Winter annuals in Pasture

[PaMike]

I have some good pasture that I winter my catttle in but I would like to increase the pastures winter production. I was wondering in I could notill a winter annual like oats or rye into the pasture. The annual would give the cattle some good forage over the winter while the grass is dormant. My concern is in the spring will the annual crowd out the grass or will the grass recover ok? I dont want to ruin a good pasture. Any ideas?

 

[dun]

If your lucky enough that the annual stuff stays alive through the winter it will outgrow the grass. The first grazing that reduces the annual stuff and the grass will outgrow it.

 

[ga. prime]

PaMike, what you suggest works wonderfully in my little corner of the world on Coastal Bermuda. It's a go-go-go. Can't recommend one way or the other for Pa.

 

[PaMike]

Dun,
Why do you question if the annual would stay alive during the winter? I dont know much about annuals but I know in my area its pretty comman to put rye in after corn in the fall, then take it off in the spring and put it in the silo. I guess I always assumed it always survives the winters without much problem.

 

[dun]

Dun,
Why do you question if the annual would stay alive during the winter? I dont know much about annuals but I know in my area its pretty comman to put rye in after corn in the fall, then take it off in the spring and put it in the silo. I guess I always assumed it always survives the winters without much problem.

Last year we lost $600 worth of annual rye that had sprouted and didn;t survive 2 ice storms. It was theo nly thing that died, even the winter weed just shook it off and kept growing.

 

[Jogeephus]

Works for us to. Winter annuals will die out when our warm season perenials kick into gear. I did pick up a piece of information from a grass guru who was giving a lecture. This applied mostly to hayfields but it might be worth knowing - and again maybe not. Anyway, he said to be careful of the cool season hybrids that advertise heavier production. According to him, the reason they produce more tonnage is that they are more heat tolerant and can interfere with your summer forage production. (I think this applies mainly to ryegrass.)

 

[jfont]

Rye grass mixed with oats work well for me, but as soon as the summer grass starts growing I shred the pasture to give it some growing room. Seems like when the winter grass starts to die it sucks all the moisture out of the soil.

 

[hayray]

You might do more damage to your pasture than its worth by grazing it too heavy in the winter. I do a lot of winter grazing but I am grazing the perennial grasses, not the annuals, so I don't know if you can control the grazing pressure on the individual species and I also pull them off the pastures if it is too muddy. You might want to try just having a area to plant annuals and rotate in and out of pastures. I have that going on with turnips.

 

[hayray]

Dun,
Why do you question if the annual would stay alive during the winter? I dont know much about annuals but I know in my area its pretty comman to put rye in after corn in the fall, then take it off in the spring and put it in the silo. I guess I always assumed it always survives the winters without much problem.

Oats won't survive the winter up here in MIchigan, we loose them by December, so I wouldn't think they would in PA.,

 

[preston39]

Rye grass mixed with oats work well for me, but as soon as the summer grass starts growing I shred the pasture to give it some growing room. Seems like when the winter grass starts to die it sucks all the moisture out of the soil.

=
jfont,

...."Shred"...i conclude you are saying ...disc. Correct or....?

 

[dun]

Rye grass mixed with oats work well for me, but as soon as the summer grass starts growing I shred the pasture to give it some growing room. Seems like when the winter grass starts to die it sucks all the moisture out of the soil.

=
jfont,

...."Shred"...i conclude you are saying ...disc. Correct or....?

Probably mean brush hog

 

[jfont]

Rye grass mixed with oats work well for me, but as soon as the summer grass starts growing I shred the pasture to give it some growing room. Seems like when the winter grass starts to die it sucks all the moisture out of the soil.

=
jfont,

...."Shred"...i conclude you are saying ...disc. Correct or....?

No not disc, Shred, brush hog, cut the grass, Whatever you want to call it, but I cut what's dyeing out to give growing room for the new summer grass. Plus throw a little fertilizer once the summer grass starts to overtake.
I don't have alot of land per head so I try to stay on the safe side.
Right now,in the fall, I'm grazing down a couple of winter pastures. Letting others grow out. I'm about to move the cows to the grown out pastures.The pastures that are grazed I will aireate with spikes,(spelled wrong I know beefy) seed rye grass and oats, then shred. I find shredding makes more seeds touch the ground cause of the vibration and the little bit of cut grass serves as a cover for the seeds.
Next best thing to discing.
I've had bad luck in the past chopping up my bermuta, having a droght in the spring, giving it a slow start, and having to feed hay in july.

 

[gberry]

Jogeephus and GaPrime do you plant rye and oats or just ryegrass? The reason I ask is that we have for the last couple of years planted ryegrass (no-tilled one year, disked and broadcast the next) and have had pretty poor results. We haven't gotten anywhere near the growth of a prepared seedbed. I would guess the no-till or disked fields yielded less than 10% of the amount on the prepared fields. Do you have any tips? I like the idea of no-till but if we can't get better results, it doesn't seem feasible.

 

[MrBilly]

We plant rye on one Bermuda hayfield and ryegrass on another. The ryegrass produced 10 round bales per acre this spring and is one reason we are smiling at a full haybarn.

One thing to note is that do not plant ryegrass into fescue pasture because it will tend to kill off the fescue, or at least set it way back - that is from the GA forage experts.

Billy

 

[dun]

One thing to note is that do not plant ryegrass into fescue pasture because it will tend to kill off the fescue, or at least set it way back - that is from the GA forage experts.

Billy

That's a fairly common practice around here for those that overseed winter annuals. Might be a growing season type of deal.