Seeding farm ground to grass

[Cross-7]

Couldn't log in so I created a new account
I'm looking at different grasses to seed farm ground to permanent grass in SW Oklahoma.
Approximately 25-30" rainfall

I'm leaning to B.Dahl but I'm not sure that its suited for that area. I've read it's best suited for south of I-20

I've had good luck with sideoats grama but I've been told grama type grasses don't do well in the soil in that area.

Caucasian bluestem is another I've read about but establishment is a concern.

Any advice would be appreciated

 

[Cross-7]

Bermuda is another option
I'm concerned about having enough rainfall and the fertilizer requirements
Also I'm not wanting to bale hay and wanting something that will hold nutrition into winter when left standing.

 

[joeu235]

I have seeded ww-b Dahl, Klein, cowboy bermuda blend, and sprigged Jiggs bermuda.
The B-Dahl is amazing stuff. 20 acres of it fed a 25 head herd May - August this summer with only 100#/acre of 20-10-10. From my experience it takes 2 full years before its really a productive field. I have planted about 45 acres of it with a Great Plains no-till with native seed box.
Klein was planted on a field that was a gravel pit until it was filled in. Some of the field was packed hard from years of equipment travel. The Klein grass seems to love hard packed soil. Yield is ok to good.
Cowboy bermuda was planted this spring. It filled in the field nicely and is knee high 6 months later. This is my first experience with it so don't know much more.
Jiggs was also sprigged this spring. It has aggressively spread through the pasture but will not be worth cutting this year. Have 50 year old pastures of Coastal bermuda but this is the first experience with Jiggs.

 

[Cross-7]

I have seeded ww-b Dahl, Klein, cowboy bermuda blend, and sprigged Jiggs bermuda.
The B-Dahl is amazing stuff. 20 acres of it fed a 25 head herd May - August this summer with only 100#/acre of 20-10-10. From my experience it takes 2 full years before its really a productive field. I have planted about 45 acres of it with a Great Plains no-till with native seed box.
Klein was planted on a field that was a gravel pit until it was filled in. Some of the field was packed hard from years of equipment travel. The Klein grass seems to love hard packed soil. Yield is ok to good.
Cowboy bermuda was planted this spring. It filled in the field nicely and is knee high 6 months later. This is my first experience with it so don't know much more.
Jiggs was also sprigged this spring. It has aggressively spread through the pasture but will not be worth cutting this year. Have 50 year old pastures of Coastal bermuda but this is the first experience with Jiggs.

Thanks for the info
What part of the world are you located

 

[M-5]

Welcome back

 

[Cross-7]

Welcome back

Thank you

 

[Bigfoot]

I haven't seeded or sprigged any of the grasses you listed, but welcome back.

 

[Cross-7]

I haven't seeded or sprigged any of the grasses you listed, but welcome back.

Thank you
I don't want to have to buy a tractor, offset, a drill and start farming
I've had Klein, sideoats and some type of yellow bluestem
Of the three I like the sideoats but B Dahl based on what I've heard would be the way to go if it'll survive here

 

[joeu235]

Drive down I-35 about 5 hours. Central Texas around Temple.

 

[Texas PaPaw]

IIRC- WW Spar bluestem has a more northern limit than B Dahl. Would check with local NRCS, OSU extension service and Nobel Foundation for their recommendations.

Good to hear from you again.

 

[Cross-7]

I've read some on the noble site and several different university grass studies.
Some say Dahl is suited south of a line from Lubbock to Texarkana
Some say south of I-20
But before Dr Dahl started his research at justiceburg tx it was in Woodward Ok and was called ww857 ( I believe) so if it survived in Woodward co then Tillman co shouldn't be an issue.

I was really impressed with the sideoats grama in woods co but the seed prices are very high
I liked Klein in the spring but late summer the leaf to stem ratio wasn't good IMO
There is lots of little bluestem around and it doesn't appear to provide much forage but all I've read it beats lots of other grasses but not suited for " stockpiling" and winter grazing can damage the stand.
From what I've seen on ww spar it will probably work but production isn't as good as other grasses
I'll check with county ext agent and see what he knows

 

[Banjo]

Couldn't log in so I created a new account
I'm looking at different grasses to seed farm ground to permanent grass in SW Oklahoma.
Approximately 25-30" rainfall

I'm leaning to B.Dahl but I'm not sure that its suited for that area. I've read it's best suited for south of I-20

I've had good luck with sideoats grama but I've been told grama type grasses don't do well in the soil in that area.

Caucasian bluestem is another I've read about but establishment is a concern.

Any advice would be appreciated

FWIW I have a lot of Caucasian Bluestem here on my farm in Ky.(At least that's what the NRCS says it is) Don't know where it came from. Either hay I've bought in the past or was brought in here by earlier landowners in the early part of the 20th century. I was told its not native to this area but it does well in the summer. It just dovetails in with the fescue and orchardgrass when they start to slow down and fills in the thinner places. It keeps wanting to go to seed about the 1st of August and onward unlike fescue and orchardgrass at that time of the year pretty much just grows more blades.
This year instead clipping it(which just makes it want to grow more) I left it alone and it provided a shade for the fescue during the warm days of September and the fescue just dovetailed into it quiet nicely. This pasture doesn't have as strong of a presence of fescue as other fields. What it does in a year or two maybe more or less dependent on how well the fescue does. Either way it helps fill in the gaps.....and I have never planted the first seed. I would say it would be easy to establish, depending on other competition.

 

[Cross-7]

Thanks
That's similar to my experience with the bluestem I've had
The stuff would choke out other grasses but I don't know what variety it was

 

[wbvs58]

Do you guys have Buffel grass there. There are a number of varieties here and one is called USA. It has established well on the brigalow country that was cleared with two D8 dozers dragging a big chain between them. The timber was burnt off and then blade ploughed and the buffel was established with minimal preparation and has turned into great grazing country. Sounds like the sort of grass that your after Cross. It is mainly in the northern part of Australia as it doesn't tolerate a lot of frost but doesn't need a lot of rainfall.
Ken

 

[Cross-7]

Thanks
Reading up on it

 

[Texas PaPaw]

Bob

Suggest planting different grasses in different pastures. Plant some that start/grow early in season in some pastures and others that are later producers in other pastures, in order to spread out your production.

Several years ago, there was a new fescue that was supposed to be able to survive in lower rainfall southern areas. Think the name was Flecha and the A&M experiment station in Vernon Tx planted some and it survived several drier than normal years. Haven't heard much about it lately but might be worth looking into in order to have some cool season pasture.

 

[Cross-7]

My thoughts exactly
That's just about what I had decided. Try several and see what works