Grass Seed for Hay Pasture

[txdc]

Hello, we have a four acre pasture in North Texas and are planting hay for the first time. The dirt is Blackland Prairie/Clay, and the soil test showed all levels normal except magnesium is a little low. When we bought the property, there were deep ruts from erosion so we tilled and leveled the pasture prior to spreading coated & hulled Bermuda seed in April. It finally rained three weeks later but less than 10% of the seed has come up. The spring rains have mostly missed us, and the heavy rains we did get have caused erosion again. We plan on leveling the erosion areas and using a subsoiler across the erosion so that the water will not wash over the ground and wash the seed away again. We'll then spread new seed and use (6) tripod sprinklers to irrigate the erosion areas so that the seeds will germinate.
We're looking for recommendations on what seed to use and advice on combatting the erosion.

 

[bird dog]

You didn't say if you have cows or not but where I have bad erosion problems, I roll out some hay with seeds. Let the cows tromp the seed in and fertilize it. Bermuda hay that was put up with seed heads works well. Its not a perfect solution but it helps. It won't work very well this time of year though. Its a springtime thing. This time of year nothing works well even when watered.

 

[Brute 23]

Bermuda seed works really good for that situation. Doubt any thing else would have done better.

Do you have animals on it also? Even with 10% taking, if you put a small amount of fert on the bermuda and get some moisture it will spread like crazy.

 

[Brute 23]

Can you take some pictures? I'm not sure that a subsoiler will help the situation.

I think you are on the right track watering in your seed to get it established. It seems the rains are always too much or too little for seed like that.

 

[txdc]

You didn't say if you have cows or not but where I have bad erosion problems, I roll out some hay with seeds. Let the cows tromp the seed in and fertilize it. Bermuda hay that was put up with seed heads works well. Its not a perfect solution but it helps. It won't work very well this time of year though. Its a springtime thing. This time of year nothing works well even when watered.

The pasture was in poor shape from what we think are the goats that tge previous owners had here. Strangely most of the small trees were dead. We had in tended to get the pasture resestablished this year and possible get some cows next year. The planting did not go well at all so we are mainly focusing on stopping the erosion by using the tripod sprinklers to irrigate along the area that erodes the most.

 

[txdc]

Bermuda seed works really good for that situation. Doubt any thing else would have done better.

Do you have animals on it also? Even with 10% taking, if you put a small amount of fert on the bermuda and get some moisture it will spread like crazy.

right now it appears there are 50 kinds of weeds in the pasture. It doesnt appear like the pasture was kept up. We are basically fighting to get the bermuda established at this point. Maybe bad timing with the rains when we planted in early may because most of the bermuda never took off. The areas in front of the barn did fine because we used tripod sprinklers there. We are planning on moving the sprinklers to the erosion are and get the bermuda established there next if we can. We have a bahai mix that we havent used yet as well.

 

[txdc]

Can you take some pictures? I'm not sure that a subsoiler will help the situation.

I think you are on the right track watering in your seed to get it established. It seems the rains are always too much or too little for seed like that.

This is the google sat pic of how the erosion looked when we first moved in, we tilled and used a box blade to level the best we could in april/may. Ill get some newer photos in the morning.

 

[wbvs58]

How did you plant the bermuda? I don't know anything about bermuda but I suspect it is like most of our grass seeds and does not tolerate being buried too deep. Our seed should only be 1-2cm deep. I don't have a precision planter so when I plant grass seeds I put it in the small seeds box on the back of the planter and the tubes drop it well behind the tines on the surface and I tow a rubber tire roller behind it and that presses it in and they get enough soil coverage giving me reasonable success.
Ken

 

[txdc]

We suspect that depth may be an issue as well. I leveled with boxblade/bucket, rototilled, then leveled with boxblade again, There were some rains that tamped the soil some. I believe I used the 8x8 drag everywhere before spreading the seed. I used the spreader to spread the seed. We used way more seed than was needed, to be safe.. it was coated hulled common bermuda from the local feed store. Then, I used an 8x8 drag harrow to cover the seed to be safe - this is where it may have been covered too deep as the 8x8 drag from TRS is pretty heavy. That said, I can see the seed still in some areas and it never came up so really not sure. In front of the barn, we spread the seed directly on the ground because there really wasnt enough room to use a tractor and drag in that area. That area grew well in the areas that were leveled properly but we used tripods sprinklers to make sure they got enough water to germinate.

 

[sstterry]

Was the seed just spread or was it drilled? If you still see it on the ground, I would consider drilling it to the appropriate depth.

 

[txdc]

Was the seed just spread or was it drilled? If you still see it on the ground, I would consider drilling it to the appropriate depth.

no access to a seed drill here, we are just using the attachments we have. we looked into renting a drill but couldnt find any in this area. we are pretty new to growing hay here.

 

[Brute 23]

Messing with the soil usually brings out all the weeds.

I would sling it on top and water it in. Don't worry about covering it. I think you have more to lose than gain with the drag. They usually recommend a cultipacker or some thing to roll over the seed to lightly press it in.

When we do stock tanks or thing like that I just throw the see on top of freshly worked soil.

 

[txdc]

Messing with the soil usually brings out all the weeds.

I would sling it on top and water it in. Don't worry about covering it. I think you have more to lose than gain with the drag. They usually recommend a cultipacker or some thing to roll over the seed to lightly press it in.

When we do stock tanks or thing like that I just throw the see on top of freshly worked soil.

sounds like a plan, maybe work it with the prong side of the drag a little and level out the eroded area some. then lay down the seed and starter fertilizer and irrigate the area we are focusing on with the 6 tripods.

is there a bermuda seed type brand that works better than most? The local feed store sells BWI hulled coated in 50lb bags. I have a 50lb bag of this in the garage that I havent tried yet https://hancockseed.com/collections...-s-cattle-pasture-grass-seed-mix-warm-climate - Hancock was supposed to send me some bermuda but UPS lost that package. We were also looking at texas tough + brand locally from easttexasseedcompany.com but it is a bit expensive.

 

[Brute 23]

I am not familiar with one being better than the other. The hulled, coated is what I use also. The seed is usually a bright blue color. I buy it from Pogue.

 

[Mrcopier]

I have found that Bermuda does not all sprout at the same time, according to a "expert" I talked to it can take up to a year for the seeds that are going to sprout will, even though they are hulled

 

[txdc]

I have found that Bermuda does not all sprout at the same time, according to a "expert" I talked to it can take up to a year for the seeds that are going to sprout will, even though they are hulled

We if that is the case, I have a lot of seed waiting to sprout next season

 

[Ebenezer]

You need a nurse crop such as annual lespedesea and or browntop millet to provide immediate soil retention and biological activity. Bermudagrass seeds do best placed on the surface or dusted in and then cultipacked in a slightly firm seedbed.

There are huge differences in the strains of seeded bermudagrass. I'd never plant common as you don't know anything about it and I will not plant a blend with common in it as it will eventually become the residual pasture.

 

[jamiesf]

When we seeded our pastures about 10 yrs ago, I rented a brillion seeder but do not remember who I rented it from. I got the number from the NRCS office. The grass was planted at the perfect depth and was not expensive at all. It has a counter on it and you pay by the acre. It was delivered and the gentleman helped me hook it up to my tractor and returned to pick it up when I was finished.

 

[txdc]

I am not familiar with one being better than the other. The hulled, coated is what I use also. The seed is usually a bright blue color. I buy it from Pogue.

thats the kind we got, the bright blue very small hulled seed. may just do a 50lbs of the common and 50lbs of the hancock cattle pasture in the erosions area and let the seeds duke it out.

 

[txdc]

When we seeded our pastures about 10 yrs ago, I rented a brillion seeder but do not remember who I rented it from. I got the number from the NRCS office. The grass was planted at the perfect depth and was not expensive at all. It has a counter on it and you pay by the acre. It was delivered and the gentleman helped me hook it up to my tractor and returned to pick it up when I was finished.

You are not far from us. We are just north of Josephine. We have been trying to find a drill rental, we see on youtube that people do that but just havent found one anywhere around here yet. If you happen to remember or hear of a place that will rent one we would very much be interested. We have a 47hp tractor; hopefully that would be enough to run the drill.