No Till Grass Seed

[CreekAngus]

Yesterday we locked up a rental (barn and pasture), there is a 10 acre pasture that has been over grazed and hasn't seen a speck of fertilizer in years. On my own place I screw around every year, broadcasting oats and peas and then discing it, but this will be my first venture in no till. Got a few questions, how many pounds of seed to the acre, will be planting oats (maybe triticale), perennial rye and orchard grass. What are folk's experience with no tilling grass? Good, bad or just plain ugly. I'm not willing to rip the entire place and put in a new seeding, being rented and all.

 

[wbvs58]

I do an annual rye every autumn at 20kg/Ha (44lb to 2.5acres). Usually do some clovers in the small seed box as well. Some areas go better than others but if conditions are favourable you can start to see the green rows after about 3 weeks. It goes best in early spring if we get some rain.

Ken

 

[1982vett]

Down here, I'd no-till 50lbs of oats, hit it with fertilizer, hope it rains and stand back....down here.

 

[CreekAngus]

Down here, I'd no-till 50lbs of oats, hit it with fertilizer, hope it rains and stand back....down here.

I'm assuming that is 50lbs to the acre.

 

[CattleMan1920]

I broadcast a pasture mix this year ahead of a heavy rain, also ran a chain harrow over it before seeding and after. The results have been excellent. I've overstocked them to a high degree, and it keeps coming back after each rain, with virtually no break in the grazing. I planted around 25-30 pounds to the acre. The mix had Timothy, Orchard, Ryegrass, red clover, and low endophyte Fescue. There was more on the label, but not sure off the top of my head. I was really pleased with the results however.

BR and TT saw the pasture, it's not up to Ron's standards, but I'm running a lot of cattle per acre and it's working.

 

[ClinchValley86]

Down here, I'd no-till 50lbs of oats, hit it with fertilizer, hope it rains and stand back....down here.

Do the perennials show any negative the following growing season? Oats survive winter?

 

[1982vett]

Down here, I'd no-till 50lbs of oats, hit it with fertilizer, hope it rains and stand back....down here.

I'm assuming that is 50lbs to the acre.

yup

 

[1982vett]

Down here, I'd no-till 50lbs of oats, hit it with fertilizer, hope it rains and stand back....down here.

Do the perennials show any negative the following growing season? Oats survive winter?

Oats survive winter just find here. Guess the negative is they are done for by middle of May. Some try to double crop and plant haygrazer behind the oats. Hasn't worked all that well recently but it is working this year. I quit trying that 20 years ago. Rain isn't regular enough.

 

[Ebenezer]

No till works fine. You need to balance out the # seeds in a blend. Some just decrease pounds per selection and some do a # seed/pound of each species to get a desired # seed per sq. ft. The big deal is the total price of seeds per acre. If the soil is poor the seeds will be a partial waste of effort.

Perennials: you are adding some so they will either contribute or hurt what is there.

 

[Dave]

When I was still working over there I saw a number of No till seedings. Some worked great. Others not so much. Weather and competition from the existing plants are probably the biggest factors in success. I wouldn't go heavy on the oats as they will become competition for the grass you are trying to establish. The perennial rye grass should do well. Orchard does not establish easily so the competition factor would be a concern to me.

 

[Stocker Steve]

Depends on variety and weather and seedbed. Usually not so great results into sod unless it is dormant. That is why some people burn existing stand down and/or till.

There is data on the web for broadcast seed germ by variety. Rye & rye crosses were number one, OG was number two.

Think about clover in the mix.

 

[CreekAngus]

Depends on variety and weather and seedbed. Usually not so great results into sod unless it is dormant. That is why some people burn existing stand down and/or till.

There is data on the web for broadcast seed germ by variety. Rye & rye crosses were number one, OG was number two.

Think about clover in the mix.

I'm keeping clover out of the mix, because I will spray for weeds next year and more than likely the following as well. There is another pasture, I'm going to sacrifice this year, allow the cows to tear it up over winter and then go in and plant berseem.

 

[CattleMan1920]

Depends on variety and weather and seedbed. Usually not so great results into sod unless it is dormant. That is why some people burn existing stand down and/or till.

There is data on the web for broadcast seed germ by variety. Rye & rye crosses were number one, OG was number two.

Think about clover in the mix.

I'm keeping clover out of the mix, because I will spray for weeds next year and more than likely the following as well. There is another pasture, I'm going to sacrifice this year, allow the cows to tear it up over winter and then go in and plant berseem.

Why would you not want clover? It's excellent for the soil and cattle get very fat on a good stand of clover. It's the gift that keeps on giving.

 

[Nesikep]

And clover seed isn't very expensive either.
If you're going to do it very soon, some crimson clover (annual) would grow well this year and be good food, otherwise I'd throw 5lb/ac of double cut red clover into it.

Weeds tend to come up when there's open spaces, depending on how bad the type of weed you're dealing with you might be better off with some weeds and the higher nutrition of some legumes in there.

I usually do about 50 lb/ac oats as well.

 

[1982vett]

Depends on variety and weather and seedbed. Usually not so great results into sod unless it is dormant. That is why some people burn existing stand down and/or till.

There is data on the web for broadcast seed germ by variety. Rye & rye crosses were number one, OG was number two.

Think about clover in the mix.

I'm keeping clover out of the mix, because I will spray for weeds next year and more than likely the following as well. There is another pasture, I'm going to sacrifice this year, allow the cows to tear it up over winter and then go in and plant berseem.

Why would you not want clover? It's excellent for the soil and cattle get very fat on a good stand of clover. It's the gift that keeps on giving.

Didn't you learn anything at all watching yellowstone last night? :lol: A couple mouths full will kill em DEAD! Gotta burn the range sos it don't come up in the spring and kill more. :nod:

 

[cowrancher75]

Depends on variety and weather and seedbed. Usually not so great results into sod unless it is dormant. That is why some people burn existing stand down and/or till.

There is data on the web for broadcast seed germ by variety. Rye & rye crosses were number one, OG was number two.

Think about clover in the mix.

I'm keeping clover out of the mix, because I will spray for weeds next year and more than likely the following as well. There is another pasture, I'm going to sacrifice this year, allow the cows to tear it up over winter and then go in and plant berseem.

Why would you not want clover? It's excellent for the soil and cattle get very fat on a good stand of clover. It's the gift that keeps on giving.

b/c he needs to spray.


i'm clearing 20 acres of brush/woods and i won't plant clover either since i'll have to spray it. i will frost seed some in the next year though

 

[CreekAngus]

I'm keeping clover out of the mix, because I will spray for weeds next year and more than likely the following as well. There is another pasture, I'm going to sacrifice this year, allow the cows to tear it up over winter and then go in and plant berseem.

Why would you not want clover? It's excellent for the soil and cattle get very fat on a good stand of clover. It's the gift that keeps on giving.

Didn't you learn anything at all watching yellowstone last night? :lol: A couple mouths full will kill em DEAD! Gotta burn the range sos it don't come up in the spring and kill more. :nod:

LOL....some of that crap they come up with on there, is just plain stupid. My wife looks at me and says,"Didn't you put in clover over the winter?". Yep, sure did and miraculously didn't kill a one of them.

 

[CreekAngus]

I'm keeping clover out of the mix, because I will spray for weeds next year and more than likely the following as well. There is another pasture, I'm going to sacrifice this year, allow the cows to tear it up over winter and then go in and plant berseem.

Why would you not want clover? It's excellent for the soil and cattle get very fat on a good stand of clover. It's the gift that keeps on giving.

b/c he needs to spray.


i'm clearing 20 acres of brush/woods and i won't plant clover either since i'll have to spray it. i will frost seed some in the next year though

Thank you Rancher, someone can comprehend the written word. Yes, I'm going to crossbow that field, complete waste of money and seed to put in clover. I may drop some berseem (annual clover) over the winter, but my concern is it won't have an opportunity to put on any kind of stand, before I put cows out on pasture. We have a small window, April 15th to about June 15th. After that our pastures brown up or stall. This summer we have more rain than normal, field is green, but stalled out.

 

[CreekAngus]

When I was still working over there I saw a number of No till seedings. Some worked great. Others not so much. Weather and competition from the existing plants are probably the biggest factors in success. I wouldn't go heavy on the oats as they will become competition for the grass you are trying to establish. The perennial rye grass should do well. Orchard does not establish easily so the competition factor would be a concern to me.

Thank you Dave for the response, you know this area well. From what I've seen orchard grass almost needs to be treated here like an annual, unless you're going to renovate the entire field. I'm going to take your suggestion and go with perennial rye. Still trying to decide if I'm going to toss some berseem out there, it will be a first for me.

 

[Dave]

When I was still working over there I saw a number of No till seedings. Some worked great. Others not so much. Weather and competition from the existing plants are probably the biggest factors in success. I wouldn't go heavy on the oats as they will become competition for the grass you are trying to establish. The perennial rye grass should do well. Orchard does not establish easily so the competition factor would be a concern to me.

Thank you Dave for the response, you know this area well. From what I've seen orchard grass almost needs to be treated here like an annual, unless you're going to renovate the entire field. I'm going to take your suggestion and go with perennial rye. Still trying to decide if I'm going to toss some berseem out there, it will be a first for me.

I took over a field next to me there on James Road. It had been hayed and grazed into the ground. All I did was fertilize and practice rotational grazing on it. I was amazed at all the different grass species that popped up. Turned into a very productive field just by improving fertility and management.
Grass species in that area go dormant about June 21. Even if you have water to pour on the land the grass slows way down. One of the advantages of a good stand of clover is that legumes don't go through that dormant period. If you were to take a shovel and start digging right around September 1 you will start finding new root growth. New root growth will proceed top growth by about 3 weeks.