First timer- field prep for field grass

[DJ54]

If ever you need to reseed the Timothy, check out Tuukka Timothy. Supposedly produces 110% more then the old standby, Climax.

That is to be seen here, as I seeded my small hayfield here with it. I converted about 25% of my hayfield to pasture, so trying to regain that back through a higher yielding crop.

 

[jenkinsph]

The seed has been picked paid for and now needs to be mixed, We ended up buying a 25 lb. bag of thisView attachment 314337
28lbs. of OrchardGrass Paiute
25lbs. of Climax Timothy.

The plan is to mix the three bags of seed together and use the pto driven seeder. Seeding the main field and then switching to the wifes horse field and then if some seed is left doing the small tilled area also.. the spreader lbs. per acre varies quite a bit depending on which seed is being broadcast.. so it will be an approximation for sure...but by the application lbs. per acre should be plenty.

We decided on the majority seed being the Timothy and Paiute after talking to the farmer we get our round bales from ( he grows his hay about a mile from our place) and the horses love his hay mix and according to him this is what grows best in this particular area..
I spent the afternoon dragging fields and got our lawn tractor and water filled roller ready if needed to pack the seed.
So if everything goes well and no other interruptions come up ( been a few lately) should be seeded and packed tommorrow. :thumbsup::drink: HOPE I am not forgetting anything...

Is this seed starting to sprout yet? Been almost three weeks.

 

[AKfish]

Yeah, any early signs of success??

Still cold up here... patches of snow scattered around the fields and frost boils still coming up on the gravel roads. Slow, late; drawn out Spring in Alaska. Fertilizer and lime haven't been delivered yet. That's just fine - no way could I put it on the fields.

AKfish

 

[sd455dan]

Is this seed starting to sprout yet? Been almost three weeks.

Well it is but I think I screwed up.

I packed the soil with the log mounted under the Gannon box blade (1000lbs + log weight).

Then spread the seed, and packed again with a water filled roller behind a lawn tractor.
We didn't get any rain for about 2 weeks....

I decided to see how packed the soil was and standing on a regular shovel it wouldn't penetrate even a half inch!!

Soooo what I probably should have done after packing with the log , is to have taken either the disc and turned maybe the top inch- and then seeded, then packed or used the landscape rake and then seeded, then roller packed the seed.

Anyway it did start to grow and here's the main field tonight and here's the wifes horses area it only got the remaining seed and only one pass with the log to pack it.

One thing is for sure -the horses are going to have a hard time pulling up any clods, and so far I haven't seen any signs at all of Knapweed so that's a very good thing:thumbsup:

 

[jenkinsph]

Dan,
Looks pretty good, you might be better off using the water roller and skipping the boxblade/log. I find that in most cases I can harrow, seed it, harrrow to cover and then roll it with good results.

 

[sd455dan]

hello everyone It has been a couple months, the field grew in pretty well-no sign of the Knapweed-, some other weeds did come up but since no weed control chemicals were used- kind of had to expect some...

Anyway after the field grew tall and the grass had mature seeds, the horses would only eat the short stuff, something about the texture of the tall growing grass??

So we decided to just ruff cut the field with the rotary cutter (on a high setting) , here's how it looks tonight and in the treed area (used the rider set as high as it would cut) hoping the grass will re-seed where it falls.. and the horses have had a lot more grass to eat from the field.

The main purpose of controlling the Knapweed seems successful Thanks again everyone for all the help

 

[Wagtail]

Anyway after the field grew tall and the grass had mature seeds, the horses would only eat the short stuff, something about the texture of the tall growing grass??

Thanks for keeping us posted. Horses are funny creatures when it comes to the length of grass that they will eat. They'll 'lawn' one area and won't touch another taller area, yet if you slash the untouched area to about 5" they go "WOW, where did all that grass come from?!" It could be that they feel instictively uncomfortable grazing where they can't spot a predator whilst their head is down.

I've been preparing to do the same preparations on half of my paddocks in the Spring (it's Winter here now). I'm scheduled for 2 tons per acre of non-superphosphate lime over the whole property, then it's time to do what you've done. I'll repeat the process on the second half next year. Going to go with a Horse Blend of phalaris, winter-active fescue or ryegrass and some cocksfoot.