The grass that the state plants on road banks is getting in one of my hay fields. I have heard that it makes good hay for horses or cows. I think it is called ce re ce( spelled wrong ). My question is do I let it grow or get rid of it. Thanks

i do know that if it gets very tall it gets tough..several years ago a couple of folks in my neighbor hood tried some..i never asked how it was in quality..they only tried it for one year in a small field. must of not been much good..my thought would be that if is good horse feed it would be in use all over the country

It is probably Sericia Lespedeza probably spelled wrong too...

It actually was developed by a professor by crossing a native Wandlike Lespedeza and Korean Lespedeza and became a self seeding perennial. It is a nitrogen fixing legume that is highly adapted to acidic soil and very poor soil. So it will grow just about anywhere including a cut bank on a roadside and adjoining land if it sets seed. It is not necessarily a displacing invasive, but will grow on poor ground where other legume won't.

It is very stemmy (as the parents name implies) and hard to make hay out of because the leaves tend to shatter when manipulated by modern equipment. All stock with eat it. Making hay out of it the old fashioned way with a dump rake and around a pole while it is still tough enough for the leaves to stay on will save a lot of feed with low tech systems. It will graze fine too.

here in kansas it a bad weed they wont let you plant it and if you have it they want you spay it again and again until they say you got rid of it but i have not seen anything get rid of it

SERECIA IS SOME OF THE BEST HAY THERE IS WHEN ITS CUT AT AROUND 12 INCHES HIGH VERY GOOD DIGESTABILITY AND QUALITY SOURCE OF PROTIEN. I USE TO FEED IT TO ALL OF MY COLTS WHEN WE SHOWED IN HALTER.

Sericea Lespedeza is a noxious weed in several states. It is high in plant compounds called tannins that can actually stop nitrogen absorption in the animals. Not good. Tannins increase as the plant matures and taste bad so many animals will not eat it once it starts to mature.
Dan