Recovery by native grasses

Last year’s severe drought severely affected most of the state’s native warm season perennial grasses. Many areas have received much needed precipitation in the last few months. Dr. Rick Machen, Extension Livestock Specialist at the Texas AgriLife Center in Uvalde, wondered just how grasses might be expected to recover, so he asked Dr. Charles Taylor, Superintendent of the Texas AgriLife Research Station near Sonora. Dr. Taylor’s observations were: 

• warm season perennial bunch grasses will re-grow from stolons, underground buds, and   seeds even though the top may have been completely removed; 
• in most pastures, grass survived in some spots which will provide seed; 
• droughts have always occurred in Texas and grasses have always recovered;
• recovery will depend on soil moisture and grazing management;
• for optimal recovery, grasses will need two to three years of at least average rainfall   before or during the first half of the grazing season.