pasture questions

schamblee

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Got my soil samples back and was looking for some input.. This is about a 12 acre block of grazing pasture. Hay has been cut on it for the last 8 years and has been fertilized yearly.. The soil sample recommended application rate was 60 lb/acre nitrogen , K was 100 lb/acre, and Phos was 50 lb/acre.. Ph was 5.7 but recommended no lime? How would you go about spreading this? 150lb potash, 100 lb triple super phosphate, 130 lb urea, or would you just do 300 lb 19-19-19?? would you go ahead and lime it with 1 ton/ acre since its on the acidic side even though it was not recommended?
 
In my soils lime is needed at 2 ton per acre. Im not understanding why no lime is recommended. Its unlikely you can get lime spread at less than 2 ton per acre anyway.
If you can get it mixed take the soil sample into wherever you buy fertilizer and let them mix it correctly. If you cant get it mixed do the triple 19 and add some K. Most areas that has been in hay will be deficit in K.
 
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We've always done 2 ton lime/acre at one time. We prefer to do it in the fall to give time to active. If your PH is that out of wack, you may be wasting money on fertilizer. We've seen hay fields not improve with fertilizer application when the PH was too low.
 
An older gentleman that used to sale fertilizer and lime in my area told me years ago that if your soil samples call for lime and fertilizer and you can't afford both, always put out lime. A ph of 5.7 definitely needs lime and as @kenny thomas stated, might as well do 2 tons/acre. I like my ph 6-7 and preferably closer to that 7. As @M.Magis stated, if they recommended no lime with that ph, I would question their other recommendations.
 
With a pH of 5.7 there is P in the soil which won't show up in a soil test. Actually with lime to raise the pH you might not need any additional P. You say what they recommended but not what the results were. That no lime needed comment does raise some concern. Sampling soil, interpreting the results and making recommendations based on those results is a large part of what I did for a living for 20+ years.
 
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what about goats and pigs thank you
Yes. Be a bit cautious with the lime source though. Some sources of lime can have an excessive amount of contaminants. For example, I learned a week ago of a farm here in Ohio that has sheep and was getting his lime from Pennsylvania. This lime had excessive amounts of molybdenum that actually resulted in a copper deficiency in the sheep resulting in an extremely high mortality rate in the flock. (Yes, copper deficiency in sheep. Weird I know). The producer now feeds a custom mineral mix with copper added to his sheep to prevent mortality from induced copper deficiency due to the lime contamination. Lime itself is pretty much inert to animals. The contaminants are potentially the problem.
 
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Yes. Be a bit cautious with the lime source though. Some sources of lime can have an excessive amount of contaminants. For example, I learned a week ago of a farm here in Ohio that has sheep and was getting his lime from Pennsylvania. This lime had excessive amounts of molybdenum that actually resulted in a copper deficiency in the sheep resulting in an extremely high mortality rate in the flock. (Yes, copper deficiency in sheep. Weird I know). The producer now feeds a custom mineral mix with copper added to his sheep to prevent mortality from induced copper deficiency due to the lime contamination. Lime itself is pretty much inert to animals. The contaminants are potentially the problem.
How did the lime get contaminated? Lime is finely ground limestone so unless some outside source contaminated it i dont know how it could be. There is different tests results from different quarries or wherever it comes from. It must have a test before they can sell it.
 
How did the lime get contaminated? Lime is finely ground limestone so unless some outside source contaminated it i dont know how it could be. There is different tests results from different quarries or wherever it comes from. It must have a test before they can sell it.
Lime that is used on fields and pasture does not all come from quarries. Lime that is used for agriculture is often a byproduct of water and waste treatment processes. This is the lime I am referring to. Lime that is processed specifically for agriculture field use or directly from a mine and then ground should be safe. At least I've never heard of a problem in this regard. I have heard of lime 'byproduct' being so contaminated that syringes and diapers have ended up being spread on fields. Extreme case and seems very unlikely, although the diapers and syringes incident was local here shortly before I moved to the area.
 
I just did a soil test on a field that had been neglected for sometime. I had hayed it for the last two years and thought it needed lime. I did a soil test with UNH (University of NH) and had a PH of 6.0 with a buffer PH of 5.81 but the recommendation was NO LIME. I questioned it and here was their response:

Hi Michael,

I double-checked with our soil specialist regarding your sample, and the recommendation for no lime is accurate.

I will say that I'm also surprised by this; it must be that your sample falls just on the right side of whether you'd lime or not. Renuka Mathur did point out that if this sample were for a new seeding then the recommendation would be for 1.5 tons of lime – the fact that that lime would be incorporated rather than surface applied might be a factor? While it may not provide any response in your hay crop, spreading 1-1.5 tons of lime won't cause any harm, and will help maintain the field within the desired pH range.
 

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