Harry Vetch ?

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Stocker Steve

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Ran into a guy who loves hairy vetch in his pasture mixes. The main point being that it retained high protein in his fall and winter stockpiles. I always thought it was a low yielding plant, but I am more into stand life these days. Have you had long term experiences with it? Did it reseed itself?
 
hairy vetch will reseed itself if you are patient enough to let it go....
most people are not patient enough and graze or hay before it sets seed.

On the bright side it is not that expensive to seed every year....

I broadcast some in almost every paddock every fall after a late summer or early fall grazing.....
 
research indicates that it will produce more nitrogen than crimson clover....not a vast amount more but more....we had and extension specialist who was a crop farmer as well and he had a field day a few years ago and said the he had produced a real good crop of corn on nothing but the nitrogen from cover crops of rye and vetch.....I can not recall the yield number but it was impressive...

when planted with a small grain the vetch will climb the small grain and eventually pull it over....more organic matter than clover...

all that said I usually plant mixes that have both vetch and crimson clover....both do well for me broadcast even though the vetch is a bigger seed.
 
pdfangus":3u2n4p74 said:
all that said I usually plant mixes that have both vetch and crimson clover....both do well for me broadcast even though the vetch is a bigger seed.

It could our weather - - but isn't vetch a perennial and crimson an annual?
 
Aaron":247225l4 said:
Why not try something like sainfoin? Then you can tell me if I should be considering it or not.

Couldn't find anyone in this area who liked it. If I remember correctly it did not like wet feet.

If you want to be a BTO - - then you should consider a bag of branch root alfalfa.
 
hairy vetch is a cool season annual...
just like crimson clover....
so is wooly pod vetch which is hard to find locally here.
 
Down in south ga...hairy vetch and crimson clover have been the two most productive winter annual legumes I have tried. I only get one big graze in spring, but hairy vetch goes nuts down here in early April....you think all winter that you've wasted your money until April...and then your jaw hits the grass.
 
jdg":9lhhdhaj said:
Down in south ga...hairy vetch and crimson clover have been the two most productive winter annual legumes

sounds like plant one year
hopefully it vernalizes, but does not winter kill
then releases N the second year
 
let us be clear....
crown vetch and hairy vetch are two very different species......

both are legumes

crown vetch is a woody type perennial that is mostly used for stabilization of erosive and steep areas....if grazed correctly, it can stay vegetative but its nature is to produce a woody stem....prolific seeder as well. over grazed it will not persist..

hairy vetch is one sub type of the annual vetches....
common vetch
hairy vetch
woolly pod vetch
chickling vetch
I actually like woolly pod but the seed is a little more expensive and generally harder to find,
hairy vetch is normally seeded in the same time frame as crimson clover...and has the same growth curve...
good nitrogen fixation...very good spring growth....somewhat viney and does good with a taller crop to climb. (small grain)
 
Stocker Steve":3ljh7iz2 said:
Turkeybird":3ljh7iz2 said:
We used to plant a good bit with rye in the fall but it never seemed to thrive

Did anything thrive with cereal rye, or does it choke out everything?

I have had hairy vetch do very well with rye....it will climb it and pull the rye down...maybe lighten up on the rye seeding rate a little bit...??
 
Aaron":1tqma74w said:
Why not try something like sainfoin? Then you can tell me if I should be considering it or not.
Sainfoin is good for low intensity grazing, it is drought tolerant, but it has to get established well first.. And to be clear, "drought tolerant" doesn't mean it produces when there's a drought!

Biggest problem I've found with it is I haven't been able to find inoculant for it, especially in Canada.


Vetch is a good feed crop.. just don't ever plan on running the haybine through it! I also find it's good to have something to hold it up that it can climb.. Rye is probably the best option I know of, though I'd probably prefer something that is a little stouter and lower if I could find that.. (sunflowers worked when they volunteered on me)
 
vetch will go thru a haybine but it has to be dry....

any morning dew will make it wrap....

my dad had some barley and vetch for silage once....we started trying to mow at sunup to wilt before chopping...all I did from sunup to 10:30 am was cut it off the rollers and then put some more on....

but once the dew dried it went right on thru and I mowed all day....

it made very good silage...
 
pdfangus":19685gea said:
let us be clear....
crown vetch and hairy vetch are two very different species......

both are legumes

crown vetch is a woody type perennial that is mostly used for stabilization of erosive and steep areas....if grazed correctly, it can stay vegetative but its nature is to produce a woody stem....prolific seeder as well. over grazed it will not persist..

hairy vetch is one sub type of the annual vetches....
common vetch
hairy vetch
woolly pod vetch
chickling vetch
I actually like woolly pod but the seed is a little more expensive and generally harder to find,
hairy vetch is normally seeded in the same time frame as crimson clover...and has the same growth curve...
good nitrogen fixation...very good spring growth....somewhat viney and does good with a taller crop to climb. (small grain)

Does the seed need to be inoculated like clover?
 
Nesikep":k9lv13r0 said:
Aaron":k9lv13r0 said:
Why not try something like sainfoin? Then you can tell me if I should be considering it or not.
Sainfoin is good for low intensity grazing, it is drought tolerant, but it has to get established well first.. And to be clear, "drought tolerant" doesn't mean it produces when there's a drought! Biggest problem I've found with it is I haven't been able to find inoculant for it, especially in Canada.

So is there any benefit in any climate with Sainfoin?

We have poor drainage issues, so are using branch rooted alfalfa in our pasture mixes w/o any problem with bloat.
 
I don't think it would be for "any climate"... I think it would be good for places where there is a water table, but it's a little ways down.. IIRC sainfoin doesn't cause bloat in most cases, and it's also naturally glyphosate resistant if that's of value to you.
I think it would be ideally suited for northernish climates... places where you usually get one cut of hay per year, but don't have much rainfall.. our 105F summers with no rain are asking a little much for it to do more than just survive unless you irrigate it
 

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