Winter rye

[Central Fl Cracker]

I am currently running 50 cows on 135 ac. with 4 each 30ac + paddocks. I will need about 2.5 rolls of hay for the winter which will cost me about $5500 for the winter. I am thinking about planting one of the 30ac. blocks in winter rye to save on hay cost. A couple of questions will help me make this decision.
1. What will the approximate cost be since I will have to hire someone to disk and seed.
2. When should I disk and seed this area.
3. How tall should the rye be before I put cows in this block
4. How long will the paddock of rye take me into the winter
5. The current pasture is pensacola bahia and I am thinking about planting Tifton 9 in the spring or should I just use this paddock for winter grazing and save the cost of rediscing and seeding the Tifton.

 

[bigbull338]

I am currently running 50 cows on 135 ac. with 4 each 30ac + paddocks. I will need about 2.5 rolls of hay for the winter which will cost me about $5500 for the winter. I am thinking about planting one of the 30ac. blocks in winter rye to save on hay cost. A couple of questions will help me make this decision.
1. What will the approximate cost be since I will have to hire someone to disk and seed.
2. When should I disk and seed this area.
3. How tall should the rye be before I put cows in this block
4. How long will the paddock of rye take me into the winter
5. The current pasture is pensacola bahia and I am thinking about planting Tifton 9 in the spring or should I just use this paddock for winter grazing and save the cost of rediscing and seeding the Tifton.

what i think id do is no till or broadcast the rye grass in.that way you dont have breakup an level the land.todo it your way your looking at $4000 give or take to plant the rye grass.

 

[BC]

You might try no-till seeding. Graze or mow the grass as low as possible. Drill in rye and overseed with ryegrass. Do this in early October so as not to have too much competition from summer grass. Begin grazing when rye is 6 inches or more.

For best use and extending your hay supply, graze 2 hrs a day or 4 hrs every other day. Use hay to fill up. In the spring (last of February) the rye-ryegrass will carry the cows full time.

 

[Jogeephus]

BC is giving some good advice but I'd like to reiterate his point about controlled grazing for two hours. If you are not able to do this you will lose your shirt on your plantings AND you will run out of hay and feed. On a winter grazing program, you MUST be able to get 100 days of grazing off the planting. It will cost you around $100 per acre when its all said and done. These are not my figures but UGA's. Didn't quit believe it myself till I did it myself and kept records. No one reiterated the control grazing to me enough and I got about thirty days but man were them girls slick!!! Kinda like I paid for them to go to a conditioning spa. And yeah, I lost my shirt out there somewhere so don't do what I did. DO CONTROL GRAZE.

 

[C HOLLAND]

You might try no-till seeding. Graze or mow the grass as low as possible. Drill in rye and overseed with ryegrass. Do this in early October so as not to have too much competition from summer grass. Begin grazing when rye is 6 inches or more.

For best use and extending your hay supply, graze 2 hrs a day or 4 hrs every other day. Use hay to fill up. In the spring (last of February) the rye-ryegrass will carry the cows full time.

BC, can you control graze up until the first of Feb and then hit it 100 lbs of N and get a good cutting of hay in 6-8 weeks.

 

[gabby]

Rye or ryegrass? Rye seed per acre is out of sight. I'm going with ryegrass.

 

[alabama]

I think with the lack of hay I would plant the whole 135 acres in Rye. Or mix in some ryegrass with it. You can rotate your grazing and use very little hay in Flordia.
Plant Rye at 60 to 90 pounds to the acre. With a drill I would think you could plant at the 60 pound rate.
That is what I am doing this winter. In some pastures that volenters ryegrass every year I am drilling in 50 pounds of rye at $17.50 a bag. It will be way cheaper than hay.