Lespedeza cuneata

[Eileen Stein]

Does anybody have any experience with controlling Lespedeza cuneata (sericea lespedeza)? It has a foothold in one of my fields and is spreading aggressively. The sheep don't seem to want to eat it, probably because of the tannins (which is too bad, because supposedly eating high-tannin forage is great for internal parasite control -- I suppose that data must come from studying goats, who'll eat anything ). I've been thinking of trying to confine a bunch of sheep with Electronet in the area where it's taken over, to force them to graze it, but I'm not sure they'd eat it even then. I've been very faithful at keeping it mowed low this year, but I kinda doubt that's going to make much difference. The extension agent just shakes his head when I asked about it.

 

Any ideas?

[Bill Fosher]

This is a legume, right?

 

My experience with legume palatability is that it is very much linked to soil pH and potash levels. Stressed plants tend to make themselves unpalatable to avoid having to regrow under arduous conditions, but I have to say that I have never run into Lespedeza myself.

 

(The fact that it is spreading agressively doesn't mean it isn't stressed, by the way.)

 

The other possibility is that your sheep simply haven't been forced to recognize it as food. Sheep (and indeed all grazing animals) will eat the familiar first. As familiar feedstuffs decline, they will start to sample unfamiliar stuff. It is at this point that some sheep will start to train their shepherds to either move them to new grazing or start bringing them hay, despite the fact that they are standing in the midst of perfectly good forage.

 

I don't know how many sheep you have or how much ground you need to cover, but I'll bet that if you can get your stocking rate over 100 ewes per acre (for example 25 ewes on a quarter acre) they will eventually start eating the lespedeza.

 

I'd also get the soil tested and see if you could make the material more palatable by amendment.

[Bill Fosher]

Some good info:

 

http://plants.usda.gov/cgi_bin/plant_profile.cgi?symbol=LECU

[Eileen Stein]

Thanks, Bill. Yes, it's a legume. Some varieties of lespedeza make great forage, but apparently the high tannin content in this particular species makes it pretty unpalatable. It's one of those damn plants that were pushed by the extension service (among others) and then found to be way more of a minus than a plus. I didn't plant it, but I'm guessing a previous owner of this land did.

 

I had hoped that it might be acid-loving, and that liming would set it back, but we tried that last year and apparently it's very pH tolerant. No apparent improvement in palatability either. (I've seen sheep sample it once, but not twice.) Haven't tried potassium.

 

>

 

That was sort of my thought with the Electronet. At this point it's dense over probably 3 acres of a 15-acre field (and sending out stray settlers well beyond that area). Guess I'll try that.

[Rebecca, Irena Farm]

My sheep gobble the stuff up. But then it's about the best forage out there right now. I like the idea of limiting their movement - it works for us to graze down broomstraw.

 

Does anyone know how nutritious broomstraw is, if at all? If my sheep are forced to eat it, they don't starve, but I've got some ram lambs eating it and they are supposed to be getting ready to cover ewes.

 

Oddly, my sheep hate broomstraw but these new lambs love it.

[Bill Fosher]

Becca,

 

I bet the place you got them from didn't tolerate too much selective grazing. ;>)

[Rebecca, Irena Farm]

I keep saying, I love a sheep that eats! These guys are the most determined eaters I've ever had and I don't have shrinking violets in general.

 

The only other thing on their minds is those ewes they see out there. Just a couple more weeks and Sheepscapes Abraham and Isaac will be happy as clams. Needless to say, incidentally, they recovered quickly from their trip across the Tappan Zee and southward.

 

I'll post pics of Abe and Izzy when they meet their new harem.