Recovering Pasture

[plowjockey]

I have 2.5 acre pasture that had grown wild for very many years, so it is mostly weeds.

Also, there is some very rough furrows that were either old plow furrows, left sitting, or some type of raised vegetable beds.

I'm thinking of disking it heavily in the early spring and reseeding with pasture grass. Maybe even killing what is in there.

Could it recover in time for summer grazing, or should I wait unti next fall?

[Alice In TX/MO]

Talk to the old timers at the feed store and/or your county agent. They can tell you what works for your area.

[MO_cows]

Ditto what Alice said, talk to the locals who know the soil and typical conditions in your area. Still, I would be surprised if the pasture would be ready to graze next summer. Maybe you could put in a nurse crop of oats along with the grass and cut them for feed so you still get some production from the land. Oats cut green in the milky stage makes some great hay.

[Bearfootfarm]

I'm thinking of disking it heavily in the early spring and reseeding with pasture grass. Maybe even killing what is in there.

Disk it now if it's not too wet, then again before you seed.

That will kill some of what's there and help level it also

[Beeman]

Has it been bushhogged off? If so you can frost seed it and the grass will sprout in spring. Many spread seed on top of a light snow around here.

[motdaugrnds]

A farmer out here told me it was always better to plow and/or disk in the fall so there would "not" be lumps in the ground come spring. Plowing/disking it in the spring apparently "does" leave lumps. (We have always had our done in the fall right after a spread of agricultural lime; however, we disked our garden area in the spring once and will never do it again. Trying to get a tiller over that ground for planting was terrible!)

Ditton what others have said about talking with your local ag agent. Also you would be wise to take a couple of soil samples from various places around those 2.5 acres so you will know what amendments it might need for the type of grass you want to plant.

As for grass, I can tell you what we did and why. We wanted both warm season grass as well as cool season grass that was "endophyte free"; so we divided up our 4 acres of pasture land accordingly. This way we had healthy grass growing well all year long.

[fordson major]

heavy sod like that we tend to pull out of pasture and seed a grain/forage crop on for at least a year. something like sudan would help smoother out weeds, drought resistant but does not like frost!! also feeds heavy on nitrogen!!

[anniew]

Get a soil test, especially pH. If it is way off, it will prefer to grow weeds...some weeds can indicate what the pH level is (goldenrod means too acidic)...

[rambler]

New seeds will need a year to take hold and establish themselves. Planting in spring & trying to graze in mid summer already will do a lot of damage, grass & legume plants are slow seedlings, take a lot of time to establish.

In a northern climate, spring tillage is a poor choice. You shoulda worked it up before it froze up this fall. Spring tillage appears to work in southern climates, but is a poor thing up north in our short growing seasons.

Woulda been nice to brush hog it this Sept or earlier, and see what grows through - sometimes all the good grasses need is less weeds and the grasses will return by spring.

A concern with wedy pasture is soil ph in some locations,as mentioned, be real good to know that situation.

Many times one can bring a pasture back with little tillage or seed; just get the ph right & and throw a few legumes on, lighly disk - real lighty - and mow it for a year every 30 days, keep the weeds down & the grasses will come back.

You have the rough ground tho, want to till I'm sure.

--->Paul

[agmantoo]

Break the ground the first chance you get in an attempt level it. With the PH correct, plant corn at the earliest date permissible.
sow clover, by hand if necessary, between the rows again as early as possible. Divide the 2 1/2 acres in paddocks. Once the corn is knee high or so start grazing the paddocks and only give the animal access to small areas at a time and then rotate them off. Make the corn last as long as possible and supplement the corn with a little hay as necessary. By early Fall be ready to plant the grass by letting the cattle walk the seed in. Pull the animals and keep them off the pasture until the grass develops a true root system. Permanent pasture is best not grazed the year of establishment.

[Rusty'sDog]

Disking across the furrows will help even them out. It is probably too late this year, but if you plan to let it lay fallow over winter, you should disk it before the fall rains. This brings the clods to the surface and they get thoroughly soaked. Once they get a few freezes, they will break themselves up, saving you several passes of the tractor.

I would allow your pasture to reseed itself and have at least a second generation of seed before turning the livestock loose on it. Otherwise, you will need to reseed every year, and nothing will be able to establish a good root system. You will lose too much good soil and work every winter.

[Maura]

Disc to even it out. You may not have to seed. We disced only. This took care of the golden rod and some other things, and encouraged clover and grass. If you need to disc it a second time, then so do it. See what grows before seeding, you may find you don't need to seed, or that you need a different seed than you thought.

[camp10]

We have a similar situation and had it disked this past fall and planted with oats. Next year, we'll harvest the oats, disk it again, and then plant it with pasture grasses.

Why the oats? The agent recommended something that would 'break the cycle'.

[Sammy]

Originally Posted by camp10

We have a similar situation and had it disked this past fall and planted with oats. Next year, we'll harvest the oats, disk it again, and then plant it with pasture grasses.

Why the oats? The agent recommended something that would 'break the cycle'.

And your location is ?

It will make a difference as to what you said.

[oregon woodsmok]

If there is nothing toxic growing, I'd just put the cattle on it and let them clean it up.

If there is a good strong plant base, you could top seed with some good pasture grass.

I would not plow and plant and put stock on it the first year. If the grass doesn't have time to really get some roots down, the stock will pull it up by the roots.

If the furrows aren't too bad, they'll get leveled out with cattle walking on them.

[Bearfootfarm]

If the furrows aren't too bad, they'll get leveled out with cattle walking on them.

He never said what animals he'd be pasturing

[plowjockey]

Originally Posted by Bearfootfarm

He never said what animals he'd be pasturing

Sheep will be eating out there.

During the 2010 dry summer, they had things (lots of weeds and grass), pretty much nibbled down to the ground. Just wanted to make what ever is growing there, is the most productive for them to eat.

I can't tear it up to the point of where they cannot graze it this summer.

Maybe I'll just patch and re-seed in sections, a bit at a time.

[am1too]

Originally Posted by motdaugrnds

A farmer out here told me it was always better to plow and/or disk in the fall so there would "not" be lumps in the ground come spring. Plowing/disking it in the spring apparently "does" leave lumps. (We have always had our done in the fall right after a spread of agricultural lime; however, we disked our garden area in the spring once and will never do it again. Trying to get a tiller over that ground for planting was terrible!)

Ditton what others have said about talking with your local ag agent. Also you would be wise to take a couple of soil samples from various places around those 2.5 acres so you will know what amendments it might need for the type of grass you want to plant.

As for grass, I can tell you what we did and why. We wanted both warm season grass as well as cool season grass that was "endophyte free"; so we divided up our 4 acres of pasture land accordingly. This way we had healthy grass growing well all year long.

So what did you plant?

[Maura]

Sheep won't level the pasture. This doesn't sound like a problem on pasture, but it can be. One of my ewes got stuck on her back during lambing because she ended up in the shallow of one of those furrows. Thank goodness I'd gone out there to check on another ewe or she would have stayed there on her back.