To seed or not to seed?

[bigbluegrass]

My question is: to seed or not to seed this spring? Let me give you a quick history. I bought this place in 2007, which was a very dry year here. It is 50+ acres total, about 20 acres is cleared. The guy before had 80 horses on here and pretty much grazed everything down to dirt. The next spring I was all fired up to get some seed down. I spent way too much on some high name seed. I put the seed down in the spring and most of it came up. Some grew, most didn't. I needed to let it get established a little more. I ended up with a OK stand, but nothing really great. 2008 and 2009 were descent years, but I think I had too many cows on the land. So I sold off half, of course before the price of cattle went up. Now this past year was really dry from July to November and very hot (not Texas hot, but hot for here). I sold a few more cows, just because. Everything was brown this fall. There doesn't look to be much of anything out there. We have been getting plenty of rain and snow the past few months. The ground is pretty mushy right now. It has been freezing and thawing on a regular basis. I did seed some annual rye last fall, but it didn't even sprout yet. It was just seeded in patches that were pretty bare. So do I start to plan on reseeding everything this spring? Or do I save my money and see what comes up? Seed a small area? Wait a few months and then seed a summer annual if the stand loss is high. The old pasture was a mix of about everything. I had a nice bit of white clover in there. Is it dead? There was some red clover as well. I will know what survived in a few months for sure, but I am trying to start planning what my next step should be. Should I have new seeds in the ground before I will know what all survived? Any ideas?

 

[Angus Cowman]

if you reseed you are going to have to keep the livestock off of it until it can get some growth and establish itself before grazing
animals are the hardest on new growth and will keep killing it back before it has a chance

 

[dun]

A lot depends on what the high priced seed was, (fescue, crabgrass, bluegrass, big bluestem, bermuda, etc.) and what your soil test says.

 

[bigbluegrass]

A lot depends on what the high priced seed was, (fescue, crabgrass, bluegrass, big bluestem, bermuda, etc.) and what your soil test says.

Dun, it was maxQ fescue - which was stupid to plant in this case, since I had other fescue growing and I didn't kill it all first. I didn't read all papers that came with it :dunce: also a variety of bermuda that was supposed to be cold tolerant - also a bad choice. also a variety of white clover that was grazing tolerant - but cost twice what I can get locally. It did OK, but I am not sure it survived the heat and dry last summer. I was not smart about my overseedeing last time.

I have done soil test for two years now. PH is 6.5 to 5.6. This is all hills and rocks. The lowest PH areas are wooded. I will lime those when I clear them.

 

[dun]

If you have existing KY31 frost seed some red clover and put on about 30 lbs of nitrogen. The fescue will come back, probably not the maxq, but the KY31 will.

 

[bigbluegrass]

I thought you might say that Dun I was kinda thinking the same thing. Would you add any new KY31 to the mix, or just go with red clover? The stand is pretty thin right now. It isn't mainly KY31, but there is some out there. It really shows up now, it is the only thing green. How long would you stay off it in the spring?

 

[dun]

the clover you can frost seed but the KY31 you should drill. If you can do that then overseeding with the KY31 would work. I would wait till the clover is leafed out well before grazing it. If you graze it then rest it the red clvoer will reseed itself.

 

[rjbovine]

It sounds like you may have enough fescue . timothy and orchard grass would be what I would look at. No personal experence with white clover . So adding red Is where I would go. Last fall I rented a notill drill from local NCRS . Seeded orchardgrass, timothy, and red clover in a poor stand of fescue. The fall weather was so dry the seed did not sprout till mid november . So I'll have to wait till this spring to see what will come up. Not to high jack you thread . How would ryegrass work for cows to graze on ? Has anyone tried this ?

 

[bigbluegrass]

I did have some perenial rye in there also. I doubt it survived, but it would be a nice surprise. Annual rye is good and I have planted it in the past, but it won't sprout without rain. Are you thinking spring planted ryegrass?

 

[rjbovine]

Yes this would be planted this spring . No experence with grazing rye . Would be planted in less than ideal conditions . Reclaming around brush, honeysuckle,briers and such. My hope is it would supplement the pasture I notilled into last fall with less expence for now.

 

[bigbluegrass]

Cows love ryegrass. I planted a little annual ryegrass last spring. It is best if you can fall plant it, but last fall I didn't have enough moisture in the ground to germinate weed seeds. It usually stays green in the winter, like fescue. It will die off as soon as the temps get close to 90 around here. It will just turn brown and be done. Probably be best to plant it early in the spring - like now. I broadcast seed it last year, and it did good for the most part.

You are aware there is cereal rye (the grain), annual rye and perennial rye. All different. I had a pretty good stand of perennial rye in a couple places last year. Cows at it up. It does get a endophyte fungus like fescue.

 

[sledge]

Hello everyone, new here and a cherry farmer. I'm deciding on spriging or seeding a new pasture for cattle. It's limed and prepared in response to the soil test. I'm in central NC and am contemplating Mohawk mixed with something because of its cost. I will be doing rotational grazing if that is a factor. I need to do this at as low of a cost as possible. What are your recommendations?