Has anyone turned their front yard into pasture?

[hippygirl]

I'll preface this by saying I know absolutely ZILCH about pasture/pasture grasses...

I'd estimate my front "yard" ("clearing" is more like it) is about 5000 - 6000sf, sandy loam (a bit more sand than loam), and slopes towards the house. Currently, there is a mixture of bermuda/weeds growing (mostly weeds) with a few bare-ish patches scattered here and there. Due to the slope, there is a slight wash.

I always take the back roads as much as possible regardless of where I'm off to, so I get to see a lot of pasture, some of which is green year round and appears to be pretty lush and healthy.

If I wanted to convert my yard/clearing to pasture grass to have something green with no bare spots and a little bit of erosion control (not to graze...just for green matter), where is a good source of information online? I don't care if it's fine-bladed, coarse, or clumpy as long as it'll survive and grow in thick.

Possible? Practical? Poppycock?

Thanks in advance for your help,

HG

ETA...my equipment (that I can count on, anyway) is a tiller, asst hand rakes, and a drop spreader.

[sidepasser]

yes you can. You will need to amend the soil, and research what grasses grow well in your area. Bermuda is wonderful, hardy in the south and once started, can't hardly be killed. You can plant common bermuda (not before April as bermuda loves some warm weather!) or you can have someone sprig the hybrid bermuda.

I have planted bermuda before by just scratching up the top soil with a rake and throwing the seed out, covering it lightly and water..it came up fine. another "easy" way to get bermuda to grow is to buy a few bales of bermuda hay with the seed in. spread it about in the area you want it come up and water. The seed generally takes about 10 days to germinate. edited to add: if your soil is compacted, just scratching it up with a rake is not the best way to grow grass, it may need to be tilled up to a depth of at least 4 inches so that the roots can get established. I have also cut sections of bermuda out (like sod) and placed it right on top of the tilled soil, watered it and walked away and it grew fine. You will need to see what would work best for you in a small area first. Bermuda puts out runners so it self propogates quite easily once established.

Anyway you can find out all about planting grasses at your local extension service or just by googling - "growing pasture grasses in the south". Everything you ever wanted to know and more will come up.

Lush green grass in winter is either winter rye, or fescue most likely where you live. We have beautiful fescue pastures which love cooler weather. I don't particularly care of fescue as horses tend to abort their foals or have problems with milk with the common KY31 fescue. But growing out geldings, steers, or mares/cows not bred are just fine on it.

anyway I am at work and so just popped by to tell you yes, I have turned my front yard into a pasture and even had a few mares that I would turn out on it from time to time just to graze it down so I did not have to cut the grass. Of course my "front yard" is way, way off the road so no one could see it anyway. Might not be so great if you lived in a HOA - lol..

[FarmboyBill]

Ive been seeing a few U Tubes of people putting gardens in both the front and b ack yards.
There are ortimental looking varities of several different vegetables to make the garden area look pretty.
OR, If you wanted privacy, You could grow sweet corn in the front. Course, you couldnt see passerbys stealing it from the other side lol

[Alice In TX/MO]

My front yard in Missouri is pasture.

Talk to your local county agent about what grasses do well. Some you can over seed and not have to plow or till.

[FarmboyBill]

I tried that ONCE. Never again. Expensive lesson.

[coolrunnin]

When I was young and single I used to let the weaned calves eat the front hard down, didn't have to mow that way.

[coolrunnin]

Originally Posted by FarmboyBill

I tried that ONCE. Never again. Expensive lesson.

Why I do it every other year or so works pretty good for me!

[LittleRedHen]

No but at best i could do a half acre... which would just be trodded under by my Jersey so I leave her to small dry pen and buy in hay. Some day though if I ever downsize to dairy goats again I might do it.

[Yvonne's hubby]

I would just sow it with Kentucky 31 tall fescue, and some ladino clover.

[motdaugrnds]

The picture I'm getting of your front yard is one that slopes toward your house, permitting water to run in that direction. That, alone, is something I would want to stop.

The patches of soil without grass tells me there is something there that needs corrected.

If it were mine, I would dig samples of soil out of the bare arreas and carry it to the local agricultural department so as to find out what amendments it needs to support vegetation. At that time I would talk with the ag agent to find out what grasses would grow "year round" in your local.

When planting, I would create a barrier of sorts before that slope gets to the house that would control the water runoff, sending it on to where it would not pose problems for my home. Then, after amending your soil as to ag agent's suggestions, loosen the top soil, toss some seeds of choice over yard; then cover it all with light layer of straw to keep birds from eating the seeds. Keep it watered and enjoy.

[rambler]

I'm understanding you do not want a pasture to graze critters on.

You just want a lawn and you don't care if it is nice lawn grass, but happy with any old grass mix that will grow?

Best way is to fix your soil. Get the ph right with some lime, assuming you are in a low ph area.

Be sure you have some P and K on the soil, so your grasses grow strong for the roots and stems.

Have some N in the soil so they can grow green and lush. You can add some small clovers to your planting mix so the N will slowly be added by the clovers. This is a slow process, but will kick in in a couple years.

This will make your current grasses happy and grow well, and likely you won't need to do much more than this.

Adding some other grass seed with the clover and fertilizer and lime will help,fill in the bare patches quicker and give a more diverse 'rough lawn'.

Paul

[Maura]

I use portable el fencing when I turn the front or side yard to pasture. When they are moved off, I take off the fencing and voila, yard. The yards around the house are higher than the pasture, so in the spring I put them on the lawns just because it's higher and dryer. If we have drought, I can also move them on, and I am not averse to watering.

[Ravenlost]

We built our house on what was formerly a cow pasture. We have three acres of front yard fenced in for the dogs. I keep telling hubby to put the horses in the front yard and quit wasting gas on mowing, but he's not convinced it's a good idea.

One of these days there will be horses in my front yard...and goats in the two acre fenced in back yard!

[Gritty]

I wouldn't say our front yard is big enough to qualify as pasture, but we do rotate the sheep and llama out to the front yard, then the side yard and between their three yards. Keeps the grass down, keeps the soil happy (as long as I rake out the llama pile). I will say the front yard rotation is short...maybe 4-5 days. I threw a little extra pasture grass, fescue, clover mix last year. Probably the quail thought it was a nice, neighborly gesture---but I swear the clover content is higher.

[Elsbet]

Heck no... I mean... not usually. That's our orchard. I don't want the goats eating my trees and berry shrubs, LOL. I will graze them out there under supervision, though, occasionally.
Edited to add- I'm not saying it's a bad idea. It just won't work for us because of the orchard we are getting going. Also, my herb and flower beds, and the beehive are all in the front. I don't want the hive getting knocked over, for sure! But DH and I were talking about fencing in a large portion of the front yard that doesn't get used for anything and using it as additional pasture, maybe for a couple of sheep or something.

[hippygirl]

Thanks for the replies, everyone.

I looked up Kentucky 31 Tall Fescue and most of what I read says it doesn't do well here (long, HOT summers).

What about Bahia?

[Callieslamb]

You really don't want lawn grasses to feed your animals. The grasses are totally different. For example, lawn grasses aren't developed for quick regrowth. I've been attending pasture management seminars all winter to find out how/with what to reseed mine. I'd check into the difference in lawn bermuda and pasture bermuda. Pasture bermuda makes great hay. Seed salesmen can give you a lot of information that will really help- just sift through the info that says their seeds are the only ones to buy. Ky 31 was what I was told last night NOT to plant for horses. Cows don't gain weight on it very well and it doesn't taste very good to them either. It's tough and can take a lot of traffic so it's good around a water trough and in travel aisles. Just not as the majority of their diet.

Keeping it green all year is just mixing grass varieties. Some early green up and some warm season grasses blended together. The earlies go dormant during the heat and come back when it cools down again in the fall.

[michiganfarmer]

I would do it in a heart beat, but the wife says no.