Drilling seed into old hayfield

[millstreaminn]

Last year I had an old hay field that I had just been brush hogging down each year. I finally decided to spend some time and money on it and overseed it. Last spring I brush hogged it down then sprayed it with Forefront HL. I had excellent control of all broad leaf weeds. I only have grasses left, just not as thick as I would like. What grass or plant can I no till drill into the hay field to increase my yield? Legumes are out because of the carryover of the Forefront.

The field is mostly brome and orchard grass, so I would need a pretty hardy seed to compete with them. I had even thought of drilling some oats on it , along with something else. At least the oats would give me additional tonnage when I bale it.

 

[dun]

What is the most common and prevalent grass type in your area?

 

[millstreaminn]

I'd go with quack and orchard.

 

[dun]

How does fescue do?

 

[millstreaminn]

There is tall fescue around, I just never planted it. Do you think it would compete in an established (sparsely) hayfield?

 

[dun]

There is tall fescue around, I just never planted it. Do you think it would compete in an established (sparsely) hayfield?

It should compete/dominate just fine. If you dont; already have fescue in the field, I would recommend one of the friendly/novel endophyte fescues rather then KY31.

 

[millstreaminn]

Thanks Dun- I'll get a couple bags on order.

Scott

 

[dun]

First thing I would do is a soil test and see what amendments may be needed and get that done if it calls for lime. Lime takes a while to get started doing anything. Any fertility issues can be addressed when you drill the seed.

 

[kjonesel]

A type of fescue to check into if I'm not too late would be Meadow fescue. It has been used in Europe and this country years ago. It is being promoted once again by the Universities. Byron seed company is who I have been able to find information on it from.

 

[Dave]

I am not too sure how well Tall Fescue will establish in an existing stand. I have witnessed some difficulty in doing that here. Once you get it established it will do just fine. If I were planting Tall Fescue the variety I would use is AU Triumph. It led a university yield study here 4 years in a row. But I am a long ways from where you are.

 

[Lucky_P]

Endophyte-free tall fescues, like AU Triumph *might* work OK in a haying-only setting, but here in the Southeast (I am an AU grad, but I'm not planting any Triumph), they are 'temporary', at best. First time you hit a drought season or are forced to overgraze them, they're gonna go 'toes-up'. Been there, done that.

Mix of Novel-endophyte and orchardgrass would be the way I'd go. If you can't put in any legumes yet, you could stick some cheap timothy in the legume box for some extra grass for hay production. Timothy only lasts a year or two here, before it peters out, but might last longer up in PA.

 

[dun]

There is a huge difference between endophyte free and novel/friendly endophyte. The friendly/novel fescue may not be as persistant as KY31, but it's a whole lot more so then the free stuff.

 

[Lucky_P]

You got that right, dun.
I had about 45 acres of corn/bean ground that I drilled back to grass, along about '98... top-yielding endophyte-free variety in UofKY's trials... don't remember variety name now... had a great stand. Lasted about 2 years, 'til we hit a dry summer; even with low grazing pressure, it croaked.

Had a buddy in north AL whose dad planted a couple hundred acres of AU Triumph... lasted about 2-3 years. Think they came back in with KY-31.

If I were starting with a blank (or mostly blank) slate with no endophyte-infected fescue , I'd certainly go with a novel-endophyte tall fescue.