Renovating pasture and moving to rotational grazing

Up North
no temporary fencing here, too rough. So if there are problem areas we will bunch the cattle and hold them loose for 4 or 5 hours (good work for a young horse) then let them graze away. I might do it again a week later, then wait and see results after winter.

Thanks for all the responses! There is a lot to digest there! One question off the top of my head, how do find what grows best here? I've been watching our pasture really closely the past 2 years and everyone else's here close to us. Our next door neighbor has a hay field of at least 40 acres next to our property. He usually gets 3 cuttings on it in a typical summer but only 2 the last 2 years. Then he runs his bred heifers on it in the winter until they have their calves and then trucks them back to the rest of his ranch. He has rye grass in the spring and then mixed and I mean mixed weeds, all sorts of grass and whatever else, the rest of the summer. He fertilizes once in the winter and that's it.
In our pasture we've seeded rye and bermuda and I can't say as I really like either. In our garden plot we get all sorts of stuff that comes up like orchard grass, but I don't recognize anything else. We run the pigs on it in the winter. What we were thinking about doing was plotting off areas, running the pigs on them and then putting out some sort of mixed seed to see what would come up and do well. Problem is I have no idea where to find mixed seed. I've seen people post about buying bags of seed for horses or sheep that have a mix of pasture seeds. I would love to find something like that. We've also put out clover but it hasn't taken off at all which I'm sure is probably either bad timing or poor soil.
I know I'm probably not giving you much to work with here, sorry! But I appreciate your advice. I will try to hunt down the books mentioned also.

Patt,
You are in zone 7, is that correct? You mentioned you see orchard grass in your area. Do you see any fescue? What are the most common trees in your area? What is the typical annual rainfall? Have you ever done a soil sample to determine the PH?

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Agmantoo
If they can do it,
you know you can!

Yes we are in zone 7. We have some fescue but it's usually around spring and fall. I've been looking at pictures of different plants all this year on the internet trying to figure out what we have. Right now we have green stuff about 1 inch tall from being cropped down too short. We got some good rain the last couple of days and the cows are off so hopefully we'll be able to get an idea of what we have over the next month or so.
We haven't done a ph sample, we'll get that done.
We have mostly oaks in the pasture but we also have persimmons, pines, cedars, sweetgums, and some weird thorn trees with thorns about 4-5 inches long that we are trying to eradicate.

Patt - Seek the work of Frenchman Andre Voison on rotational grazing.

agmantoo how big are your paddocs and how many head are we talking

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Don't complain, just do it

Patt,
I am of the opinion that your soils are acidic and that pine trees grow readily and that you will have rhododendrons and azeleas that flourish. That being the case you will need lime. It is near impossible to rebuild a pasture while cattle are permitted to roam. Orchard grass makes for decent forage but it is cannot be depended upon to produce every year. I strongly suggest that you buy Ky31 fescue and prepare a seed bed to where you can get the seed slightly covered by soil. You need to plant this Fall in order to get the roots established for grazing next Spring. I personally do not like drilled seed as the rows will remain prominent for years. A light scratching of the topsoil with a finishing disc then broadcasting the seed and running the disc a final time over the seeded area is my preference. Do not plant the clover at this time. I would consider interplanting a cereal grain with the fescue to function as a nurse crop until the fescue is established. You can sow the clovers in March/April by simply broadcasting the seed. Fescue is the most tolerant and least demanding forage that I am aware that can be grown on marginal land or improved soils. It adapts to adversity.

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Agmantoo
If they can do it,
you know you can!

When is the best time to apply lime if you also need to reseed?

Lime will have to be out as long as 6 months to start observing the results. It usually takes more lime than one anticipates but liming is necessary if the PH is not correct. With the correct PH you can then see the results of the fertilizer. I just placed an order for 300 tons of lime. Check with you local sewage processing plant. They sometimes have lime that is still useful even after they have finished with it and that lime is cheap eventhough you have to use more of it.

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Agmantoo
If they can do it,
you know you can!