Sowing new pasture

[lmp570]

i would like to sow a mix of timothy and red clover on a new beef pasture and i would like to know when the best time of year to sow this would be?

ill have to start from scratch. there is not much grass on the lot now.

 

[dun]

Spring for the timothy and if you don;t frost seed the clover, spring for that too

 

[lmp570]

what do u mean by frost seed the clover?

 

[dun]

what do u mean by frost seed the clover?

During the winter usually late january into february, if you have hard enough freezes that the soil heaves a little, broadcasting seed at that time is called frost seeding. Takes multiple days/nights of freezing and thawing, also requires some soil moisture so the the soil will heave

 

[tlmcr]

Fall seeding has always worked best for me, between August 20 and September 15th in my area. I am curious if Timothy is the best choice, in my area the new orchard grass varieties are working very well for grazing, more lush lower growth and less fast growth to a seed head like Timothy.

 

[dun]

Fall seeding has always worked best for me, between August 20 and September 15th in my area. I am curious if Timothy is the best choice, in my area the new orchard grass varieties are working very well for grazing, more lush lower growth and less fast growth to a seed head like Timothy.

We've never had good luck with fall seeding because of the lack of moisture in the typical fall. I persoanlly don;t care for timothy. Doesn;t persist very well in this area. Problem iwth OG is it isn;t drought tolerant worth spit.
If I was planting a totally nre field that didn;t have any grass growing in it I'ld go with one of the new, friendly endophyte fescue cultivars.

 

[tytower]

We've never had good luck with fall seeding because of the lack of moisture in the typical fall. I persoanlly don;t care for timothy. Doesn;t persist very well in this area. Problem iwth OG is it isn;t drought tolerant worth spit.
If I was planting a totally nre field that didn;t have any grass growing in it I'ld go with one of the new, friendly endophyte fescue cultivars.

Never heard of frost seeding Dun thanks ,you must have a wobly keyboard ,shifts the keys to the right while you are trying to type . Modern stuff Bah!

 

[dun]

you must have a wobly keyboard ,shifts the keys to the right while you are trying to type . Modern stuff Bah!

Plus the fingers don;t alwasy reach the key I tell them to and half of the keys stick from time to time.

 

[Bez>]

I frost seed every March. But .... the returns on it are not as good as one might think as the seed germinates irregularly. I use it to top dress our already decent fields. It is not truly a real good method for setting the seed in the ground, but it does help keep things going.

From the sounds of it you are in a different ball game. You want best results then you had better "no-till" it in.

I would bet you a buck there is someone near you that has one.

Next best bet if you have ground that is pretty barren - is to find a Brillion Seeder or something like that - rent one if you have to.

http://brillionfarmeq.com/productpdf/OverSeeders.pdf

or this one:

http://brillionfarmeq.com/productpdf/26 ... pdf#page=2

I have used the 12 footer with great success on pretty bare ground.

If you are not sure what is the best time visit your county ag office - or one of the better seed and fertilizer places. Our local operator rents out the equipment - next to nothing if you buy your seed and fertilizer from him.

Start snooping around you might be surprized at how things turn out.

Good luck - on the other hand I cut a field of orchard grass, timothy, meadow brome, some reed canary and some trefoil yesterday. The stuff was over 6 feet high and still going - late cut - should have been down a month ago. We are averaging 5 - 6 large squares to the acre at present. Have not even started to think about the round bales yet. Have two years hay in the yard and we are only 1/3 finished.

Bez>

 

[Stocker Steve]

i would like to sow a mix of timothy and red clover on a new beef pasture and i would like to know when the best time of year to sow this would be?

ill have to start from scratch. there is not much grass on the lot now.

Timothy seed is cheap, it is winter hardy, and it tolerates damp soil, but there are better grasses to plant. Many pre mixes have 10% timothy in them becasuse it is cheap and...
Red clover is very easy to establish but it only lasts a couple years unless you let it go to seed.
Fall seeding is fine if you get the rain.
Spring seeding is safer but you will have more weed competition.

 

[Arkieman]

If I was planting a totally nre field that didn;t have any grass growing in it I'ld go with one of the new, friendly endophyte fescue cultivars.

Dun, do you have any varieties that you would recommend?

 

[dun]

If I was planting a totally nre field that didn;t have any grass growing in it I'ld go with one of the new, friendly endophyte fescue cultivars.

Dun, do you have any varieties that you would recommend?

Nope. I sick with KY31, but I'm not planting a new field. I know of a couple of people that have planted the friendly Max-Q and really like it. But that could be because Pennington is the biggest seed purveyor in this area