Kootenai

Product Description

Kootenai is doing extremely well in grower trials. Compared to Climax, it is much higher yielding. Kootenai matures early, making it useful for mixtures with alfalfa. (Approximately four days sooner than Climax). It tillers more, and extremely high yielding. High palatability and high hay quality. Kootenai does not lodge as much as other timothy varieties. For double-crop situations seeded in the fall, Kootenai would be ready to harvest earlier in the spring.

• Good tillering with very high yield
• Early heading
• Works well with alfalfa
• Fall seeding allows early spring harvest
• Excellent for double crop in South

Kootenai

Known for its palatability and superior winterhardiness, Kootenai is the latest heading of all cool season perennials. It is well suited as dry cow hay due its low uptake of minerals such as potassium. It makes excellent horse hay. Kootenai has a shallow root system allowing great spring production with poor performance in the heat and drought. However,  it does well on heavy, wet, and peaty soils. The small bulb at the base stores nutrients, giving it persistence through the drought and heat periods. Kootenai works well in blends; it adds palatability, spring growth, health and winter-hardiness to the stand. 

Establishment

Kootenai can be spring or late summer planted. It needs to be planted into a very firm seedbed keeping the depth 1/8 to 1/4 inches. It is slow to establish so control weed pressure and leave 4 to 6 weeks from seeding date to summer drought for spring plantings and the same period before frosting for fall plantings. In the South, Kootenai is often Fall planted as a cover crop, harvested or grazed in the spring and then killed off to make way for spring crops.

Management

Choose an earlier heading variety when combining with alfalfa because Kootenai will not tolerate harvest during the jointing (stem elongation) and early heading stages. Keep the cutting height 3 to 4 inches for stand persistence. Does not graze well. Use a late heading variety for grazing. It tolerates mechanical harvest well, with proper fertility. Fall cuttings should be early enough to allow carbohydrate reserves to be replenished. An early application of N will significantly boost production. If Kootenai starts heading out, both palatability and digestibility fall dramatically. Therefore as a blend component for grazing, a late maturing variety is preferred.

Kootenai Timothy Tech Sheet