What to Seed With Fescue

[Gphillips]

We have a 40 acre hay field that has been over run by Johnson Grass. I had it sprayed by our the guy that farms our row crop ground, we are going to have him plant it in corn next year, then sow it down in the fall. The hay field was primarily KY-31 fescue, but I am going to going to go back with one of the novel-endophyte fescues, and some Persist Orchard Grass. My plan is to work the corn stalks down and sow the mixture with a cover crop in the areas where erosion will be an issue, then drilling some more of the grass mixture the next fall. I will also be pulling soil samples, and making sure that I have good soil fertility.

Any thoughts on the fescue/orchard grass mix?

 

[dun]

Add clover to the mix, about 30%. Red or white, my preference is red but in some areas white works better.

 

[Kscattle]

Ditto what dun said, when the fescue dies down, the clover will start coming on strong. I have a hayfield that always comes back strong with clover after its been mowed. I mow the clover and square bale it for show steers

 

[torogmc81]

With DUN on the red clover. Best "weed" to have in a pasture IMO. Can't say that I've seen any of my cows stop for white clover, but don't know if that's region or what.

 

[skyhightree1]

Add clover to the mix, about 30%. Red or white, my preference is red but in some areas white works better.

I mix cinnamon and ladino.

 

[Lucky_P]

I interseed a mix of about 5 lb medium red and 2 lb white/ladino clover per acre.
Kopu II and Alice white clovers are hard to beat - aggressive, with large leaf area.
I like some annual lespedeza in the mix, too - it comes on in July/Aug, when the cool season grasses and clovers typically slump.

 

[lucky7chief]

We've been hesitant to sow clover the first year. We've had red clover take over and kill out the fescue. It was endophyte free fescue so that may have been the problem. Then, when the clover dies out it leaves bare spots in the field. We've been filling those in with Max Q. We've never had it happen with Ky31. Has anyone had that issue with red clover?

 

[Lucky_P]

I routinely drill in fescue/OG in fall, then frost-seed clovers/lespedeza in mid-Feb. That, and the drills that NRCS and Southern States have available for rent typically plant the clover seed too deep, so I prefer to broadcast after the grass is up and going.
With some of the really aggressive clovers, like Alice, I can believe that the clover might overtop the little fescue seedlings and shade 'em out.