Drilling ryegrass into bermuda pastures?

[gertman]

If you do this year after year will it eventually cause the bermuda to weaken and/or thin out?

 

[Calman]

Here in north texas it's just about impossible to kill the coastal bermuda. The more you mess with it the more it seems to want to grow.
Plowed a field where bermuda was starting to grow and put in wheat 3 yrs in a row. every year the bermuda came in thicker. 4th year we started bailing. Got a real nice bermuda hay field now.

Cal

 

[Jogeephus]

No drilling will not hurt bermuda. But being extremely technical, using a ryegrass with a higher heat tolerance can cause some weak spots in your bermuda fields because it can persist into the growing season of bermuda and can cause decline due to shading. This would be of concern in a hay field moreso than in a normal pasture since grazing will reduce the shading effect. If you see this might apply to your situation, I'd suggest staying away from some of the ryegrass hybrids that boast higher than normal tonnage yields. These higher tonnage yields are "normally" brought about by increasing the heat tolerance of the ryegrass hence the growing season. Hope that makes sense.

 

[backhoeboogie]

If it is coastal, It is best to chisel it about once every three or four years right before you fertilize.

When putting in rye grass, I just broadcast it and have good results. Last year I mised clover with the rye and it all did excellent.

 

[Mahoney Pursley Ranch]

I broadcast rye seed last fall and had a pasture full come up. Sure saved me some hay. Over burmuda pasture I might add.

 

[gertman]

When broadcasting how many pounds of seed did you all sow to the acre? The last time I broadcasted ryegrass it didn't do to well, so I figured I better drill it the next time.

 

[MrBilly]

I will just add, that planting ryegrass into tall FESCUE will adversley affect the fescue because they are both winter grasses and due to competition and shading by the rye the fescue's leaf growth is reduced and it may not store enough carbohydrates in the stem bases to get through the summer, particularly if we continue to have poor moisture. I didn't make this up, it is from a internationly known forage expert at the Univ. ol GA.

Just passing it on

Billy

 

[backhoeboogie]

When broadcasting how many pounds of seed did you all sow to the acre? The last time I broadcasted ryegrass it didn't do to well, so I figured I better drill it the next time.

For overseeding coastal, I went with about 10 lbs per acre which is probably a bit heavy considering clover seed was also broadcast. It all worked fine.

 

[MikeC]

When broadcasting how many pounds of seed did you all sow to the acre? The last time I broadcasted ryegrass it didn't do to well, so I figured I better drill it the next time.

For overseeding coastal, I went with about 10 lbs per acre which is probably a bit heavy considering clover seed was also broadcast. It all worked fine.

10 lbs? I use 30-40 lbs. to get a good stand of grazing.

Plus I usually put 5 lbs. of clover down along with it.

 

[MrBilly]

I've been drilling Passeral Plus by Pennington. They recommend drilling 20-25 lb/A, but last year I put in 45lb/ (for hay only) and baled 176 rounds on 17 A. This year I planted 35 lb/A. Time will tell what the yield will be. If you braodcast the stuff, you need more according to Pennington = 30-35 lb/A.

Billy

 

[backhoeboogie]

When broadcasting how many pounds of seed did you all sow to the acre? The last time I broadcasted ryegrass it didn't do to well, so I figured I better drill it the next time.

For overseeding coastal, I went with about 10 lbs per acre which is probably a bit heavy considering clover seed was also broadcast. It all worked fine.

10 lbs? I use 30-40 lbs. to get a good stand of grazing.

Plus I usually put 5 lbs. of clover down along with it.

Mike I am overseeding, dense growth that will grow until a have frost. Just going with recommendations. My choices were Perennial, Annual, Gulf Annual, Beef Builder, Buffet and Intermediate. There were different recomendations for broadcast for each variety. Clover choices were much harder to decide on. Hubam did good last year. Some of it was over 7 foot tall once the cows were rotated off of it. I liked it and chose it again. 500 lbs of seed on about 70 acres which is a little over 7 bs per acre.

 

[gertman]

I've been drilling Passeral Plus by Pennington. They recommend drilling 20-25 lb/A, but last year I put in 45lb/ (for hay only) and baled 176 rounds on 17 A. This year I planted 35 lb/A. Time will tell what the yield will be. If you braodcast the stuff, you need more according to Pennington = 30-35 lb/A.

Billy[/quot

Did the 176 bales come from one cutting? What size bales? If my 14 acres comes close to that yield I'll be in good shape.

 

[MrBilly]

That was the first spring cutting and the bales were 5 ft in diameter and net wrapped. It truly took a lot of pressure off needing to make hay during the drought, though we did make 500 plus bales all season including the above.

Billy