Spring Pasture

[1wlimo]

I went to look at my pasture for the first time yesterday since then snow has left. Well it is kind of green, not much grass yet.

I have been told that due to the frost compaction is not a problem. Well after two dry winters I would have said it was. This last wet fall the frost may have reduced this a little. I am 180# and I had to jump on the small spade to get in into the soil. The top six inches is not to bad, below this it is solid.

Will the frost next winter help if it wet again next fall?

Has any one tried to subsoil pasture and still graze it that season? The subsoil is clay, and we have a fair amount of rock.

Thanks

1wlimo

 

[dun]

Heavy clay is always going to be hard. Freezing/thawing won;t do much down below abou t6 inches unless you have a couple of -50 nights followed by 100 degree days. The frost just isn;t going to form and thaw all that deep.

 

[AllForage]

I have heavy clay and our frost goes 4 feet deep in winter. The pastures still become compacted. With heavy clay, subsoiling or total renovation every 4-6 years is probably best. We plant annual crops to be grazed for one summer. We also try to re-plant forages with deep taproots to help with water infiltration to break-up up subsoil. I don't have rocks though. If you plow, hire a chisel plow. As organic matter is increased it should help with the compaction although with heavy clay I think you just have to plow every so many years. I have definitely seen a decrease in forage production over the years and need to renovate.

 

[1wlimo]

Thanks for the info,lots of the pasture about here as last renovated 20, 30, or 40 years ago.

Too wet to try subsoiling for a while.

 

[wbvs58]

This is the machine I use. I have it set to 10-12 inches, requires a bit of HP and weight to keep it moving although slow, can be used with coulters in front of tynes to make things neater, which I don't have. It just leaves a line cutting through grass, a bit more disturbance with rocks roots etc. I find I can graze paddock lightly after 6 wks on a rotational basis, occaisionally in summer if it is dry and hot the grass may die off for 3-4 inches side of furrow.
My block is granite country, lots of rocks, the tynes are protected by shear pins cut from 12mm rod. It takes about 20sec to replace a pin plus time to get on and off tractor, I find it no great problem, sometimes they might break within a few metres of another and you get abit peed off, other times you go for an hour or two without breaking one.
It does a great job aerating, allowing good water penetration ( in fact sometimes if heavey rain I have to stop grazing as cows are sinking up to their hocks), by carefull placement of furrows you virtually make water run up hill ie directing water from valleys to drier ridges ( this is the Keyline system).
I try to do my paddocks every 2-3 years. You can see by the photo I drop seed out behind from home made seeders, I have mixed results with grass seed but reasonable results with legumes.
Hope this gives you some ideas.
Ken

 

[1wlimo]

Thanks for the info

I spent some time working on a property in the area there 96/97. Only the renovating of pasture I was doing was with a D7 then. If you can use a machine like you do, then most of the rest of us should have no problems.

 

[Stocker Steve]

Compaction on clay is a tough one. I have it too. Lots of grazing experts brag about never renovating - - but I think they may have cheap rent and often have thin soil so their options are very different from good deeded farm land.

Calculating the optimum time for renovating depends on productivity of your stand, your renovation costs, and the the crop value. There are some on line alfalfa/corn rotation calculators that are a good starting point.

"Lay farming" makes sense in average or better soils. Here you take a crop yield hit if you do not moldboard plow. Not totally sure why - - could be due to low OM. My latest approach is to out winter, plow, crop, and then reseed one paddock per year on the deeded place.

They was some data that showed renovated pasture productivity decreased for about 10 years and then started to increase again. Again, not sure why :???:

 

[AllForage]

Compaction on clay is a tough one. I have it too. Lots of grazing experts brag about never renovating - - but I think they may have cheap rent and often have thin soil so their options are very different from good deeded farm land.

Calculating the optimum time for renovating depends on productivity of your stand, your renovation costs, and the the crop value. There are some on line alfalfa/corn rotation calculators that are a good starting point.

"Lay farming" makes sense in average or better soils. Here you take a crop yield hit if you do not moldboard plow. Not totally sure why - - could be due to low OM. My latest approach is to out winter, plow, crop, and then reseed one paddock per year on the deeded place.

They was some data that showed renovated pasture productivity decreased for about 10 years and then started to increase again. Again, not sure why :???:

I agree on the good farmland point. Around here we have land renting up to $100 per acre because of kraut factories. Nobody will sign long term leases for fencing to pay so you have to own. Which in a way raises costs. We are experimenting with greeenleaf corn grazing as our rotation crop. Then back to pasture. I use alfalfa as an indicator of needing renovation. Once it drops below 40% percent we lose too much tonnage. I don't fertilize either except compost. Clover doesn't do us much good as we hay all pasture at some point and it does not like to dry here. Also after too many wet seasons clay pastures take a real beating. Killing plants and inviting thistles.

 

[Stocker Steve]

I am not sure alfalfa was meant for clay soil. The only location on my place that it seems to favor is the SE facing side of a ridge.

Run some renovation cost numbers for clover vs. alfalfa stands.
Then assume you frost seed or let the clover go to seed every couple years.
And make balage if you really really have to.