newbie sowing pasture grass

[kid]

I live in central PA. I need to sow a grass pasture and dont know what kind of grass to get. I wont be cutting at all, just to let Highlands graze on. What is good. Also, I need it to come up fairly quickly as the cows will be here in about 3-4 weeks. I have enough wild grasses to keep them busy for about a month after that to let the grass come in good, but not much more than that.

 

[Nowland Farms]

Kid,

You need to go talk to your County Extention Agent to see what grows well in you area and for your soil.

If your cows will be there in 3-4 weeks and you only have enough grass to feed them for a month, you are in trouble and need to start looking now for a place to graze the cows. Even if you had the seed on the ground now, by the time you need to put the cows on the grass they would destroy the new grass. Whenever you plant new grass you need to let it grow for at least 2 or 3 months or longer to develop a good root system. Grass at 1 month or age will probably be pulled out of the ground when the cows eats it. Cows break the grass off instead of biting it off. If the root system is not strong enough, all of it comes out of the dirt when the cows pull on it.

 

[Texas PaPaw]

kid

The best advice that I didn't follow was "plant nothing but fence posts for the first 3 years". Basically what this means is learn to manage what you have before spending money on some wondergrass. What you have growing now is what is adapted to your land. Until you learn to best manage what you have and learn where the shortfalls in grass growth occur, investing in grass seed, tillage, seeding etc will probably be an expensive exercise in futility.

IMO-setting up a good rotational grazing system should be the first priority. This will allow you to get the most productivity from what grass you currently have. In 3 years you will have a better idea where the true weaknesses in your forage system are and then you can start to address them. Efficiently growing & grazing forages is a life-long learning process. Remember, Rome wasn't built in a day. Just my 2 cents worth.

Good luck & happy trails.

Brock

 

[Herefordcross]

TexasPawPaw, that is awesome advice!! Take what ya got and use it!

 

[msscamp]

kid

The best advice that I didn't follow was "plant nothing but fence posts for the first 3 years".
Brock

Excellent advice!

 

[Saltydawg]

I would listen to the advice already given in this thread.

Get soil samples done and talk to your county ext.

You will probably end up using Timothy, orchard grass, or canary grass....mixed with a legume of some sort like red clover or birdsfoot trefoil.
Those are the most common pasture grasses up here but not the only ones. (canary grass usually only used in really wet fields)

I would caution heavily against disturbing the grass you already have growing without adequate pasture elsewhere.
It takes a while for freshly planted grass to grow and mature to the point that cattle can graze it without killing it.