How soon for new pasture.

[GANGGREEN]

I disked up last year's cornfield and planted a pasture mix of perennial rye, orchard grass and medium red clover late this spring. Rolled the field after seeding. It's been reasonably dry since then but much/most of the seed has germinated. Unfortunately, a billion wild mustard plants volunteered in the same field and I just mowed them down before they went to seed, hopefully that will slow them down. Presently, the clover/grass mix is only a few inches tall and somewhat thin in places.

Anyway, I'm curious if this fall would be too soon to put some feeder steers on the pasture. It's 5 or 6 acres of fairly good land and I expect a decent pasture, just don't want to hurt it by putting animals on it too early. I expect to put anywhere from 3 to 6 feeder calves in there initially, will probably butcher one or more fairly early to avoid overgrazing the pasture (which is set up in two paddocks). Obviously there are some variables but can anyone tell me the general rule of thumb in regards to how long to wait before putting animals in a new pasture?

 

[dun]

The general ROT is if you can pull the plant out it's too early to graze.
OG shouldn;t be grazed shorter then 3-4 inches. The only perennial rye we have is stuff that gets 2 little leaves at the bottom and a long seed spike. Our cows won;t eat it. If the OG component gets weakened, the PR takes over.

 

[GANGGREEN]

Thanks dun. My county agent suggested the perennial ryegrass in the mix, hopefully it wasn't poor advice. As for your rule of thumb, any rule of thumb on how long it takes until you won't be able to pull the roots out? ;-) I'm beginning to think that it may make sense to resign myself to the idea that I shouldn't put animals in there until next spring. Thankfully, we did get a bit of rain on Thursday, thank God.

 

[dun]

any rule of thumb on how long it takes until you won't be able to pull the roots out?

As long as it takes! Soil type/structure, moisture, type of grass/plant, fertility, vigor of the seed and probably another jillion things all go into it.
Better to wait a little longer then to push it. Think of late fall. If the stuff heads out, brush hog it to jut below the top of the leaf after the seed is ready to fall. It will give you some grazing plus reseed areas.