Fall/Winter Forage

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tnwalkingred

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All,

I have cattle running on two farms and plan to pull the cattle off one farm before August so I can over seed and fertilize the pastures in an attempt to supplement the amount of hay I have to feed. All cattle will be brought back once the forage runs out at the other farm. The farm where I plan to plant some winter forage is also where the hay barn is located so I'll be keeping the cattle there until spring.

I plan to rent a no till to plant ryegrass into the existing sod. I've tried to broadcast it before but for various reasons never got a good stand. I'm in middle TN.

Would love your suggestions on what the best path forward is? Thanks!
 
Wait to seed until the armyworms are gone. Add a touch of brassica seeds (1/2 to 1 pound/acre) and also a half rate of (would have to look but 5 to 10 pounds per acre) crimson clover. Was an article in a recent forage magazine that adding some cereal rye to annual ryegrass extended days of grazing by 15 days or something like that. Pray for rain after seeding.
 
I like the idea of adding some turnips to the ryegrass. I need to be cognizant of costs as well. Would turnips or cereal rye help reduce the costs? I'm not familiar with those seed costs. Clover seed is pretty pricey here.
 
Osts for fall grazing and ryegrass for early spring. Clover is good in the mix if you have enough acreage to handle the deer traffic it will create. I disc it up real good and broadcast the ryegrass and clover. Then drill my oats in. The drag chains will cover the broadcast seed.
Cows will eat turnips ok but they don't stand up to grazing very well. A wasn't of money imo.
 
tnwalkingred":8rcuzykp said:
I had hoped to not have to disk the ground up at all. Will no till drilling into the existing sod not work well?

Here's my experience. Ryegrass won't benefit you till early spring. Cereal rye produces good tonnage. Oats are preferred taste wise but if you have a cold enough winter it will stunt them and possibly kill them. The reason fence is broadcasting and then drilling is because clover seed has to be planted really shallow and even a no till will plant some of it too deep.

What I do is no till 1 bushel of oats and 2 bushels of cereal rye along with about 15 pounds of ryegrass per acre in late September or early October. I put these seeds in the regular box. I also plant about 8 pounds of crimson clover and about 5 pounds of arrowleaf clover per acre. I put those in the small seed box. One thing I've found that helps is to unhook my seed tubes for the small seed box and wire them towards the back of the drill so that the clover seed drops directly in front of the press wheels. This helps greatly with not planting them too deep.

Another thing is to make sure your grass is dormant before you overseed. Also needs to be a s short as possible. Any competition will hurt your stand.

I've never tried it but I've heard of "frosting" pasture with roundup or paraquat (gramaxone, starfire) so as to knock the pasture back before planting. You don't want to kill it, just hurt it so it quits growing.

I forgot to add that I'm in Middle Georgia. My strategy may no work exactly the same for you.
 
I *never* get my oats that deep, I broadcast them too.

Crimson clover seed isn't very expensive.. I got mine for about $120CAD/bag, less than half the price of alfalfa.

As long as I don't need to use machines to harvest it (it climbs and tangles), cows love Vetch too, and it's a bigger seed, can be planted deeper

I've had very poor luck trying to interseed anything, found I was usually wasting my time/money, and I was better off starting clean
 
tnwalkingred":2ihl48j0 said:
I had hoped to not have to disk the ground up at all. Will no till drilling into the existing sod not work well?
It'll work fine on summer grass grazed short or mowed short but if you have fescue it is going to be a challenge.
 
I have mostly fescue. I wonder if I should instead just fertilize the fields heavy and try to stockpile some fescue. Just seems like it won't provide much help after the fall even if I'm able to keep the cattle off of it.
 
tnwalkingred":3iyvyw4d said:
I have mostly fescue. I wonder if I should instead just fertilize the fields heavy and try to stockpile some fescue. Just seems like it won't provide much help after the fall even if I'm able to keep the cattle off of it.
Your best bet. If pH and fertility are good, frost seed (broadcast) white or red clovers in February.
 
Pull the cows late aug/early sept fertilize , and if mother nature does her part , put them back on after thanksgiving or thereabouts , and as said sew some clover for next year .
 
Ebenezer":2r8jllaw said:
tnwalkingred":2r8jllaw said:
I have mostly fescue. I wonder if I should instead just fertilize the fields heavy and try to stockpile some fescue. Just seems like it won't provide much help after the fall even if I'm able to keep the cattle off of it.
Your best bet. If pH and fertility are good, frost seed (broadcast) white or red clovers in February.
Every forage base and region has different ideals and planting times for forages. We don't have fescue where I am, we have a Bahia/Bermuda mix. In my areas, we have sincere completion from the Bahia/Bermuda sometimes thru October. When overseeding my Tift-85 last year with alfalfa, I did spray 1 qt. of roundup after my last hay cutting in late September, to put it to"sleep", and it worked quite well. Usually I do fall tillage or no-till my summer annual plots starting in late September thru early November...and start over seeding my pastures in late October thru late November, pending our peanut harvest workload. I agree with Ebenezer for fescue....the cheapest way to winter cows is to fertilize and stockpile your fescue. It maintains its quality very well and you can get good animal performance on it.
 
Two pounds +/- of ball clover in coastal, and ryegrass if you want it, will smother winter weeds,will slow the emergence of the coastal a bit but if allowed to mature will make seed and provide N for a lot of grazing even after the dry clover is totally consumed. Same for bahiagrass if you want to add crimson for one winter or a white clover for longer. Quality goes up, grazing goes longer, N is a cheap source from the air. And all of your eggs are not in one basket.
 
i never had much luck no tilling ryegrass into existing pasture.

i would plant something like ceral rye or triticale.

it should grow for you up into december.
 
ddd75":1desr5ft said:
i never had much luck no tilling ryegrass into existing pasture.

i would plant something like ceral rye or triticale.

it should grow for you up into december.
Won't do much in fescue. Works great on summer grasses. Plant rye and ryegrass and the research says that the grazing season is extended. Throw some clover seed in the small box and off you go.
 
I drill soft wheat into my pastures every year. Mostly all fescue. I let these pastures get grazed down a little more and that seems to help with the competition. I also notill into standing cornstalks, and broadcast turnips.
I spray everthing for bugs regardless, 1-2 weeks after emergence. It is very cheap and we have the equipment to get over it very quickly. To many times I've had the bugs eat it off.
 

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