oats or field peas grown under center-pivot irrigation.
“We move them out west, where we add a little more weight on pasture or maybe in a grow yard, before selling them in Oklahoma City,” Allison says.
Success for Allison — whether in the pasture or the hayfield — hinges on maximizing forage quantity and quality. And that, he says, starts with weed control and proper fertility.
“It’s critical we have all the grass we can, because if our grass isn’t growing properly, we’re in trouble and we’re having to feed grain or too much hay,” he says. “We have a huge problem with pigweed. It irritates the calves’ eyes and can lead to pink eye. It’s a terrible problem.”
Finding Efficiency
Whether on hay ground or grazing acres, fertility plays an important role in grass production for Tombstone Cattle Company. Mayo Ag Services in Lake City pulls soil samples for Allison, who jumped at the chance when it also offered the option to bring together his fertilizer and weed control in a single application.
“We first learned about UltiGraz with our hayfields,” he recalls. “And then when we started the cattle operation, we started using it to clean those pastures up.”
Combining fertilizer and weed control saves an application expense and can help you make the most of your lowest-cost feed source — your grazing acres.
“UltiGraz gives us the flexibility to do a custom fertilizer blend for every single pasture and still get that herbicide application,” explains Hailey Addison, Corteva Agriscience Range & Pasture Specialist. “So, whatever your needs are fertility wise, you can get that correct fertilizer blend and still get the herbicide application in one pass.”
Fewer Tracks, Less Fuel
For John Pfeiffer, a fourth-generation seedstock Angus cattle producer in central Oklahoma, it was that one-pass advantage that convinced him to give UltiGraz a try in 2024.
“When diesel prices go higher, every time we can save a trip over the field, it’s better,” Pfeiffer says — adding that with the bermudagrass getting an early jump last spring, one less pass meant one less set of tracks and less matted grass. “It made good, clean hay. There was no marestail. There used to be some silverleaf nightshade in that field, but it was gone too. It worked way better than I expected.”
UltiGraz℠ with fertilizer is available for use with specific herbicides in the states of AL, AR, CO, FL, GA, HI, IA, ID, KS, KY, LA, MN, MO, MS, MT, NC, ND, NE, NV, OK, OR, SC, SD, TN, TX, UT, VA, WA, WI, WV and WY. Contact your state pesticide regulatory agency to determine if a product is registered for sale or use in your state. Always read and follow label directions.