replanting field for Timothy Hay

[scesnick]

I have a 15+ acre field that I would like to start baling. Especially since the price of hay skyrocketed in the past two years. This particular field is a nice smooth field but it is growing everything but a something worth baling. I would like to replant it with either timothy or alfalfa ( anything a good for a horse actually) Is there any way to get this field to grow something worth while without plowing the whole field ? i.e. a no plow/ no till kind of forrage grass?

 

[farmerjim]

whats the field look like now? overgrown w/ brush or just weeds. you could have someone come in and spray it w/ a commercial grade roundup then no till in your forage grass. but be careful if doing that as some weeds may come back. i know the feeling about "ruining" a nice smooth field, but i think i would plow whatever's there under and plant a nice cover crop of buckwheat and let that grow a season then plow it under for green manure and get a nice fresh seed bed going them plant that w/ my forage product. just a thought, i would also contact the local ag extension and see what they recommend. good luck,jim

 

[scesnick]

The field right now is just various weeds and wild strawberries, etc.. with a bit of timothy in it but not much. I brush hog it once a year, usually around the end of July.

 

[WTA]

I'm not too sure how well Bermuda would do in your area but it sure grows good here. I had to hand seed about that many acres 2 years ago because I couldn't find a grass drill in time but it's making my tractor payment for me now and feeding my horses through the year. The seed keeps blowing over in my alfalfa too and coming up where I don't want it. Bermuda isn't had to grow here! I know most of my family in your area grow timothy and orchard grass though. I'm not sure how you are supposed to plant it but I would assume for the best stand you want to get rid of all the competition first and plow. Then make a good firm seedbed just like for any other kind of grass.

 

[ToadHill]

Go to your local feed place and get a pasture mix that is made up for your area. What works well in New York won't be any good in Texas.

 

[blueriver]

Just a thought ... and I know different parts of the country call for different practices.

A few years ago I rented some ground, my first thought was to plow, disc, etc ... then the old boy I rented from advised me that there is plenty of good grass in there! In the spring I hit it with Liquid fertilizer and a pint to the acre of Grazon.(sp?) He was right and nothing more than good maintaince has kept it growing well!

Good luck and let us know what you end up doing!

 

[scesnick]

What exactly is a grass drill? and will it work for what I want to do?

 

[Farmwithjunk]

Call your County Ag extention office. They'll know regional practices, possibly have access to rental seed drill, give accurate advice on planting dates, recommend species of grass, even suggest where to buy it. While you have their attention, get info on soil testing through them. You can get all sorts of advice off the internet. Very seldom will it be accurate for your locale and soil conditions.

 

[WTA]

A grass drill is like a wheat drill, the big machines you may have seen farmers planting winter wheat with, except it has much smaller openings in it and lower feed rates for small grass seeds. There are lots of different kinds. I modified my wheat drill to handle fluffy seeds like bluestem just by adding some baffles and making new covers for the feeds on it. It works pretty good. When I planted my bermuda though, I crept around the field on a windy day on my old super C and threw it into the wind while I was dragging a pipe behind me to cover it lightly. Us poor folk learn to make do with what we got. Now I got a new tractor with AC and a cab so if I ever do it again I may have to tie my kid to the hood with a sac full of seed.

Oh, the ag extension office told me to plant that bermuda in June but I did it the first week of april and was grazing my horses in June. They said it wouldn't grow till then. I think it's best to go by what the seed dealer tells you. If he is wrong at least you can get a piece of him for telling you wrong and ruining your crop. Grass seed ain't cheap! My dealer said plant it in April if I can irrigate it and get it up fast. That's what I did. Not many people around here grow giant bermuda so I can't really blame the ag extension office for being wrong most of the time when I ask them stuff. A Doctor at TTU told me a different way to fertilize than they did too. All of her research is on bermuda for hay crops like mine. Just do all the research you can is my point. Everyone has different points of view and some are better than others.

We did have a little Bermuda pasture in southern Pa. It grew great but the growing season was shorter. I get 6 cuttings a year here. I could have got 7 this year if I didn't turn the horses out on it when I did. I only got 3-4 cuttings in Pa. We got 4-5 on the timothy though out there. Timothy burns out too easy down here. I wish I could grow it. It's good grass.

 

[Robert_in_NY]

Depending on what you want to do there are a few ways to look at this. If you spray the field and kill everything and plow it under you can work the field nice and smooth and have a good base for a new field. Do the soil test and such and talk to people in your area about what varieties grow well in your area and soil (soil type will make a huge difference with some plants). If you ground needs a lot of lime you can incorporate some of it into the soil while discing. But get a nice seed bed and plant and then maintain it properly.

Now if your field is perfectly flat and isn't rutted up or have a lot of ditches running all over then you can just kill whats on top and see about renting a no till drill from your county (a lot of county ag departments rent no till drills as it is good for preventing erosion and such). If you are going with Alfalfa you will probably want to plow the ground but if you go with a grass you can get by with a no till route.

Either way, talk to someone in your area that knows this type of stuff. You can pull your own soil samples but if you don't know what type of ground you have you will want to look at the soil maps and find out (your county ag department should have soil maps). Alfalfa is a finicky crop and if you have clay you will not want to plant Alfalfa as the clay is hard for the Alfalfa roots to grow well and you need good root systems for good Alfalfa. Also, if you ground doesn't drain well you won't want to plant alfalfa as too much water will drown it. Your ag department will be able to tell you what types and varieties you will want to consider planting as different varieties of the same plant are better suited for different conditions.

What I do is I ask Cornell their thoughts on what I am proposing, then I ask my county ag agents and then I ask a couple local farmers that I am friends with. I then do what my farmer friends tell me