Meadow Fescue – The Forgotten Grass of Southwest Wisconsin

Back in 1990, a local dairy grazier, Charlie Opitz of Mineral Point, observed a grass under a remnant oak savanna that he couldn’t identify but that his dairy cows seems to like and produce more milk when grazing it. Initial reactions from grass specialist were ho-hum and suggested it might be a festulolium, a cross bred grass, until they observed the grass spreading everywhere on the Opitz farm.

In 2002, the detective work then began. It involved DNA analysis and grass researchers from Japan, Wales, New Zealand and the US. The conclusion of this research was that this was Meadow Fescue, a species indigenous to northern Europe and mountain areas of southern Europe.

What was exciting was this “mystery grass” in SW Wisconsin was more persistent and more productive than developed varieties elsewhere. This raised even more questions?
Was this grass unique to the Mineral Point region, how wide spread was it, and how did it get here in the first place?

In 2007, Mike Casler and his crew from the Dairy Forage Research Center logged 17,000 miles in Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa and Minnesota trying to track down the extent of Meadow Fescue. The grass was found on over 300 farms in all 4 states. The largest concentration however is in the Driftless Region of Southwest Wisconsin, largely following the Military Ridge and then concentrated around the Mineral Point region.

Interviews with farm owners indicated that no one recalled ever seeding the grass, it had always been there. With more land put the plow, the grass was able to survive in remnant oak savannas of SW Wisconsin, with the renewed interest in grazing in the 1980’s the grass once again had an opportunity to thrive and spread.

Casler and Geoff Brink, also from the Dairy Forage Research Center, developed three theories how the grass came to make Mineral Point its’ home.

“We have three possible hypotheses regarding the origin and introduction of meadow fescue into this region of Wisconsin—the hypotheses are not mutually exclusive.
1. The primary immigration hypothesis involves direct immigration of Europeans to Wisconsin, including meadow fescue seed from their homeland, largely northern Europe or higher altitudes of southern Europe and southwestern Asia.
2. The secondary immigration hypothesis involves immigration of descendants from the original European immigrants, including meadow fescue populations that resided in the United States since the original immigration. Consistent with both of these hypotheses, our survey has determined that the highest concentration of remnant meadow fescue populations occurs in the region associated with the historic Military Ridge Road.
3. The summer/winter pasture hypothesis involves immigration of meadow fescue to the mid-South of the United States for autumn-winter-spring grazing, followed by shipment of cattle on railroads to southwestern Wisconsin for summer grazing. This practice was very common in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, leading to the possibility of multiple introduction events of meadow fescue seed ingested by cattle just prior to their journey to northern pastures.”

Perennial ryegrass is considered the highest quality cool season grass available. However, in our SW Wisconsin environment, it goes dormant in summer and our cold exposed winters will often result in winter kill within 2-3 years, requiring the expense of re-seeding. Natural selection has allowed the Meadow Fescue to adapt to our environment, it is extremely winter hardy and has excellent heat and drought tolerance, which aids in its’ persistence. On top of these desirable characteristics for dairy and even beef graziers, it’s exceptionally high quality, producing more milk or beef per acre than other grasses adapted to our region.

“Hidden Valley” Meadow Fescue is being developed and will have seed released for producers in the near future and is taken from the Opitz farm name where this forage was “re-discovered”.