Cool-season grasses dominate pastures of Appalachia and reach peak productivity in spring. In contrast, warm-season grasses reach peak production during mid summer with little or no growth in spring and fall. Including cool- and warm-season grass components in grazing systems should improve forage distribution. The benefits of warm-season grasses in hill-land pastures may be unappreciated, in part, because we lack information on suitable plant materials and the influence of defoliation on seasonal distribution of herbage. We evaluated the warm-season grasses 'Caucasian' bluestem (Bothriochloa caucasica (Trin.) C. E. Hubb. and 'Red River' crabgrass (Drgitaria sanguinalis (L.) Scop, along with the cool-season forages 'Marshall' annual (Lolium multiflorum Lam.) and 'Linn' perennial ryegrass (L. perenne L.) as a function of harvest interval. We found that despite applying recommended management practices, crabgrass did not reseed. White clover (Trifolium repens L.) volunteered in bluestem and perennialryegrass plots and comprised as much as 50% of the standing herbage when growing with perennial ryegrass. Bluestem and perennial ryegrass produced about the same amount of herbage when clipped at 2-wk intervals in both years with bluestem productive for80 and ryegrass for 135 days. Bluestem produced 6200 lb/acre in about 80 d when clipped at 4-wk intervals throughout the 2000 growing season. Bluestem clipped weekly in 2000 produced slightly more herbage than canopies clipped every 2-wk and offers a means to supplement mid season forage production under intensive herbage use situations.
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