Restoring pasture

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herofan":15926g1g said:
BFE":15926g1g said:
Mowing was needed to get rid of the patches (mostly briars 7-8 ft tall) but the spray let the grass move back in.

That was another question I had. Will the grass
return on its own if I can get rid of the weeds, or will sewing grass seed be required?

I'd see how much came back, befor I drilled. I spot spray around crap in my yard once a month, that I don't won't to weed eat. Grass always seems to come back. Pasture behaves the same way. You'll pick up some crabgrass my way, but no complaints here. It's the best grass you can grow.
 
jedstivers":brgwo0i1 said:
TennesseeTuxedo":brgwo0i1 said:
I think it takes a three pronged approach, fertilizer & other soil treatment, spraying weeds, and mowing to improve pastures.
This
As every area of the country is diffrent its hard to give a answer without firsthand knowledge of said area.
However where ever you are it won't be a one shot deal. It will take several things.
Ironically the best way "here" to improve pasture is graze it to the dirt all summer. Graze so hard you have to keep hay out. Do that and mow or spray any weeds that they don't eat and the next late winter/early spring spray and fertilize and we have tremendous Bermuda grass.


I stumbled on to that accidentally.
I put up some pens up last year and fed bermuda hay last winter in the pens
The bermuda that's growing in there now is pretty impressive

Edit to add I've began dividing into small pastures and forcing then to eat everything eatable.
The trampling, hoof breaking up this clay soil, manure and etc seems to be hurting the weeds and stimulating the grass
 
Bigfoot":3v8x668t said:
herofan":3v8x668t said:
BFE":3v8x668t said:
Mowing was needed to get rid of the patches (mostly briars 7-8 ft tall) but the spray let the grass move back in.

That was another question I had. Will the grass
return on its own if I can get rid of the weeds, or will sewing grass seed be required?

I'd see how much came back, befor I drilled. I spot spray around crap in my yard once a month, that I don't won't to weed eat. Grass always seems to come back. Pasture behaves the same way. You'll pick up some crabgrass my way, but no complaints here. It's the best grass you can grow.
If you give it a little recovery time, it should come back on its own. Fescue is a heck of a tough grass, it has the will to live. As Bigfoot said, you'll get crabgrass too, which is a good thing. I had two 12-1300 pound and a 1800-2000 pound bull in a four acre crabgrass lot a couple years ago. They never touched the bale I set out all summer long.
 
GAonmymind":31wjxd3v said:




One side of the pasture with Grazon Next and one side without. It is the same fence in the background of both pics. Note it killed the horse nettles, pigweed, poke weed, fennel. The black stuff on the fence is the knee high microstegium. One more shot in April for buttercups.
Man I hate those horse nettles and they are hard to get rid of, I have finally decided I'm going to have to spray a few years back to back to get them. I tried spraying every other year but they come back just like I never sprayed them in the years I try to skip.
 
For those of you whose pastures are in good shape, what is your routine for maintaining? Do you spray once a year? Does that do it?
 
herofan":9weq0o8a said:
For those of you whose pastures are in good shape, what is your routine for maintaining? Do you spray once a year? Does that do it?
Spray and fertilize in the early spring. I normally clip this time of year, but it's just cosmetic.
 
Yes, spray in the spring for sure and I need to spray now but there's to many crops to hurt.
Your P&K can go anytime as long as you get on a pattern with it. N is best in the spring and also another shot in the summer if your really wanting to produce.
I like to split the N shots up.
 
In my experience, the grass is most of the time still present under the weeds. We had stickweed and ironweed and blackberries galore when I took this place over. So thick it was hard to walk through them. That was late summer 2015. I mowed twice that year. Sprayed spring 2016. Again in Summer 2016. Mowed twice in 2016. Sprayed this past spring. Fertilized with 12-24-24 (Nope, didn't soil test). Have sprayed the bad places this summer. The only thing really persisting would be the horse nettle. That stuff is tuff. Used Remedy this year and it works so well.

Now we have a very productive and very clean pastures. To be honest, they're some of the better looking and performing ground around me. On top of the trifecta of weed control, we started rotating pastures Spring of 2016. It impresses me every time i walk through, so many types of grass and legumes. This property was overgrazed for decades upon decades. Plan to keep cutting paddock size...

Patience is key i do believe. As stated already, it takes time. A few years for sure.

Its doing so well that we have higher stocking rate than my Papaw ever did. Using the exact same acreage. And I am considering very strongly to take about 10-20% of current pasture and make more hay next year.

Its crazy, but our pastures are more productive than our hayfields. Reason being that the soil is in better shape. And only getting better. Now I've got to figure out how to make the hay field's soil healthier.

Oh, and we unroll our hay when we feed. That is probably the second best contributor to our soil health next to rotating fields. Has really turned it around.

Understanding soil biology and health is key.
 
unrolling hay is the best thing you could ever do to ground
 
herofan":263ejg33 said:
For those of you whose pastures are in good shape, what is your routine for maintaining? Do you spray once a year? Does that do it?

Spray in the spring and mow through out the summer as needed, spraying can and will hurt grass growth. I fertilize heavy in the spring and follow up with another round this time of year.
 
As to the hay field not being as good, it could have to do with the amount of residual plant matter. Wheel rakes clean the ground so thoroughly that nothing is left to protect the soil or decompose to add tilth to the soil.
 
dun":3kjx34b7 said:
As to the hay field not being as good, it could have to do with the amount of residual plant matter. Wheel rakes clean the ground so thoroughly that nothing is left to protect the soil or decompose to add tilth to the soil.

Ding ding ding. You nailed it. Thats my logic at least. I plan to feed on it when ground is dry or froze up this winter.

Wanting a 256 type rake. I think thats what they are called. New holland type.
 
ClinchValley":2g3yg5ky said:
In my experience, the grass is most of the time still present under the weeds. We had stickweed and ironweed and blackberries galore when I took this place over. So thick it was hard to walk through them. That was late summer 2015. I mowed twice that year. Sprayed spring 2016. Again in Summer 2016. Mowed twice in 2016. Sprayed this past spring. Fertilized with 12-24-24 (Nope, didn't soil test). Have sprayed the bad places this summer. The only thing really persisting would be the horse nettle. That stuff is tuff. Used Remedy this year and it works so well.

Now we have a very productive and very clean pastures. To be honest, they're some of the better looking and performing ground around me. On top of the trifecta of weed control, we started rotating pastures Spring of 2016. It impresses me every time i walk through, so many types of grass and legumes. This property was overgrazed for decades upon decades. Plan to keep cutting paddock size...

Patience is key i do believe. As stated already, it takes time. A few years for sure.

Its doing so well that we have higher stocking rate than my Papaw ever did. Using the exact same acreage. And I am considering very strongly to take about 10-20% of current pasture and make more hay next year.

Its crazy, but
our pastures are more productive than our hayfields
. Reason being that the soil is in better shape. And only getting better. Now I've got to figure out how to make the hay field's soil healthier.

Oh, and we unroll our hay when we feed. That is probably the second best contributor to our soil health next to rotating fields. Has really turned it around.

Understanding soil biology and health is key.
Have you considered rotating the fields you cut for hay? I usually cut the same fields for hay but I'm thinking of rotating.
 
ClinchValley":vutgces8 said:
dun":vutgces8 said:
As to the hay field not being as good, it could have to do with the amount of residual plant matter. Wheel rakes clean the ground so thoroughly that nothing is left to protect the soil or decompose to add tilth to the soil.

Ding ding ding. You nailed it. Thats my logic at least. I plan to feed on it when ground is dry or froze up this winter.

Wanting a 256 type rake. I think thats what they are called. New holland type.
I sent,you a private message with my number. Call me, I,might sell you a 256 NH rake. Just,rebuilt from one end to,the,other including new tires.
 
Checking it now.

KD - Our hay ground is the only ground we could cut. Our pasture ground is steep and rocky. I am trying to find ground to lease for hay. I would like to graze our entire property eventually.
 

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