Bale Feeding Grass Mixes for the North ?

[Stocker Steve]

I am seeing very thin stands after outwintering on fescue/OG paddocks. I am seeing very thick stands after outwintering on reed canary/quack grass stands. It seems like central Minnesota is too far north for fescue to persist well... Meadow fescue seems a little hardier than tall fescue here but neither one lasts more than 5 to 8 years at best.

I am thinking about seeding more upland reed canary based stands. Is there a mix that gives you decent production till the reed canary takes off in the third year? I am considering including shorter lived varieties like festolium or tall fescue.

 

[fargus]

Try smooth bromegrass. It can be a little tricky to establish as it's big fluffy seed and you CAN'T plant it deep, but it persists, the stand thickens over time and it tolerates a wide range of soil conditions. Comes up strong the first year and gets better with age. The quackgrass will show up on its own, lol. You can use timothy as well, cheap easy to establish, but it has poor mid-summer production. It'll get you going though, and the reed canarygrass will out-compete it once it really gets going in year 3-4.

I am still putting tall fescue in most of my acres. It seems to persist, but we have a different growing season down here in the lower great lakes basin. I have even left a field untouched into the middle of July and let the cows hammer through it. That thickened up everything, as the fescue had time to make some viable seed, as well as the trefoil and clover. The reed canarygrass just kept thickening up when we didn't disturb it. I won't do that every year, but it seems to have worked the couple of times I've tried it.

 

[agmantoo]

Stocker Steve

Where I live it is common for fescue stands to survive for 25 to 30 years without reseeding. This year my experience is not much different than you described at your location. People here fault the warm Winter weather for the poor performance of even the most hardy fescue (endophyte infected KY31). Orchard grass has never been hardy for me and I have not planted any for years. The big surprise in my rotational grazed pastures this year is I have a full volunteer stand of OG. I attribute the OG having been suppressed previously by cold weather and dense fescue. IMO this anomaly will correct itself when the weather reverts to normal. I will lightly reseed the fescue areas this Fall. Do not abandon what forages have worked for you in the past too quickly.

 

[Stocker Steve]

Stocker Steve
Orchard grass has never been hardy for me and I have not planted any for years. The big surprise in my rotational grazed pastures this year is I have a full volunteer stand of OG. .

There was OG planted on my farm in the early 70s, but it was never replanted since if was so "clumpy".
I have some fescue die back after an open winter a couple years ago, and some OG came back...
I must have a big seed bank account.

 

[Stocker Steve]

Try smooth bromegrass. It can be a little tricky to establish as it's big fluffy seed and you CAN'T plant it deep, but it persists, the stand thickens over time and it tolerates a wide range of soil conditions. Comes up strong the first year and gets better with age.

Old timers put smooth brome in the oats box and timothy with RC in the grass seed box - - and foro grass got 99% timothy and 1% brome... :shock:
Some meadow brome has been going in around here recently.
How do you plant brome grass seed?

 

[fargus]

We have had luck several different ways. A brillion packer seeder is the best. The other two ways we've had it work well is to put it in the oats box on the drill, but pull the tubes out of the opener boots, and put it on the surface that way, and pull a packer. I have also mixed it with fertilizer and airflowed it on, and then came in with a drill and finger harrow (Tye no-till drill.) All of those have worked well. Putting the seed in with grain, and burying it 3/4" to 1" deep resulted in almost no brome coming up. I haven't tried meadow brome, simply because if I can get smooth established I think we are better off. Seems to tolerate a wider temperature range and produce better in July/August.

 

[Stocker Steve]

When I look at all the seed I have planted the last couple years - - I may have been penny wise in not getting a Brillion. Seed cost is around $50 per acre and I have under seeded about 36 acres with oats this year alone. Used 10' Brillion runs about $4,000 in Wisconsin...
What do you think on the economics?

 

[fargus]

For lower acres it pays to run over the field twice with your drill. If you are using oats and a brillion you are driving over it twice anyways, but have more machinery costs. The other option I forgot last night is an ATV spreader. Brome is a pain (doesn't spread very wide) but I have done it. Run that ahead of your drill, the openers and whatever you use for a packer should give you the right amount of coverage to get that brome going.

 

[ABrauny]

Stocker I would go with low alkaloid reed canary grass, but even the low alkaloid varieties can be tricky to get a cow to eat if they are allowed to get "stemy". It has better summer regrowth than most cool season grasses and better drought tolerance than most. I speak from experience when I say this.