Row crop to pasture

[bhooper]

I'm looking for suggestions on what I should seed a bottom field to for pasture and/or hay. The reason we are taking it out of row crop is because it is usually too wet to plant when it needs to be planted. So whatever we seed needs to tolerate moist conditions. I've read some about native warm season grasses but didn't know if they could handle the wet conditions. I'm open to whatever will do best.
Thanks in advance for any replies.

 

[lynnmcmahan]

Can you ditch it? USDA Soil Conservation could help

 

[bhooper]

What do you mean by "ditch it"?

 

[lynnmcmahan]

Drain the water.

 

[Chris H]

I'm looking for suggestions on what I should seed a bottom field to for pasture and/or hay. The reason we are taking it out of row crop is because it is usually too wet to plant when it needs to be planted. So whatever we seed needs to tolerate moist conditions. I've read some about native warm season grasses but didn't know if they could handle the wet conditions. I'm open to whatever will do best.
Thanks in advance for any replies.

Switchgrass tolerates being flooded for several weeks. It also tolerates dry weather. We've been taking a cutting of hay off ours then getting 1-2 grazings. We haven't burned ours in 4 years, I'm letting it grow a bit more this summer to burn it off next spring. Bluegrass & fescue are encroaching on the drier ground. I hope burning it will knock back the cool season grasses.

 

[Lucky_P]

Did the same thing about 13 years ago - but since NRCS was 'footing the bill', we had to plant orchardgrass/timothy, red/ladino clover; I mixed in some endophyte free fescue/festulolium 'on my own dime'. Looked good for about 2 years - but the timothy & red clover never last but about that long anyway, and endophyte-free fescue turns toes-up at the first hint of drought or overgrazing.
So... we came back behind that with a mix of Max-Q novel endophyte fescue and Persist orchardgrass; has worked well - and UT has done quite a bit of work with that combination, in southern middle and west TN - should be some Extension bulletins, etc., on it.
It's pricey, but I've been pleased with animal performance - and performance of the forage varieties, as well.