Turn around farm ph ?

[Stocker Steve]

We bought some run down hay ground and turned it into pasture. Ph was low like everything else so we had it limed and seeded clovers. Ph did not come up as expected initially. After two years we re limed the lowest ph paddocks... Now, several years after we quit liming we are increasing stocking density and ph is overshooting. :shock: I think the biology was pretty dead when we bought this ground and now it it running wild. The last paddock I checked can in at 7.4 ph after overwintering and a cover crop. Don't plan to pour on acid corn fertilizer to lower ph, so are there any other management options other than planting alfalfa?

 

[Aaron]

Just leave it. 7.4 is nothing to worry about. It will sink lower over time as that is what your soils want to do. I have fields at 6.2 and I am sure not worrying about them. Focus on soils in the 5 and 8 ranges. Take your money and go buy some RWF heifers to throw on those overproducing acres.

 

[RiverHills]

Doesn't lime take a few years to break down?

 

[Stocker Steve]

Doesn't lime take a few years to break down?

Yes.
Traditionally tillage helps.
Seems like cattle/biology is much more effective than tillage.

 

[Dave]

Being as this was "run down hay ground turned into pasture", if you limed up top of a sod it just takes a few years for the lime to move down into the soil. Tillage may help mix the lime into the soil but it is absolutely the enemy of organic matter.

 

[Supa Dexta]

I wouldnt go that far. Ploughing in sod puts that matter in the soil, where it rots and provides OM within the soil. It loosens the soil, allows moisture to penetrate easier, and new seeds have an easy path down.

Ploughing gets a bad rap at times, but it can be a benefit in some cases.

 

[farmerjan]

We always figured that it was 2 years before any results from liming, and that any sod would take 3 years or so. We also do some ploughing and I am a bigger fan of that then constant chemicals. The earthworms that will get going on soil a little sweeter will get that lime etc incorporated down into the lower reaches. I also wouldn't worry about a 7.4 either. It will help keep any of the Briars from getting a foothold as they like lower ph soil. Just put in some good grasses and the clovers will come and go as the ground needs it and you can frost broadcast if needed. The cattle manure will take some of the ph down too, but they will also help the organic matter and the soil microbes will go to work on breaking it down. Graze it a little closer if nothing else, just give it a rest inbetween. The whole idea is to have it "overproducing" so that you get more from the amount of ground than you did before. Watch some of the trace minerals that often don't show up on standard soil tests.

 

[littletom]

I have seen ph go up in less than a year many times with lime. Early fall to late spring.