New pasture

[Jabes0623]

I'm having about 16 acres clear cut next month & then bulldozed to be turned into pasture. Obviously I can turn this pasture into anything I want, it will be a completely blank slate. So I thought I would see if you guys & gals had any ideas, successes, or failures to share from your own experiences. At the moment my basic train of thought is should I stockpile local cool season grasses or should I attempt to grow some warm season grasses. Roughly 10 of the 16 acres is on very nice flat ground on a plateau & the other 5-6 is down a fairly steep hill & a creek bed at the bottom of said hill. I won't be able to get any heavy equipment into the area so whatever I seed will have to be able to be spread by hand or an ATV seeder.

 

[JSCATTLE]

I had some land clear cut and then I used a timber mulcher on it . To see it I unrolled hay all winter . The extra hay and bahia grass seed helped a lot . By the second year it was completely covered in grass . Its pretty rough and needs to be disc . But it's serviceable as pasture . As far as the use for your ground that depends on your needs .

 

[Jabes0623]

I already know what I'm going to use it for, grazing pasture. What I was asking is would I gain more seeding with native cool season grasses, that I know do well on my land, & stockpiling them. Or should I seed it with warm seasons grasses for use in the heat of summer since I don't have any warm season grasses currently.

 

[wbvs58]

I have just cleared 7 acres of low value scrub and planted a perennial ryegrass, tall fescue, red and white clover and the herb Plantain into a rough seedbed with a small 7 row sod seeder and am very happy with the results but only time will tell whether it persists. I am just finishing the first grazing of it with my heifers now.


Ken

 

[Jabes0623]

Looks good Ken.

I'm planning on sowing the seed late this summer & if all goes according to plan I'm not going to put anything on it until next fall so it will have over a year & a full spring & summer to get established. Tho I shouldn't have to use it even then so if it isn't ready I wont. More than anything I want to do this right the first time, I don't want to waste time & money doing it 2 or 3 times.

 

[AllForage]

I don't know anyone here in the Midwest that seeds late summer. Fall seeding is a risk. Best off drilling some oats, wheat, or triticale to stabilize the soil and plant next spring. Also have the soil tested. I might be wrong but it could be very acidic from being forest.

 

[bball]

I don't know anyone here in the Midwest that seeds late summer. Fall seeding is a risk. Best off drilling some oats, wheat, or triticale to stabilize the soil and plant next spring. Also have the soil tested. I might be wrong but it could be very acidic from being forest.

Spot on advice AF. Cleared 20 ac of woodland this winter. No point in wasting any money on quality seed until you get soil samples back. Probably going to need lime. If you're going to broadcast it, I would go with rye grass to start, it's cheap, easier to establish, and cows eat it up. Wouldn't waste a ton of money trying to plant some quality forage seed mix this late in spring. .AF also brings good advice, if your ground is actually smooth enough and branch/root free enough, drilling oats would be awesome.. what I found was, the ground was still too rough and plenty of roots and branch just at surface.. I drug disc over real rough areas a few times, chain harrow over not so bad areas. me, wifey and kids piled up all the roots/branches for a winter bonfire.it's a massive pile btw. I broadcast spread perennial rye to stop soil erosion and get something started. Lime this fall, will continue to work on getting debris out, maybe frost seed some clovers in feb..once I feel like ground would be safe enough to pull a drill through, I will drill in some quality pasture grasses.

 

[dun]

Depending on your cliimate the warm season grasses may not do well in your area. As far south as we are (relative to ohio) the only burmuda that grows around here is wrangler. The WSGs that do fairly well are big bluestem and little bluestem and indian grass. But they need to be grazed while young and tender or the cows won;t touch them. Fescue and Orchard grass with some korean lespedeza or red/white clover would be my choices.

 

[Jabes0623]

Thanks for the advice folks.

 

[Kell-inKY]

I don't know anyone here in the Midwest that seeds late summer. Fall seeding is a risk. Best off drilling some oats, wheat, or triticale to stabilize the soil and plant next spring. Also have the soil tested. I might be wrong but it could be very acidic from being forest.

I'm not sure how far north you are, and I'm not trying to contradict, but this seems the opposite of what is done around here. Cool season grasses like Fescue and Orchardgrass seem to do better planted in the fall. I don't know anything about warm season grasses, but have had fescue burn up when planted in spring. I'm probably not the best person to give advice, just going by my small experience and what everyone else in my area has advised.

 

[Jabes0623]

I don't know anyone here in the Midwest that seeds late summer. Fall seeding is a risk. Best off drilling some oats, wheat, or triticale to stabilize the soil and plant next spring. Also have the soil tested. I might be wrong but it could be very acidic from being forest.

I'm not sure how far north you are, and I'm not trying to contradict, but this seems the opposite of what is done around here. Cool season grasses like Fescue and Orchardgrass seem to do better planted in the fall. I don't know anything about warm season grasses, but have had fescue burn up when planted in spring. I'm probably not the best person to give advice, just going by my small experience and what everyone else in my area has advised.

I've run into the same thing, from what I'm told late summer is the ideal time to plant grass around here. I'm way down in the SE corner of OH. Looks like I've got some homework to do either way.

 

[SJB]

Winter rye grain broadcast at bushel/ac on Labor Day weekend will help build soil and keep some weeds at bag while you work on all quality.

What kind of timber was it? Hardwoods or pines? If it was pines you may have some work in front of you.

 

[Jabes0623]

Winter rye grain broadcast at bushel/ac on Labor Day weekend will help build soil and keep some weeds at bag while you work on all quality.

What kind of timber was it? Hardwoods or pines? If it was pines you may have some work in front of you.

Sorry for the long delayed response here, been a busy summer. It was mostly hardwoods, very little if any pine at all.

Matter of fact my excavating guy should be packing up his equipment & pulling out today. Due to the insane amount of rain we had early this summer the logging job that was supposed to take 2-3 weeks took nearly 10 so everything's running behind.

Though the land has been cleaned up quite nicely there's still a whole lot of roots, sticks, twigs, & branches around. Being this late in August already I don't believe the freshly cleared ground is going to be over taken by weeds anytime soon so I can mostly work at my own pace throughout this fall getting it picked up, dragged, & seeded.

 

[skyhightree1]

Winter rye grain broadcast at bushel/ac on Labor Day weekend will help build soil and keep some weeds at bag while you work on all quality.

What kind of timber was it? Hardwoods or pines? If it was pines you may have some work in front of you.

Sorry for the long delayed response here, been a busy summer. It was mostly hardwoods, very little if any pine at all.

Matter of fact my excavating guy should be packing up his equipment & pulling out today. Due to the insane amount of rain we had early this summer the logging job that was supposed to take 2-3 weeks took nearly 10 so everything's running behind.

Though the land has been cleaned up quite nicely there's still a whole lot of roots, sticks, twigs, & branches around. Being this late in August already I don't believe the freshly cleared ground is going to be over taken by weeds anytime soon so I can mostly work at my own pace throughout this fall getting it picked up, dragged, & seeded.

Do you have an offset disc?

 

[Jabes0623]

No skyhightree I do not.

 

[skyhightree1]

No skyhightree I do not.

if you could get one or rent one it will help you greatly

 

[Jabes0623]

No skyhightree I do not.

if you could get one or rent one it will help you greatly

I'll look into that, thanks for the tip.

 

[Jabes0623]

Here's a couple pics of the clear cut I took today while I was out there. The pics don't really donit Justice but you get the idea. If I think of it & have time I'll try & keep you all updated in case someone else has similar questions.

 

[midTN_Brangusman]

Sew fescue and white clover anytime in September is good in your area, summer grasses will come in on there own. A soil sample wouldn't hurt as well.

 

[littletom]

Pick and pile. Disk best you can lime,fescue red and white clover a little rye grass some time in next month. She will look like a salad bar late april.