Impact (Reg. No. CV‐283, PI 687328) crabgrass [Digitaria ciliaris (Retz.) Koeler] was developed by the Noble Research Institute, LLC, and released in 2016. Selections were made from ‘Red River’ by recurrent phenotypic selection for late flowering and high individual plant yield. In Ardmore, OK, trials in 2014 and 2015, Impact headed significantly later than Red River and the early‐maturing cultivar Quick‐n‐Big. This later maturity produced in vitro true dry matter digestibility numerically greater than Red River and significantly greater than Quick‐n‐Big (697 g kg−1 vs. 685 and 665 g kg−1, respectively, across 11 harvests) and lower neutral detergent fiber (635 g kg−1 vs. 654 g kg−1) than Quick‐n‐Big. In Oklahoma, there were no consistent differences in monthly or total dry matter yields in Impact compared with Red River (Impact ranged from 9160 to 19,764 kg ha−1, depending on year and location), but Impact yielded higher during most late‐season harvest dates (mid‐August–early October) compared with Quick‐n‐Big. At Vashti, TX, during 2014, Impact produced more monthly forage and total dry matter yield than both Red River and Quick‐n‐Big. In Mississippi and Tennessee, cultivar differences were similar to Oklahoma results. Impact demonstrated summer animal gains of 0.78 kg d−1 and total season gains of 230 kg ha−1. It is high yielding and should be broadly adapted as annual summer pasture throughout the south‐central and southeastern United States.