The Best Genetics for your Fall Perennial Planting

If we picture the Great Plains of the past, we can almost hear the swishing of eight foot tall grasses and smell the fragrance of flowering forbs and legumes. In the background an almost deafening cacophony of birdsong fills the air. These ecosystems are home to an abundance of important and oftentimes rare birds, mammals and insects that need perennial environments to thrive. This same ecosystem once supported the vast and epic herds of American bison. Below the surface, a seemingly endless network of fungi weaves in and around deep, robust root systems.

A thriving, diverse perennial system is perhaps one of the most hospitable hosts to diversity, some even claim perennials to be the “epitome” of soil health with their impressive root systems, year-round soil building and ability to host an abundance of microbial life. When managed correctly, perennials are resilient against extreme weather and one planting can last for generations, providing high quality forage for livestock and habitat for wildlife year after year. 

Perennials for the Modern Farmer

Across the country much of our historic perennial grasslands have been tilled up and transitioned to row crop land at a time when cattle prices were low and grain prices were high. In a year like 2026, it’s easy to wince at such an idea. 

Seeing the benefit of perennials, some row crop farmers are actually reintroducing perennials into their rotation to build soil and provide grazing opportunities over a few year period before rotating the ground back to annual crop production. Green Cover sales rep, Zach Louk has done this exact thing on his farm in southeast Kansas and seen great results. This approach is especially useful in the case where farmers have been on the regen path for many years but continue to see bacterially dominated soils. Perennials have the ability to transform soils and drastically increase fungal populations and organic matter levels. In other cases, producers are actually planting warm season annual grazing mixes into cool season perennial pastures to extend grazing opportunities and introduce more diversity to their soils. Whether you’re looking to spruce up an existing perennial pasture or establish perennials for the first time on your operation, you’ll want to carefully consider your options before pulling the trigger on this type of investment.

Making a Wise Investment

Investing in a high quality, full-rate perennial mix can range anywhere from $70-$120 per acre, so you’ll want to be sure that the conditions are right for planting and that the varieties selected are best suited for your climate. When it comes to perennials, species selection will be based much more on regional rainfall variability than latitude. Other factors to consider would be soil conditions, intended management, planting method, winter temperatures, etc. Our team has carefully researched and experimented with perennials to determine which genetics we feel are the best on the market for our customers.

Grasses

Typically, grasses will make up a large percentage of a well-rounded cover crop mix and perennials are no exception. Grasses provide deep taproots, high biomass production and host mycorrhizal fungi. We have hand-selected the following varieties to provide optimal performance in a perennial mix. 

Estancia Fescue

Estancia is a novel endophyte, erect-leaf tall fescue that’s well-suited for winter stockpiling. The friendly endophyte keeps toxic endophytes out of the plant, so you get the grass's toughness and drought tolerance without the toxicity risk to livestock. This grass maintains superior quality throughout the winter, often holding over 14% protein and above 70% digestibility and also serves as an excellent fall and springtime forage option. Learn more about Estancia Fescue here.

Teton II 

Teton II Tall Fescue is a high yielding, endophyte-free tall fescue variety suited for a multitude of environments. This tall fescue is deep-rooted, medium maturity, with excellent heat and drought tolerance. Learn more about Teton II Tall Fescue here. 

Big Horn Orchardgrass

Bighorn Orchardgrass is a medium maturity variety simply bred for big yields. Bighorn has been widely-tested in university variety trials in Kentucky, New York and Pennsylvania, and more than exceeds expectations on yield and persistence. Bighorn shows industry-leading seedling vigor and quick establishment for great first year yields, as well as excellent disease resistance that adds to the variety’s great persistence. One of Mountain View Seeds newest releases, Bighorn’s maturity fits a wide geography and management types, and is a workhorse in our orchardgrass lineup. 

For more grasses options like perennial ryegrass, meadow brome, switchgrass and intermediate wheatgrass visit our webstore or give our sales team a call for help with tailoring your custom perennial mix 402-469-6784.

Legumes

Among many qualities, legumes bring protein and nitrogen fixation to a mix. There are plenty of alfalfa and clover varieties out on the market but we are very excited to be offering what we consider to be some of the top performers.

Big Red Medium Clover 

Big Red Medium Clover is an improved Medium Red Clover variety offering increased biomass production and improved powdery mildew resistance. Medium Big will have a longer life than other red clovers on the market and features a superior leaf-to-stem ratio. With excellent seedling vigor, this variety is a great candidate for frost or early spring seeding with quick establishment. It's deep taproot can extend up to 3ft into the soil profile and finer rooting structure in the top 5" can really aid in breaking up compacted soils. Red clover flowers are known to attract many pollinator and beneficial insect species.

Stamina Intermediate White Clover

White Clover is an excellent choice for a perennial clover. The Stamina variety was developed to be more heat and drought tolerant than most other white clovers. Being a legume this plant can cause bloat, but rarely when it is in a mix with grasses. White clover is also a great choice for areas that have saturated soils.

Alfalfa

Alfalfa is a versatile, often overlooked species for both grazing and haying. When added to a well-rounded mix, bloat concerns can be easily mitigated while adding high quality forage production.

• MVS Majestic 427 – Recommended for grazing; features a recessed crown to protect growth points.

• MVS 4220Q – Recommended for haying; offers high disease resistance and performs well in eastern and southeastern climates.

Korean Lespedeza

Korean lespedeza is a low growing, warm season, annual legume known for it's ability to tolerate acidic and low fertility soil. The plants do most of their growing in the months of July and August making them useful for bridging summer slumps in cool-season pastures. Though not high yielding, Korean lespedeza is highly palatable and does not cause bloat. Korean lespedeza is small seeded and can be frost seeded or drilled into pastures in midwinter or early spring, emerging in summer. It can also be seeded into a growing wheat crop for a hay or pasture crop after wheat harvest.

Forbs

Forbs contribute important diversity and medicinal qualities for grazing animals. In fact, many rangeland experts consider the presence of forbs to be a key indicator of ecosystem function. 

Chicory 

The chicory we sell is not to be mistaken with the wild chicory often seen invading roadside ditches across America. The domesticated variety physically resembles romaine lettuce with very tall and impressive, palatable leaves. Within a mix, this plant provides high feed value, and demonstrates excellent drought and heat tolerance. Chicory is also highly regarded for offering natural deworming characteristics for livestock.

Plantain  

Plantain is a low-growing forb that, like chicory, is high in minerals. It also contains a natural antibiotic compound that helps reduce infections and also modifies rumen fermentation to improve animal performance, similar to an ionophore like Rumensin. It grows very well on compacted soils and helps loosen them.

Biologicals

Given the cost of perennial seed, it’s worth considering additional tools that can contribute to the success of a perennial planting and overall microbial health in the soil. Two very cost-effective products to consider applying would be MycoGreen NPK to inoculate the seed with mycorrhizal fungi as well as phosphorus and potassium solubilizing bacteria and Azotobacter chroococcum, a free-living nitrogen fixing bacteria.

Green Cover sales representative, Zach Louk has seen exciting results with utilizing Advancing Eco Ag’s SeedFlare seed coating on perennial seeds. This product delivers essential trace minerals directly into the seed to stimulate rapid seed germination and emergence while also reducing insect susceptibility.

It's Better to Have It When You Need It Rather Than Not Have It and Need It

This saying could be true for many things like insurance, your favorite pocket knife or duct tape in a pinch… but it also applies to seed. If you’re planning to establish perennials this fall be sure to get that conversation going with your sales rep and get your seed ordered so that you can be ready to plant when rain comes. Give us a call at 402-469-6784 and check out this article from last year on how to have the best success with a perennial planting. 

While this article contains the varieties we’re most excited about this season, this is not an exhaustive list of our perennial offerings. We are always seeking to provide the most diverse, custom mixes to our customers so if you ever have a question about a specific variety that may not be listed on our website, feel free to reach out to a sales representative to inquire. Give us a call at 402-469-6784 to learn more about which perennials might be the best fit for your operation this year.