This paper will list management considerations necessary in surviving the pasture-livestock business in 1996. Fertilizer is essential for forage production, but there are many management decisions that may reduce the amount of fertilizer needed or make fertilizer more efficient. Some of these management decisions are listed below. Soil Test . A soil test is essential to find the current fertility level of a soil, to determine what kinds and amounts of nutrients are needed to produce the forage yields required.
Plants have a low efficiency for recovery of soil nutrients from an acid soil.
Increasing the soil pH to 6 or better will make soil nutrients more available to plants. The higher soil pH will also help rhizobia in the soil to fix nitrogen when establishing legumes in the fall. Nitrogen influences the amount of forage produced and its protein content. Place the highest rate of nitrogen on the most productive soils. The efficient use of nitrogen decreases as the rate of nitrogen increases.