Native or improved pasture

[Anonymous]

Which do you prefer and has anyone used the government programs to fund reintroducing natives?Also what varieties have you had luck with?Sam Plank

 

[dun]

We've used cost chare fr several other projects. Next year we'll be using it for reseeding a 27 acre field to WSG.
Which WSG you use is dependant on what you want to use it for. If you plan on selling seed, pure stands are required. In most cases, for hay and pasture a mixture works well. Most of the WSG seed companys have a CRP mix. It's substantially less then then getting straight seeds of each type and mixing them to your specs. The ones I've found are Big Bluestem, Little Bluestem, Sideoats Gramma, and Indian grass. To get it established you're going to require a serious herbicide program, and your cost share may even specify doing so. In any case, not spraying to control the CSG will be a waste of good money in the establishment of the WSG. Your local NRCS office should be able to put you in contact with others in your area that have re-established WSG.

dun

Which do you prefer and has anyone used the government programs to fund reintroducing natives?Also what varieties have you had luck with?Sam Plank

 

[Craig-TX]

We've used cost chare fr several other projects. Next year we'll be using it for reseeding a 27 acre field to WSG.
Which WSG you use is dependant on what you want to use it for. If you plan on selling seed, pure stands are required. In most cases, for hay and pasture a mixture works well. Most of the WSG seed companys have a CRP mix. It's substantially less then then getting straight seeds of each type and mixing them to your specs. The ones I've found are Big Bluestem, Little Bluestem, Sideoats Gramma, and Indian grass. To get it established you're going to require a serious herbicide program, and your cost share may even specify doing so. In any case, not spraying to control the CSG will be a waste of good money in the establishment of the WSG. Your local NRCS office should be able to put you in contact with others in your area that have re-established WSG.

dun

Which do you prefer and has anyone used the government programs to fund reintroducing natives?Also what varieties have you had luck with?Sam Plank

Did you drill or broadcast?

Craig-TX

 

[dun]

Either/both. Depends on the field being done. I spoke to one WSG seed company that was interested in providing the seed for free if the coould harvest seed for a couple of years, there take on it was that on cleared ground, i.e. no other growth, broadcasting and rolling actaully performed better then drilling. I'm not sure if my drill can really handle WSG but it does great with OG, fescue, timothy and clover. That's what we've used in the past in close grazed existing pastures.

dun

We've used cost chare fr several other projects. Next year we'll be using it for reseeding a 27 acre field to WSG.
Which WSG you use is dependant on what you want to use it for. If you plan on selling seed, pure stands are required. In most cases, for hay and pasture a mixture works well. Most of the WSG seed companys have a CRP mix. It's substantially less then then getting straight seeds of each type and mixing them to your specs. The ones I've found are Big Bluestem, Little Bluestem, Sideoats Gramma, and Indian grass. To get it established you're going to require a serious herbicide program, and your cost share may even specify doing so. In any case, not spraying to control the CSG will be a waste of good money in the establishment of the WSG. Your local NRCS office should be able to put you in contact with others in your area that have re-established WSG.

dun

Which do you prefer and has anyone used the government programs to fund reintroducing natives?Also what varieties have you had luck with?Sam Plank

Did you drill or broadcast?

Craig-TX

 

[Craig-TX]

The one field we did, we decided to broadcast. Didn't have a roller, though. I thought about going over it with a light harrowing but decided against it. Those seeds are so small I was afraid it would put them too deep.

Our results were fair. That was partly due to not rolling (I think) and mostly due to poor rainfall. I couldn't figure out a way to use the drill that would be dependable. I'm not sure it will be worth the money but it was interesting experiment. If we end up getting a good stand it will have been.

Craig-TX