Grass only operation

Help Support CattleToday:

ohiosteve":3juzdlm1 said:
I read about feeding grass/legume seed directly to cattle and letting them spread it on the pasture themselves along with their own fertilizer. It sounds crazy but I think I might try it this winter. Anyone had any experience with this?
Click to expand...
I just talked to a guy today that tried it. He said that it works, sort of, but not well enough that he'll try it again. Still ended up seeding some areas heavier then others and some areas very little seed if any at all. You're still going to end up with the majority of it in the most commonly used areas, particularly around resting time.
 
do you know if there is a time of year when this would work best and the best way to feed it? I am all grass so I thought about mixing it with loose mineral to limit intake. I think it will work well for me since I use temp fencing and frequent moves. thanks dun
 
ohiosteve":wz0prvwo said:
do you know if there is a time of year when this would work best and the best way to feed it? I am all grass so I thought about mixing it with loose mineral to limit intake. I think it will work well for me since I use temp fencing and frequent moves. thanks dun
Click to expand...
We do the same thing and have for 15 years. Just my opinion but I tink you would be better off to bradcast it and have(hope) the cattle tread it in. With something like clover I don;t think it would really make that much of a difference. It's going to eventually trickle down to the soil anyway. May take a week may take a year. So much depends on the grass, the grazing height, weather, and probably a dozen other things. We have one pasture that in the 10 years we've been on this farm we've never planted clover in it. 2 years ago we had a strange winter and the field came up in clover to the point that it almost choked out the fescue until we grazed it a couple of times. I sure don;t know where it all came from since we hadn;t seen any in that field before.
 
I appreciate the advice dun, I am just trying to figure out the best way to improve my pasture/hayfields without completely working them up and losing a full years use. I have rented a no till seeder a couple of times with decent results but have wondered if i was putting the seed too deep and if I was then it would be far easier to just broadcast it and let the cattle trample it in like you said. What time of year have you had the best results with broadcasting?
 
I'm not sure about seeding a field by feeding the cows but I spilled about 100 lbs of rye grass seed when I was planting .. some of the cows ate it .. it came up in the manure well but only in the spot she pooped. From looking at it it looks like you would be seeding at about 300 lbs per acre its so thick ..I broad cast mine and graze the cows until I see it sprout ... Then pull them off.. I've had good luck disking and broadcasting ...
 
In existing grass the best and most reliable stands I've gotten with a no-till drill is to have the openers just barely scuffing the ground with the press wheels at maximum down pressure. I've done fescue, timothy and OG taht way and it worked. With rye grass I had to cut the soil a bit deeper to get it to work. But then the inch and half of ice right after it came up pretty well hammered that.
 
I mow to knock down weeds . Graze it short . Then make a couple passes with the disk.. set the disk about 3 or so inches deep ..just enough to break it up but not rough it up to bad or kill the grass.. spread the seed at 50 lbs to the acre .. you can do it at 26 but I like the stand I get at 50 ..and i usually wait for rain to broadcast the seed to keep from losing seed to birds..this year I planted 10 lbs of durana and crimson clover and 2 lbs of turnips along with the ryegrass ... Clover and ryegrass look good . Still waiting on the turnips
 
I have fed clover in the mineral and it worked well for me. Clover is so hard... that going thru the gut of a cow tends to soften it a bit IMO, also the bacteria in the manure along with the organic matter gives the clover seed an ideal environment to sprout and live. If you use Ammonia nitrate, then you will always be working against yourself where clover is concerned.
I haven't tried fescue in the minerals. I had always heard it wouldn't survive thru the cows gut, but at around 104 degrees it looks like that wouldn't be too hot for it. if it did there again it would be a perfect environment for it to get established, even if it was thick it wouldn't be expensive to try. You would only want to throw out a handful or two in your mineral
 
agmantoo":21mst9cs said:
houstoncutter
I am not trying to be argumentative with you or Caustic Burno. I also know that you folks in Texas have been experiencing a major drought and I do understand your drought attitude. I do not see any risk difference in making and having hay and doing year round grazing. Both are risky but IMO the year round grazing is far more profitable. When the hay is gone and the forage in the paddocks no longer exists are we not in the same position? We either buy hay or depopulate. In my case, by feeding the forage what could be made into hay and getting the return from those acres in non drought years I can carry more animals and carry them much cheaper yielding a much better return. Additionally, my forage acres provide feed over a much longer time period as compared to the seasonal yields of hay fields and conventional grazing. In 12 years I have experienced 1 severe drought that lasted 2 years and I had to feed hay for roughly 7 months and 1 extended dry period that upset my rotational grazing requiring supplemental feed for 30 days. A 3rd drought, that was severe enough that government assistance was provided, I weathered without any hay. In areas where it is feasible and done properly on a for profit operation, rotational grazing over extended seasons will return a far greater financial gain on grass and legumes only. The Australians realized this years ago.
Click to expand...


Agmantoo, I have no problems at all with what you are doing, because you said the key word. Depopulate.... We have far too many people who think they can go all grass, but are unwilling to send cattle down the road when grass is in short supply.
 
" ..and i usually wait for rain to broadcast the seed to keep from losing seed to birds.."
Does that work? I ask because I broadcast some seed a couple of days ago close to the barn
into some rye that was already going and into some places that need some grass. The next day I start seeing
birds I have not seen and lots of em Then I was like " Hey! They must be eating that seed?!! So later I put a
little along the road just to see what happened. Next morning it was like a buffet for those birds! Your saying you do it right before , after or during the shower? :) Thanks in advance.
 
Works well for me . The birds dOnt get as much because some of the seed is covered with dirt by the rain . I planted 30 acres in crimson clover 10 days ago . Broad cast it on top of the ground . We go 2 inches of rain and it's starting it's 3rd leaf now .
 
coach4christ":jbsnewlz said:
I have a question about grass fed operations. I hope that I am not using the wrong terminology when I ask this question. I have been doing a lot of research on kicking the hay habit and year round grazing. I have read numerouse books on the topics and I think that I am ready to head in that direction. I currently have around 150 acres of pasture land and another 40 acre hayfield that I can convert int grazing when the time comes. I am currently running 20 registered black angus cows, 8 bull calves (headed to sale in spring), 12 heifers, and 1 angus bull. Most are medium framed cows with about 5 large framed. My grass is currently about 45% common bermuda, 45% bahaia, 10% other. I usually get a good stand of winter rye on my pastures. I am planning on making the transition over the next couple of years and was wondering what I could do to "sweeten" my pastures up for winter grazing. I am very hesitant to totally get rid om my hayfield, but it would be a whole lot cheaper than paying 30 dollars a bale to make hay. How many of you do this? What concerns do you have? What suggestions do you experienced people have? Oh by the way, I am in North west Louisiana. Thanks for the help.

Coach
Click to expand...
The best article I have read yet on soil health, which of course allows you to grow more grass an feed less hay.
http://www.soilandhealth.org/01aglibrar ... l#nitrogen
 
ohiosteve":kis0l029 said:
I read about feeding grass/legume seed directly to cattle and letting them spread it on the pasture themselves along with their own fertilizer. It sounds crazy but I think I might try it this winter. Anyone had any experience with this?
Click to expand...
We tried this on a small scale, and also fed bales of mature hay with seed over similar bare ground, the hay was a far greater sucess than the direct fed seed, the hay method was also used to get grass and legumes to grow on old gold mine spoil heaps which had been barren for 40 years since the mine had closed.
Has anyone close to you done any training through the International Centre for Holistic Management? good training and local knowledge are a good combination for advise.
 
I just finished walking through some clear cut that I unrolled bahia hay in last year . There are strips of Bahia growing all over the field . I had some rye grass hay this year and I unrolled it on a 25 acre field this winter the ryegrass is coming up in strips it's about 6 inches tall now . As expensive as sees is to buy if you have time to wait unrolling hay works really well to scatter seed .
 

Similar threads

B
Questions on Drilling Grass
Replies
6
Views
924
BC
B
Mountaintown Creek Ranch
What's this grass ?
2
Replies
22
Views
1K
snakegap1
S
T
Grass Advice
Replies
7
Views
707
tsellars
T
Mountaintown Creek Ranch
What type of grass weed
2
Replies
21
Views
1K
504RP
5
Hogfarmer10
How’s your grass?
25 26 27
Replies
526
Views
31K
1982vett
1982vett

Latest posts

Top