cowtrek
Well-known member
:?: I've gotten out of the cotton and grain sorghum game and am in the process of switching over my 87 acre homeplace at Needville into pasture for our cow/calf operation. 62 acres of it is former cropland, and the rest is native/tame pastures with a lot of Dallisgrass and native grasses in it, that we have been using only for a hay meadow for about the last 6-8 years. It's been fallow all last year so cotton herbicide should all be gone, especially since the last two years I farmed it was in grain sorghum. I'm on Lake Charles clay, which is heavy black clay, pH 7.2, flat as a pool table, in Fort Bend County TX just west of Houston. Soil test from my last crop year showed everything to be good to high except nitrogen of course. I had a micronutrient test done at A&M a few years back and it was all excellent. My existing pasture has never seen the plow, been used for hay and cattle for a hundred years and is pretty darn productive to have no fertilizer put on it. I'd like to duplicate those 14 acres on the other 62, really. It's mostly Dallisgrass with some native grass thrown in, and I'm starting to get some Bahia, which I'm not too thrilled with, (probably came from the round baler; I've custom baled a friend's place for years for him and his is solid bahia, and from what I've seen just about anything is better than bahia around here.) I have some common bermuda on the old field ends and a lot of johnsongrass too, even invading the hay meadow here and there.
So, if you had a clean slate, what would you plant? Been thinking about Jiggs or Tifton 85, in fact I planted about 5 acres of Tifton 85 last year but it's kinda weedy, trying to keep it shredded and renovated and might disk it some in early spring. I've heard Jiggs is easier to establish than Tifton 85, from tops anyway, which is what I'm doing. Can't afford to have it sprigged, but I can do the work with tops myself. Feedstore guy said that some seeded bermudas like Cheyenne or Vaquero were every bit as good as sprigged types. I've read good things about Cheyenne. I've heard conflicting stories on Texas Tough, from low germination and stand failures to it reverting to common after a year or two. I've read about a seeded bermuda called "Sungrazer" and wonder if anyone has experience with it to share. I really prefer a seeded bermuda if it will be on par with Jiggs or Tifton 85 simply because it's so much easier to plant. Of course I may check into Dallisgrass seed too.
I want a grass that will do OK without a lot of fertilizer. I put some clover on the native pasture to help put some nitrogen under it, and plan to overseed clover on whatever I end up planting for permanent pasture on the old crop fields. I want to 'close the loop' and get away from all those high dollar inputs I had to buy in my row crop days. I know pasture is expensive to establish; I just don't want some grass that's gonna keep me calling the ag supply for a spreader full of fertilizer all the time. I'd much rather have a 'plowhorse grass' that can make it on clover nitrogen and a little spring N topdress than a 'racehorse grass' that needs as much fertilizer as a 110 bushel corn crop.
Anyway, any thoughts or experiences would be appreciated. If your gonna do it once, do it right! Thanks! JR
So, if you had a clean slate, what would you plant? Been thinking about Jiggs or Tifton 85, in fact I planted about 5 acres of Tifton 85 last year but it's kinda weedy, trying to keep it shredded and renovated and might disk it some in early spring. I've heard Jiggs is easier to establish than Tifton 85, from tops anyway, which is what I'm doing. Can't afford to have it sprigged, but I can do the work with tops myself. Feedstore guy said that some seeded bermudas like Cheyenne or Vaquero were every bit as good as sprigged types. I've read good things about Cheyenne. I've heard conflicting stories on Texas Tough, from low germination and stand failures to it reverting to common after a year or two. I've read about a seeded bermuda called "Sungrazer" and wonder if anyone has experience with it to share. I really prefer a seeded bermuda if it will be on par with Jiggs or Tifton 85 simply because it's so much easier to plant. Of course I may check into Dallisgrass seed too.
I want a grass that will do OK without a lot of fertilizer. I put some clover on the native pasture to help put some nitrogen under it, and plan to overseed clover on whatever I end up planting for permanent pasture on the old crop fields. I want to 'close the loop' and get away from all those high dollar inputs I had to buy in my row crop days. I know pasture is expensive to establish; I just don't want some grass that's gonna keep me calling the ag supply for a spreader full of fertilizer all the time. I'd much rather have a 'plowhorse grass' that can make it on clover nitrogen and a little spring N topdress than a 'racehorse grass' that needs as much fertilizer as a 110 bushel corn crop.
Anyway, any thoughts or experiences would be appreciated. If your gonna do it once, do it right! Thanks! JR
