pasture question

[bigdadychef]

have four jersey steers one at 4 months 3 at 2 months the question is i live in michigan. the pasture i feel has way to much clover last people to live here had horses.any ideals what to do to reduce clover and increase other grasses and best time to do this thanks any imput would help

thxs bigdadychef

[woodspirit]

Clover isn't really very good for horses. It is better for beef and dairy. You should strive to keep it less than 30% of your pasture mix. You could overseed it with pasture grasses to reduce the ratio. Some people use herbicides to selectively kill clovers and broadleaf weeds with chemicals like dicamba and 2-4-D. I wouldn't personally. I know that 2-4-D has been linked to testicular cancer and tumors on the belly of dogs and cats that have been exposed to lawns treated with it. Mainly because the chemicals tend to be concentrated on that part of animals. Now I'm sure that some will say that it is safe to walk on by kids and animals after it is dry but I also know that it is impossible to get out of a sprayer once it is in it. You can't wash it out with gasoline or alcohol even. I sold it for over twenty years. Would I use it on any part of my property? Not in a million years. You could also change the ph of your soil to favor grasses over clover by lowering the ph.Another thing to consider is that red clover doesn't have a very long life. Only a few years. White clover is a little more persistant.

[pygmywombat]

Clover is a nitrogen fixer- means that your pasture is probably lacking and as the levels go up the grasses will start outdoing the clovers. In the meantime I would overseed by hand after the firt few frosts when the ground starts heaving up a bit.

[woodspirit]

yes its true that clover can fix its own nitrogen from the air. It should be inoculated when it gets planted for best results in fixing nitrogen. However the fact that you have clover does not mean that your soil is lacking in
nitrogen.
Nitrogen is a very unstable element. It is most abundant in a gaseous form. I believe it is nonexistant in its liquid form on earth except of course when humans make it. We use it to keep cattle semen in a very deep freeze. As well as other uses. In its solid form it is most unstable. We are actually nitrogen breathing animals since it is the most abundant gas in the atmosphere. Most nitrogen fertilizer is fixed from the atmosphere. When you open a bag of fertilizer you smell the nitrogen escaping from its solid form back into a gas. That is why it is always recommended to water it in right away so that you get maximum benefit for your plants.
So if you fertilize your pasture the grasses will grow faster than if you didn't fertilize. At least for 30 to 60 days.

[uncle Will in In.]

If it's medium red clover, it will gradually keep getting thinner, and the grass will get thicker.

[unioncreek]

We always seeded pastures with 50% orchard and 50% Ladino clover. We always took it off as hay first and then pastured it. I would leave it in and put your cows on it for an hour or two the first time and make sure that they are full before doing it. We always fed some hay to fill them up so they wouldn't eat as much. Also when you first put them in the pasture make sure there is no dew or rain on the leaves as this increases the chance of bloat.

Bobg