I worry more about the ph that the grass requires and just let the clover tag along but anything over 6 works ok for us. The recommended range for most of the forages run 5.6 -7.0 and red clover is 6.0-7.0, that's why we don;t worry about getting it much over 6. When the ph drops or the first year that it doesn;t show an improvment is when we lime. We had one pasture that had been neglected and it called for 3000 lbs per acre. We put on 1500 ansd when we retested 2 years later it didn;t call for any. That's why we take it easy, raising the ph frees up other soil components that affect the release of the lime neutralizing agents, which-- etc.
We curretnly only have 1 field that's below 6, but there's no way to get the lime truck or the buggy in there so we just graze it and brush hog it when we pull the cows off. It grows very good fescue and clover but orchard grass doesn;t do a thing.
Even within fields there will be a variation because of the soil type so we take multiple samples from the different parts of the field based on what is growing and how well it's growing. Since it's hard to get the exactly right amounts on any given odd section, we take the average of the entire field and apply enough of whatever, based on the worst part to bring the worst part up to the average of the entire field. Not sure if I explained that very well.
dun
