Winter Pasture Suggestions

[rustyb]

hi , i plant acres of pasture for my cattle, in the summer forage sorghum , and in the winter oats and a mix of other pastures

the sorghum grows very well in a good season , but i cant help but notice the oats dont seem to go very well , and its a bit of a pattern ive noticed over the years,

so i was wondering if anyone could suggest another good pasture to plant for winter, note i am located in Queensland Australia

so ye if anyone has any good ideas for an alternative winter pasture for cattle that i could plant, that would be great

preferbly one that ploughs in well also, and does some good for the soil

thanks

 

[bigbull338]

try planting winter wheat in place of the oats.even here in texas oats would freeze out.an you would loose some if not all of the stand.

 

[Jogeephus]

Oats will do well here if we have a semi-warm wet winter but if it gets real cold (20's) it just hammers it. Due to this most people plant either wheat or rye. Rye being the predominate winter planting. I've also started planting rape with the rye and have found it does really well and extends the grazing season of the rye by at least four weeks. Have also begun experimenting with a type of rye called vita-graze. It grows more upright than normal rye and allows for earlier grazing. Supposedly it produces more forage but I personally don't believe this I think it just produces more grazeable leaves due to its upright nature. Jury is still out on this one but it is good.

 

[dun]

How about one of the rye grasses like Marshall, etc.?

 

[nap]

I live in the southern part of the U.S. where the winters are fairly mild. My animals do well on fescue for early and mid winter grazing and I follow that up with rye grass and clover in late winter and early spring. Knowing little about the conditions you are dealing with makes it difficult to make helpful suggestions.

 

[rustyb]

um , do pastures grow better like if the whole paddock planted is just the one seed ? not like a few different pastures mixed together
?

thx

 

[Jogeephus]

You can increase the grazing length by mixing different types of seed. Of course, mixing seed will diminish the amount of any one type of seed you plant. So I guess the answer is yes and no. All goes back to the MarMoeller's principle.

 

[novatech]

You can increase the grazing length by mixing different types of seed. Of course, mixing seed will diminish the amount of any one type of seed you plant. So I guess the answer is yes and no. All goes back to the MarMoeller's principle.

So what is MarMoeller's principle? :help: I tried to look it up but came up with nothing.