Winter Grazing question's

[SFFarms]

Im thinking about buying Rye grass seed, oats and maybe mix some wheat in there and brodcast seed about 2-5 acres in the bottoms near a creek.

Here are some of my much need to know questions

#1 I have never seeded anything in my life beside's fescue, so is this combination going to cancel each other out or be a bad idea?

#2 Is there a cheaper or better combination i can use?

#3 Im thinking about using a subsoiler to tear in the ground a bit. Would the seed do any better or should i not touch it?

#4 Using a 3.pt seeder i have heard people draging cattle panels/chain link fence or aerators behind it should i consider that?

Anything else i need to consider please help me out. :???:

This is going to be a learning experience for me at the most! So much needed guidence and answers would be great!

Thanks Always,

SFF

 

[Red Bull Breeder]

A no till drill would most likely work better for you. Might want to add a little clover with it.

 

[SFFarms]

A no till drill would most likely work better for you. Might want to add a little clover with it.

I would love :heart: to have a no till drill and thats what im looking forward to but i dont have the funds to buy one in the near future. I was looking at the ones made by Great Plains and they seem very expensive around 14-16k if you have any affordable names and brands it be must apprechiated. I dont know much about clover but i might have to do some research. 8)

Thanks,

SFF

 

[dun]

A no till drill would most likely work better for you. Might want to add a little clover with it.

I would love :heart: to have a no till drill and thats what im looking forward to but i dont have the funds to buy one in the near future. I was looking at the ones made by Great Plains and they seem very expensive around 14-16k if you have any affordable names and brands it be must apprechiated. I dont know much about clover but i might have to do some research. 8)

Thanks,

SFF

I've been looking at no tills for a couple of years. Even the good used ones run 10-12k and up.
Does maybe your local USDA NRCS office have them to rent, maybe an equipment dealer in the area has them to rent.
There is currently a Sukup in Florence SC for $7900. They don;t give the width on it, it's a model 2050 but that doesn;t tell me anything. Sukup, Sunflower, Crustbuster, Haybuster, Great Plains and Tye are all good quality no-till drills.

 

[Red Bull Breeder]

Like Dun said check with NRCS office You should be able to rent one from them. All the NRCS offices around here have no till drills rollers sprayers and seeders they will rent to you.

 

[SFFarms]

I think one of my local dealers do lease them out

Thanks,

SFF

 

[JRM]

I am a long way from you so not sure how it would work where you are, but what I done in pass is run a disc with no cut set on the disc over the pasture. What it does is scratch the ground and make it a litle easier for the seed to have ground contact, without really plowing up the pasture. Then I would run a 3pt seeder and have a cattle panel or 2 dragging behind tractor. This seemed to give the seed a little better contact with the ground. A short pasture is the best when overseeding.
I have run a chisel plow with just spikes on it and it has helped pasture. For about 2 or 3 weeks I would see less forage, then (with timely rain) I would see more and more forage. I did this usually in late winter/early spring time. Bermuda grass (what I have in pasture) like to have the soil distrubed ever once in a while.
I also second the suggestion on clover. Clover has really helped my pasture and gives some good grazing in late winter early spring, sometimes if I am lucky get some grazing in fall as well.
Like I said I am a long way from you so not sure how it would work in your neck of the woods.
Good luck

 

[SFFarms]

Im really interested in clover but im looking at the prices per 50# bag and around $125-225 little much for only seeding 2-5 acres. White Durana is what im interested in and that is 143$. The draging the cattle panel and just tearing the ground a lil bit is what im looking to do, if i cant get a no-till drill.

 

[EAT BEEF]

Im really interested in clover but im looking at the prices per 50# bag and around $125-225 little much for only seeding 2-5 acres. White Durana is what im interested in and that is 143$. The draging the cattle panel and just tearing the ground a lil bit is what im looking to do, if i cant get a no-till drill.

The co-op should sell seed by the lbs.

 

[Steve Wilson]

SFF, what is growing there now and do you want to keep any of it? You also didn't mention anything about fertilizing. I do a little 4 acre patch each spring and fall to provide seasonal forage for weaned bottle calves. I start with a good disking, fertilize/seed and then drag a panel behind a tractor or 4 wheeler. Works like a champ. The county here rents their no till drill for $10/acre with a $100 minimum. Others have said their counties were cheaper. One problem with renting is the availability when you want to use it. We reserved it for August 17th to drill wheat in the pastures, way back when we finished planting haybeans in late June.

Dun will be better than I on suggesting a mix to seed down there.

 

[SFFarms]

Right now the pasture is just fescue grass and has never been planted with anything. Will seeding the Oats,Rye, Wheat affect my fescue grass?

 

[nap]

If you have fescue now I would partition it off and try some management intensive or rotational grazing this winter. You might be surprised with the results. There is a lot of information on MIG grazing on the web. Check it out.

 

[TREY-L]

Im really interested in clover but im looking at the prices per 50# bag and around $125-225 little much for only seeding 2-5 acres. White Durana is what im interested in and that is 143$. The draging the cattle panel and just tearing the ground a lil bit is what im looking to do, if i cant get a no-till drill.

Check the price on some Crimson Clover, it's usually not as expensive.

 

[Red Bull Breeder]

Have you checked your local NRCS office about a drill? It will only take a few pounds of clover seed per acre. Try some Arrowleaf its fairly cheap and grows like heck.

 

[BC]

Go ahead and invest in the Duranna clover since you mentioned this was bottomland. Plant about 4 lbs. per acre. save the rest of the seed in a cool dry place and add a about 2 lbs of seed per acre next year.