bermuda grass

[daniel.carver]

Hi all,
here's my story. The first of July my fields were ready to be cut. The guys that i've been doing it w/on shares got here late, the muddle of August. So everything was burnt up. Now I have a few small patches of bermuda grass. With a little 20 minute shower they greened up for about a week & a half or so. I live in S.W. Missouri. After this drought I'm considering planting Bermuda grass in stages. Plant 20 acres and let it set for a year & then do another 20 acres. From looking at the growing area on the chart, were right on the line. Our winters are mild mostly, last winter it was below freezing for a month though. I do understand that bermuda grass seed is expensive, & so is fertilizer. But I need to do something. These pastures have not been seeded or fertilized in 20 years. Right know the hay crop is Fescue & weeds. So my question is to all of you, does this sound good or not? I could fertilize & go back w/fescue, but going w/a nontoxic grass would be good to.
Thanks Dan

 

[backhoeboogie]

Don't know your climate. The variety I use is coastal burmuda. You plant sprigs instead of seed. It is deeper rooted than seeded varieties.

Here is a pic of one of my pastures last year. Not quite as nice this year because of the drought.

http://ranchers.net/photopost/showphoto ... puser/2144

 

[Caustic Burno]

Bermuda is good grass, coastal is the best but has to be spriged as boogie said the only other variety that is hay and pasture quality is Cheyene IMO. Bermuda is a lot like a woman it requires a lot of attention depending on the variety you chose. But as far as producing tons of feed per acre it is hard to beat.

 

[ALACOWMAN]

hillbilly way to sprig coastal,,, prepare your field,, buy the sprigs yourself , use a manure spreader to to distribute the sprigs and cut em in with a disc.......works great

 

[Caustic Burno]

hillbilly way to sprig coastal,,, prepare your field,, buy the sprigs yourself , use a manure spreader to to distribute the sprigs and cut em in with a disc.......works great

Texas way is two Mexicans on a low boy behind a tractor with pitch forks.

 

[JSCATTLE]

hillbilly way to sprig coastal,,, prepare your field,, buy the sprigs yourself , use a manure spreader to to distribute the sprigs and cut em in with a disc.......works great

Texas way is two Mexicans on a low boy behind a tractor with pitch forks.

That's how I do it ...

 

[gabby]

hillbilly way to sprig coastal,,, prepare your field,, buy the sprigs yourself , use a manure spreader to to distribute the sprigs and cut em in with a disc.......works great

I agree but there's one more step - pack the heck out of it after you cut in the sprigs to conserve moisture and assure good soil contact with the sprigs. You can use any old contraption to make tire tracks. I once pulled a 3-wheel golf cart behind a wagon loaded with dirt to make 5 tire tracks per pass . Another time I used a big folded up harrow with tandem wheels. It makes a big difference if you don't get much rain after sprigging. I tried a cultipacker but it didn't pack nearly as well because you don't get as much weight concentration as with tires.

Back to SW Missouri, isn't that too far north for Coastal?

 

[TexasBred]

hillbilly way to sprig coastal,,, prepare your field,, buy the sprigs yourself , use a manure spreader to to distribute the sprigs and cut em in with a disc.......works great

Texas way is two Mexicans on a low boy behind a tractor with pitch forks.

Yep...absolutely and me and my brother were the two mexicans. But dad wouldn't let us use a pitchfork. Had to dig it out and throw it by hand.

 

[backhoeboogie]

hillbilly way to sprig coastal,,, prepare your field,, buy the sprigs yourself , use a manure spreader to to distribute the sprigs and cut em in with a disc.......works great

Texas way is two Mexicans on a low boy behind a tractor with pitch forks.

Yep...absolutely and me and my brother were the two mexicans. But dad wouldn't let us use a pitchfork. Had to dig it out and throw it by hand.

Only thing worse was hauling peanut hay. A sand filled bale of sticks the cows will fight for. There's no need to close the gate behind you, they're going to try to drag the bales off of the trailer, all the way to the barn.

Good fresh sprig bales come apart better if they are soaked in water.

 

[daniel.carver]

How much fertilizer do you use per year? I've read that you should fertilize after each cutting. Is this a general rule? I'm going to do a soil sample this week & take it to the extension office. How much cheaper is it to sprig than to plant? been on a lot of sights & have not seen prices for sprigs. I'm getting ahead of m self here, I have to fence this off first. Just trying to get a head start. Thanks to all. Dan

 

[backhoeboogie]

My soil samples tell me N only. But I put in trace minerals every year too. Boron causes the roots to go deeper. I usually hit it with 300 lbs per acre and use a blend with higher N than anything else. Some years less.

I do soil tests and there are variations in different parts of pastures. Nevertheless, the old man that sells fertilizer knows more and I listen to what he has to say. I show him my test results. He's been doing this for years and years over thousands of acres.

I have planted Cheyene. I am okay with it but sprigs worked much better for me. Bales setting on the edge of the field have root cropping out of the bottoms. Set those bales on the ground in the winter and those roots get ground in by the cows. Next year coastal will be growing there. It spreads really well on wetter years.

I am not familiar with your climate. Not familiar with your soil. We have lime leaching out of the ground here and I read where folks automatically tell people to add lime. That seem crazy to me. Soil tests you describe are on the right track.

Don't know what type of results you may have. Talk to some old farmer in your locale. That is what I would do.

 

[ALACOWMAN]

How much fertilizer do you use per year? I've read that you should fertilize after each cutting. Is this a general rule? I'm going to do a soil sample this week & take it to the extension office. How much cheaper is it to sprig than to plant? been on a lot of sights & have not seen prices for sprigs. I'm getting ahead of m self here, I have to fence this off first. Just trying to get a head start. Thanks to all. Dan

my neighbor had his sprigged for 60 or 65 dollars a acre cant remember, that be probably 10 to 12 years ago.. he ferilized after every cutting burned off in the spring before green up, and sprayed... pretty good bit of maintenance comes with it,, new guy that has the place now has let it get trashy

 

[ALACOWMAN]

My soil samples tell me N only. But I put in trace minerals every year too. Boron causes the roots to go deeper. I usually hit it with 300 lbs per acre and use a blend with higher N than anything else. Some years less.

I do soil tests and there are variations in different parts of pastures. Nevertheless, the old man that sells fertilizer knows more and I listen to what he has to say. I show him my test results. He's been doing this for years and years over thousands of acres.

I have planted Cheyene. I am okay with it but sprigs worked much better for me. Bales setting on the edge of the field have root cropping out of the bottoms. Set those bales on the ground in the winter and those roots get ground in by the cows. Next year coastal will be growing there. It spreads really well on wetter years.

I am not familiar with your climate. Not familiar with your soil. We have lime leaching out of the ground here and I read where folks automatically tell people to add lime. That seem crazy to me. Soil tests you describe are on the right track.

Don't know what type of results you may have. Talk to some old farmer in your locale. That is what I would do.

we're setting on limestone rocks,, but have the most acidic soil in the state

 

[jedstivers]

http://www.tifton.uga.edu/fat/bermudagrass.htm

 

[vclavin]

My soil samples tell me N only. But I put in trace minerals every year too. Boron causes the roots to go deeper.I had understood their roots go 10-12 feet deep, how much deeper do you need? You can't hardly kill that stuff out!) I usually hit it with 300 lbs per acre and use a blend with higher N than anything else. Some years less.

I do soil tests and there are variations in different parts of pastures. Nevertheless, the old man that sells fertilizer knows more and I listen to what he has to say. I show him my test results. He's been doing this for years and years over thousands of acres.

I have planted Cheyene. I am okay with it but sprigs worked much better for me. Bales setting on the edge of the field have root cropping out of the bottoms. Set those bales on the ground in the winter and those roots get ground in by the cows. Next year coastal will be growing there. It spreads really well on wetter years.

I am not familiar with your climate. Not familiar with your soil. We have lime leaching out of the ground here and I read where folks automatically tell people to add lime. That seem crazy to me. Soil tests you describe are on the right track.

Don't know what type of results you may have. Talk to some old farmer in your locale. That is what I would do.

 

[backhoeboogie]

On the sandy flood plains you are probably asbolutely correct. Not all is on those fields. Not all has been long established (years and years). Trace minerals are cheap compared to everything else. Easier to just blend it in with everything else.

My soil tests will always say I don't need minerals. I put back what I take and then some.

 

[Baldie Maker]

The tifton varieties may work well for you in your area, if I were going to put in Bermuda I would go with the Vaughn's #1; Tiftons to my knowledge freeze out up here. I don't know about the other varieties but this one being asexual has little to no seed so you don't have to worry about it's palatability changing if it were to cross with native species of lesser palatability( not saying that occurs frequently). I was in a summer forages class at my college and we actually visited a producer with Vaughn's and Vaughn's homeplace( he was broadcasting cuttings in Alabama at the time) and both had really nice stands. The producers we visited cut theirs 4 times a year with about 2.5 tons to the acre each cutting with CP content over 15% and they use these areas as sacrifices to feed hay during the winter as the Bermuda does an exceptional job of pulling water into the ground but not making that area a swamp so it can be tracked on.What I found really exciting is that they drilled winter wheat into theirs and with the Bermuda's water holding capacity and how well you don't sink in it they were able to wet roll it. 800$ gets you enough clippings for 5 acres, from then on you can spread from that area.

can get you started..
http://www.agrisupportonline.com/ads/fo ... 0/3770.htm