Did a little pasture renovation last weekend

[Steve Wilson]

We have a couple acre area in one pasture that hasn't been worth cutting for hay for the past two years. Lots of white dutch clover and lance leaf ragweed....called gum weed by the locals. But not much height to the tall fescue and what was there was thin. Last summer and fall, we spread a lot of manure on it though. That really got the dutch clover going nuts.

Anyway, last Saturday I disked it in two directions, about 2 inches deep. Then drug the 24 foot flex tine harrow over it in two directions. Followed by slinging orchard grass and red clover with a 3 point hitch seeder and a final light harrowing across the slope. The disking made a really nice seedbed but left a lot of the existing sod there for erosion control. I'll wait until the clover has a chance to establish before I put down any fertilizer. Should have probably limed it but the pH was 6.3 so I decided to skip it since there wasn't time to get it applied before I seeded. In the next month or so, I should be able to see what kind of stand I'm going to get.

 

[dun]

Did you check the ph before or after disking?

 

[Steve Wilson]

Checked it with a 6 inch core puller before disking. pH is probably marginal but you have to go with what you have now and then.

 

[dun]

Checked it with a 6 inch core puller before disking. pH is probably marginal but you have to go with what you have now and then.

You might want to check it again now that it's ben disked. May be higher then it was but if it's anything like around here it will be substantially lower.

 

[Douglas]

Checked it with a 6 inch core puller before disking. pH is probably marginal but you have to go with what you have now and then.

You might want to check it again now that it's ben disked. May be higher then it was but if it's anything like around here it will be substantially lower.

Why is that Dun?

 

[dun]

Checked it with a 6 inch core puller before disking. pH is probably marginal but you have to go with what you have now and then.

You might want to check it again now that it's ben disked. May be higher then it was but if it's anything like around here it will be substantially lower.

Why is that Dun?

Our soil is pretty heavy and it takes a long time for anything to get down more then an inch or 2. When you disk it it brings the poor stuff up and turns the better stuff under. I've pretty much quit disking anything anymore. Had one field, 27 acres, that I was so proud off because I had finally gotten the fertility up to where it should be and the ph of 6.2. Disked it plant WSG and the fertility went down the dumper and the ph went to 4.5.

 

[Steve Wilson]

I checked this past weekend and the early risers are up. Meaning that some of the orchard grass and clover are showing themselves now. There were some number of orchard grass seedlings about 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch tall and the clover either only had its seed leaves exposed or some with their first set of true leaves. Ever since I planted it three weeks ago, it has been cloudy with rains about every three days, and chilly to boot. Some frosts thrown in for good measure too.

Good thing I caught that little dry spell to work the ground and seed it, cause you couldn't have gotten into the fields and stirred dirt since. Sun shone today, nice and strong. First time we have seen that in weeks.

 

[novatech]

Why did you plant red clover in a pasture that had white dutch growing sucessfully?

 

[Stocker Steve]

Our soil is pretty heavy and it takes a long time for anything to get down more then an inch or 2. When you disk it it brings the poor stuff up and turns the better stuff under. I've pretty much quit disking anything anymore. Had one field, 27 acres, that I was so proud off because I had finally gotten the fertility up to where it should be and the ph of 6.2. Disked it plant WSG and the fertility went down the dumper and the ph went to 4.5.

I have had this occur with plowing. Broadcasting on the surface and then the custom operator plowed it down as deep as he could - - below the soil test probe. Never thought to discuss depth... Disking two inches deep would not seem like such a problem although the seedlings may have to stretch a little to reach the good stuff.

Dun - are you using the cattle panel drag as your main tillage tool?

 

[Steve Wilson]

Regarding the dutch clover; it's my understanding that it doesn't fixate near as much nitrogen as red or ladino. The protien content is supposed to be lower. Plus, the stuff just doesn't grow very tall so you hardly get any when you mow it for hay.

 

[Stocker Steve]

Why did you plant red clover in a pasture that had white dutch growing sucessfully?

Certainly you will get higher yield. Not sure if it pencils out. If you let it go to seed so the sand lasts then it is probably a good investment.

Grandpa used to plant alsike with red. I usually plant 1# ladino to 4# of red. Almost all ladino in low spots, mostly red in the remainder of the field.

 

[novatech]

Regarding the dutch clover; it's my understanding that it doesn't fixate near as much nitrogen as red or ladino. The protien content is supposed to be lower. Plus, the stuff just doesn't grow very tall so you hardly get any when you mow it for hay.

The nitrogen fixation on white clover is about 10% lower as far as what I could Google up. That may account for the higher protein. I did not realize you were going to bale it. If used for pasture I would go with the one that would be more like a native therefore cutting out the expense of reseeding.

 

[Steve Wilson]

I had a chance to check the pasture this past Sunday. The orchard grass is coming up nicely now, about 1 1/2 inches tall. The red clover is still pretty small but coming along now too.