# TifQuik Bahia grass



## Ironbutt (Jan 5, 2013)

I am in zone 8 eastern NC. Has anyone any experience with TifQuik bahia grass for cow pasture? Has been recommended I use either Bahia or Bermuda by NCDA. My other pastures are fescue, clover, perennial ryegrass,Brome grass timothy mixture. So I'm debating on these two. The new pasture was a pine thicket cut-over that was bulldozed and limed waiting for spring..Soil is sandy loam with some drainage.


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## COWS (Dec 23, 2012)

I'm in Western SC, don't have sandy soil. I have some bahia grass that volunteered. 

Cows like to graze bahia grass and it is drought resistant. Same thing is true of common bermuda. Bahia will crowd out bermuda if left alone. I have some in hay fields and it will crowd out everything except Johnson grass. It makes good hay that cows love, HOWEVER, it does not yield much. It is tough to cut and mowers will noticeably slow down in Bahia grass. Common bermuda will yield slightly more hay and there is no comparison for hay yield with Coastal bermuda. Maybe the type you mentioned has been developed to yield better. I have talked with people at farm shows who are supposed to know and they say the older bahia will eventually crowd out the new improved versions.

Short answer to your question is that I don't reccommed either one. If your fescue grows well in your area I would stick with it. Fescue is not as drouth resistant but recovers fast when it does rain. The biggest short coming of fescue is that it enters a dormant stage in the middle to late summer and dosen't have a growth spurt until cool weather in the fall. On the other hand, if the temperature gets into the 60s ove the winter the fescue will grow. Bahia and Bermuda are dead throughout the winter. Bahia starts summer growth later than bermuda. Coastal bermuda needs a little TLC if it is managed for grazing, also common bermuda gets a little earlier start in the spring.

The reason someone reccommended Bahia or bermuda is to get you some grass that will produce in the hot summer. I have no experience with Brome or timothy, but the others you mentioned don't grow much in the summer.

COWS


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## Ironbutt (Jan 5, 2013)

The extension agent said the bahia was a new variety that was a higher yielding grass that he thought would be a excellent grass on virgin pasture. I am familar with the kind on our highway shoulders and I was told this tifquik variety was different. My fescue goes dormant mid june through september and I am constantly reseeding as it demishes itself in extreme dry weather. Guess I will try it and see for myself if it will work for me...


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## COWS (Dec 23, 2012)

Well, I was thinking that you were out of the fescue zone. It dosen't like sandy soil and hot dry weather. I would like to know hiow the tifquick works out.

COWS


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## ArmyDoc (May 13, 2007)

TifQuick is a variant of Tifton #9. It is an improved variety of Pensacola Bahia, and is supposed to have about 25% more yield than regular Pensacola, but not as high as Bermuda.

TifQuick has less hard seed, thus having a higher and more rapid germination rate. As I understand it, this wears off over time, and it essentially becomes Tifton #9 after a few years.

The farmers near me say that the cattle like bahia better than bermuda, but that it doesn't grow as well as bermuda in the sun. It grows much better than bermuda in the shade, and requires less nitrogen to do well. 

Bermuda growers don't like bahia because once it gets established, it crowds out the bermuda, and is hard to get rid of.

I plan to grow tifton #9, since I have alot of pasture under trees, and I'm not in a hurry to get it established (so no need for the extra $$ for tifqwick). I figure a grass that grows well under trees, that is hard to get rid of and that cows like is just about perfect.


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