Pictures from a skid steer mowing contractor

[paulsharvey]

Is the winter rye grass for grazing livestock? We buy a sack and spread it around our yard for green grass in winter, but I heard somewhere that it will cause issues with our horses if they eat it. Something about their gut turning from it and killing them, but I don't remember the details. I've just been afraid to put it out where they can get to it.

Not a horse person, but I've been told that if yiu put cattle on a pure winter rye field early in the spring, it will clean their system out, and the patties will be much thinner. The old timers, right or wrong, thought it cleaned worms and stuff out too, from winter lots

 

[Lineman North Florida]

Is the winter rye grass for grazing livestock? We buy a sack and spread it around our yard for green grass in winter, but I heard somewhere that it will cause issues with our horses if they eat it. Something about their gut turning from it and killing them, but I don't remember the details. I've just been afraid to put it out where they can get to it.

It is, this customer has a small herd of cattle ( around 20 head ) she has never planted any winter pasture but she buys so much hay and range pellets to get her cows thru the winter and I have shown her what I do with winter rye and how cost effective is verses just feeding hay. Green rye or oats will make cows loose but when rotated off of rye fields and fed hay every other day it is not a problem, some people even leave cows on green fields for weeks at a time without issues, as far as horses on rye or green fields, I have owned horses all of my life and have put them on green fields once mature all winter and never once had a problem, I do call them up and feed them a little sweet feed every afternoon.

 

[EddieWalker]

Currently I have 8 cows on my other farm that's 60 miles from where I live. The neighbor has let them on his 130 acres to help keep the grass down. It's a win win for me, but my goal is to bring them here and not have to drive 60 miles to see them.

My biggest reason to wait longer on bringing them here is feed. With the 130 acres, plus my 40 acres, they barely touch a bale of hay.

I live on 68 acres, but only 27 are fenced. Of that 27, I'm lucky if a quarter of it is pasture. And this time of the year, it's pretty much eaten by my 4 horses and 90 goats.

The horses and goats eat a 5 1/2 foot round bale every two weeks. This is very good quality, high protein hay that I paid $80 each for them to be delivered.

I don't know what it costs to put Rye Grass out over a big area. I've just spread it around my house with a plastic square seed spreader thing that I crank by hand. A 25 pound sack is rated to cover 5,000 square feet, and costs $45. The math doesn't make sense to me to spread it over enough area to feed my animals. What am I missing?

 

[paulsharvey]

Currently I have 8 cows on my other farm that's 60 miles from where I live. The neighbor has let them on his 130 acres to help keep the grass down. It's a win win for me, but my goal is to bring them here and not have to drive 60 miles to see them.

My biggest reason to wait longer on bringing them here is feed. With the 130 acres, plus my 40 acres, they barely touch a bale of hay.

I live on 68 acres, but only 27 are fenced. Of that 27, I'm lucky if a quarter of it is pasture. And this time of the year, it's pretty much eaten by my 4 horses and 90 goats.

The horses and goats eat a 5 1/2 foot round bale every two weeks. This is very good quality, high protein hay that I paid $80 each for them to be delivered.

I don't know what it costs to put Rye Grass out over a big area. I've just spread it around my house with a plastic square seed spreader thing that I crank by hand. A 25 pound sack is rated to cover 5,000 square feet, and costs $45. The math doesn't make sense to me to spread it over enough area to feed my animals. What am I missing?

Seed rate goes Way down when drilled, 30-80# per acre. Winter wheat, or what it seems is starting to get popular, Triticale, are also other options.

 

[Lineman North Florida]

Currently I have 8 cows on my other farm that's 60 miles from where I live. The neighbor has let them on his 130 acres to help keep the grass down. It's a win win for me, but my goal is to bring them here and not have to drive 60 miles to see them.

My biggest reason to wait longer on bringing them here is feed. With the 130 acres, plus my 40 acres, they barely touch a bale of hay.

I live on 68 acres, but only 27 are fenced. Of that 27, I'm lucky if a quarter of it is pasture. And this time of the year, it's pretty much eaten by my 4 horses and 90 goats.

The horses and goats eat a 5 1/2 foot round bale every two weeks. This is very good quality, high protein hay that I paid $80 each for them to be delivered.

I don't know what it costs to put Rye Grass out over a big area. I've just spread it around my house with a plastic square seed spreader thing that I crank by hand. A 25 pound sack is rated to cover 5,000 square feet, and costs $45. The math doesn't make sense to me to spread it over enough area to feed my animals. What am I missing?

Eddie I suspect you are putting out rye grass, I put in Cereal Rye which this year the cost is $16.80 per 50# bag of wrens Abruzzi type, fertilizer is running about $400 per ton so at a rate of 250lbs per acre your looking at $66.80 per acre + diesel cost to drill in winter pasture, pretty cost efficient really.

 

[paulsharvey]

Don't know the economics, but there are people online who seem to be going, a winter annual cold season, and Sudan sorghum summer, and yielding far far more pounds of fodder than a traditional perennial grass. Of coarse, with added cost of seed, drilling, and with added pounds taken off, the need for added pounds put back on, in fertilizer. I'm sure this method is Highly dependent on your local rain fall, soil type, moisture holding, ect. I also don't know the nutrition, other than Sudan can be dangerous to horses in large quantity, or atleast pregnant horses.

 

[Lineman North Florida]

Don't know the economics, but there are people online who seem to be going, a winter annual cold season, and Sudan sorghum summer, and yielding far far more pounds of fodder than a traditional perennial grass. Of coarse, with added cost of seed, drilling, and with added pounds taken off, the need for added pounds put back on, in fertilizer. I'm sure this method is Highly dependent on your local rain fall, soil type, moisture holding, ect. I also don't know the nutrition, other than Sudan can be dangerous to horses in large quantity, or atleast pregnant horses.

I have planted Sudan several times for additional summer forage and tonnage wise it is superior to most any types of millet, but I have always been told to never allow any livestock to graze it after a frost as it will be extremely high in nitrates.

 

[Gregster613]

Back at it, I no-till drilled a couple of different fields with winter rye for a customer yesterday and fertilized some rye fields today, I checked the field that I put in winter oats last week and they are coming up and looks like I am going to have a good stand, I'll try to get some pictures next time I go.View attachment 2022494View attachment 2022495View attachment 2022496View attachment 2022497View attachment 2022498

Good pictures, as usual. I'm sure glad to hear you're "back at it" and recovery is commencing fine after your scare with the stroke! Looking forwards to a "long" series of excellent pictures and descriptions of what's happening in your neck of the woods. Stay strong!!

 

[Lineman North Florida]

Good pictures, as usual. I'm sure glad to hear you're "back at it" and recovery is commencing fine after your scare with the stroke! Looking forwards to a "long" series of excellent pictures and descriptions of what's happening in your neck of the woods. Stay strong!!

Thank you for the encouraging words. Charlie.

 

[EddieWalker]

Eddie I suspect you are putting out rye grass, I put in Cereal Rye which this year the cost is $16.80 per 50# bag of wrens Abruzzi type, fertilizer is running about $400 per ton so at a rate of 250lbs per acre your looking at $66.80 per acre + diesel cost to drill in winter pasture, pretty cost efficient really.

Thanks. That's where I was confused. There is a seed company in Tyler that I bought some Bermuda seed from before, but I never thought about looking into rye grass.

East Texas Seed Company

easttexasseedcompany.com

According to their website, they have several options to chose from. It also says that the time to plant here was back in October.

I'll have to remember this and see if it's a good option for next year.