Midwest/northern Pasture Questions

[mitchwi]

How often do you re-seed a pasture?

What do you think is an optimal pasture mix for our climate?

Do you no-til ? or, broadcast?

What time of year do think is the best time to do any re-seeding?

I appreciate everyones opinion...

Michele

 

[lukem86]

Best response is probably...it depends.

What are your goals for the pasture? Yield, Palatibility, Digestibility, Persistance, Drought Tolerance, Grazing tolerance, Harvest tolerance, establishment? Ultimatley you end up with what you manage for.

More drought tolerant pastures might consist of fescue, orchardgrass and alfalfa.

High energy pastures for milk production and weight gain might consist of timothy, P.ryegrass and white clover.

Those pastures that are wet, or subject to heavy grazing might have kentucky bluegrass or brome.

I have done or am in the process of turning row crop land into pasture so I have lightly disked in the residue, and drilled the seed. Had pretty good luck doing it this way. One pasture that is a couple of years old that I grazed pretty heavily last fall, I spun on a couple of pounds of P. Ryegrass onto a couple of weeks ago hoping to thicken it up a bit.... hopefully it will work.

Most all of these seedings have been in the spring, I did seed a small field of alfalfa last fall and it looks pretty sharp so far...

IMO a pretty standard mix for our climate might be P.rye, timothy,white clover and chicory.... maybe a small ammount of orchardgrass.... but like I said it depends.

 

[western]

Depends is a very good anwser. there are a lot of variables.

but here is what I've heard.

I've read where you should reseed every 7 years or so. There was a study done that shows its more economic (your animals will produce more).

a good "general" pasture mix for your region would consist of Orchardgrass, festulolium (make sure its a perennial ryegrass by meadow fescue cross), perennial ryegrass, and white clover( U. of Wis. has done a lot of work on a variety called Kopu II). But depending you can also use turnips for late summer/fall grazing (after row crops come off) or late spring early summer.

Whether you broadcast or no-till you need good seed to soil contact. If you don't have that don't expect a very good stand.

In the upper midwest its best to seed in the spring. this gives the plants a chance to build a root system before going into winter. IN the south its better to seed in the fall as the plants can build a root system before going into the summer.

good luck!

http://www.delongcompany.com/pages/seedproductlinks.cfm

 

[donnaIL]

How often do you re-seed a pasture?

seems like constantly..ofcourse we took tillable land and are making it hay ground and pasture..this is year 5 and many have been a drought.

What do you think is an optimal pasture mix for our climate?

we like orchard grass, but have alot of timothy, which will give you a great first cutting..we also have brome, clover and have planted some of the non toxic fescuse. wild grasses and some weeds okay.


Do you no-til ? or, broadcast?

both.. the fertilizer co will mix in seed and i am amazed at a couple of years of clover seed being mixed in ladino and red. we also drill with good result and broadcast in hard to get to area... the drilling works best and the smaller the seed i believe the better the success of broadcasting.

What time of year do think is the best time to do any re-seeding?

late fall or early spring...problem with spring is catching it before the ground is soft. We usually try to do it, both drilling and broadcasting before the ground softens to much to work (I hope that makes sense).. We are usually early and fertilize and seed in Feb before all the row crop folks go to work and it give the ground time to handle the fertilizer before we put he cows on it or hay it.

I appreciate everyones opinion...

Thanks, Donna
Michele

 

[mitchwi]

Agreed, many variables...

I am looking to do a bit of re-seeding in established pastures, and my thought was of just going over with a drag to scratch the ground, then broadcast a mix of alfalfa, red, alsike(?) and ladino clovers with timothy.

I do like the comment about the kentucky bluegrass and will put some more thought into that.

The main reason, I posted this question, as the comment on this pasture mix by co was "2 to 3 year rotation"....

Michele

 

[Stocker Steve]

Alfalfa grass mix will maximize your tonnage on high ground. Stand lasts 2 to 7 years... University of Wisc has a template on their forage site to calculate optimal stand life based on yield, value of forage per ton, and cost of establishment per acre.
Birdsfoot Trefoil grass mix will maximize you tonnage on lower ground. This mix will usually persist.
Reeds canary will maximize your tonnage on lowest ground. Stand lasts forever.
No sense in planting grasses that winter kill and/or summer slump badly in this country. That limits you to brome, meadow fescue, reeds canary, orchard grass unless the seed salesman is a relative. LOL I do include 2 to 3 pounds of festolium in the mix but I do not expect it to last.
Spring seeding has more weeds and late summer seeding has more chance of not making a catch due to rainfall.