Creating my Pasture

[JohnDeere4300]

Thanks Jay.

Today, I finished the pasture and it's now up to Mother Nature to do the rest.

I bought the fertilizer and seed yesterday. The forecast all week long has been for rain today, so I've been motivated to get this done before the rain arrived. After spreading the fertilizer, I disked it in. It got dark on my last night while disking, so I just turned on the lights and kept on going. Not long after it was totally dark out, I came around by the deer feeder and saw a wild hog out in the middle of the field that I had already disked up. I kept going along my path, and when I came back again, he was still out there. Since he hadn't moved, I was questioning myself on whether it was really there or not. Then on the third pass, he was walking, but still didn't seem to care that I was there. On my fourth pass, he was still there. I told myself that if he was there the next time I swung around, I was going to the house to get my pistol and see how close I could get to him. Of course, he was gone on my fifth pass.

This morning, I finished disking the area, then spread my seed. I planted hulled bermuda seed, which is very, very small. To help spread it out, I mixed it at about ten pounds of seed with 100 pounds of kids play sand.

Then I planted peas in my food plot. I just broadcast them.

I have a drag that I made a few months ago with removable cement blocks. I wanted to remove the blocks to make it light so that it wouldn't bury the seed, but just sort of set it into the ground and smooth things out a bit. Fire ants took over the drag, so I had to deal with killing them first. Then I got to wrenching on the bar that holds the blocks in place, which was tougher then I had anticipated. I abandoned that I plan and built another light duty drag just for this out of scrap that I had laying around.

It took allot longer then I thought it would, but it's done, and that's all that matters. You cannot tell where I dug from the areas that I left undisturbed. It all ties together nicely, and to my eye, looks natural.

Eddie

Very nice job Eddie!!!

I liked the picture showing your deer blind in the background.

I'm glad to see your son wanting to help you with your projects, my son is 12 and when he isn't playing ball...he wants to be right with me working on projects.

That's some really red dirt.

Thanks for sharing another project!

Bill

 

[tugboat-2]

Hi Eddie,..and all other interested parties, Many of you are amazed at Eddie's red earth, and wondering if anything grows in it? Perhaps I should leave this for my fellow Canucks from the East Coast of Canada,..but since nobody spoke up, I will.

Of course I have no idea of the earthly-nutritional-content of red-dirt, but the Province of Prince Edward Island, Canada, is well and truly noted for at least 3 things: 1, RED headed Anne of Green Gables,(Books,TV, Movies) and 2, is it's "Bright-RED-Mud" and number 3, the World's very finest "POTATOES"

Did you ever hear the song by Cdn singer, songwriter, "Stompin Tom Connors" about a trucker haulin spuds from the bright red mud? Called "Bud-the-Spud"

Anyway, if nothing else takes Eddie, you can always try growing "Spuds"?
The very best to you-all,
. . . tug

 

[jayste]

Tug, I'll jump in with you. I had considered it before but declined. We've got some of that old red earth around here as well in central Oklahoma. Heck some of the local indian tribes have an annual event (Pow Wow) they call Red Earth. Anyway, it grows pretty good bermuda grass as well. We've got a type of native gravel around here also that we call Harjo gravel and it will dang sure grow grass. Especially if you use it for your driveway! I haven't tried growing any 'taters in it though. Got any white legged horses? They'll be stained red before you know it. Hey, by the way, Ian Tyson is another great Canadian singer-songwriter as well. I think he's from over Alberta way.

Jay

 

[EddieWalker]

Thanks for the comments. I never thought about planting potatoes. Do the deer like to eat them? My main goal is to get the grass good and thick so that it sheds water without carrying any dirt with it. All the water from the pasture will go to Lake Marabou, which is one of the reasons for this project. I was loosing acres of runoff that went the wrong direction. I also wanted the dirt for leveling out an area for my buildings and roads too.

When you guys see red dirt in the pictures, you are only getting a small sample of it. There are various shades of red, and some of it is just striking in how bright and really deep red it can be. I'm used to it, but still get surprised at how bight some of it is compared to the rest of it.

About a week ago I took this picture of the Bermuda grass coming up. These were the early shoots. Since then, it's been dry and hot out. Temps are getting into the 90's now and the dirt is dusty in areas. I've been concerned about the grass and how it will handle the dry soil. Of course, one of the very best things about clay is that it holds water better then any soil I'm familiar with. If I dig down a few inches through the hard, dry surface, it quickly changes into moist soil. For this reason, I really love my red clay soil. I also think this is why the native types of grass do so well in this area. I can go weeks or even months without rain, and the grass remains green. It will even grow without rain for that amount of time and I still have to mow it!!!!!

The picture shows an area that is doing better then other areas. Since taking that picture, the grass has actually gotten semi thick in certain areas, while the majority of it is still very thin. There are places where I have to get on my hands and knees to see the blades of grass coming up. Everywhere I look, there is grass, it's just a huge difference in how well some spots are doing to others. I'm guessing it's a combination of moisture in the soil and amendments to the soil. In time, it should all be very thick and lush.

Last night I received an inch of rain, so that should really help the grass out. It's raining again today and the forecast has jumped to 80 percent for rain tonight. All that moisture should not only help my grass, but also saturate my soil so it holds it for an extended period.

My peas are just impressing the heck out of me. I'll have to take some more pics of them. They are a wonder to see grow. It doesn't seem to matter how dry it is, they are like weeds and just keep growing!!!!!! They must be the perfect plant for my soil and conditions. Last fall I planted oats, which didn't do very well and I the deer didn't seem to have any interest in. There are deer tracks all over the peas and I'm seeing them in the deer cam pictures just about every night. I've gone months and months without getting a picture of any deer on my game cam, and now that the peas are coming in, I'm getting pictures of deer. I think this is because the peas are bringing the deer into the area, and that they like the pea plants.

I'm going to put a small cage or fence around a few of the peas to see if they grow better then the others. I've read where you can measure the amount of use by how tall the protected plants get compared to those left open to the animals to eat. Not that it matters either way, it's just something that I'm curious about. Since it' so rare to see deer around here, I'm excited by any results.

Eddie

 

[jayste]

Eddy, my bet is that grass will soon start coming on! I'm guessing that your weather conditions are a lot like ours and now that it's getting up in the 80's and 90's with moderate humidity, it's just a matter of time. BTW, have you tried any turnips along with your peas? I've got a buddy up here that says the deer won't leave his alone. He planted a deer/wildlife mixture that had both as well as other. Kind of nice to see an old whitetail for a change opposed to those old porkers, huh?

Jay

 

[tugboat-2]

Just a final from me: Yes Ian is also a rancher in Alberta as well as a fine musican, and Stompin Tom is here in Ontario not far from me. I guess the "red-dirt" is found all over North America. Obviously Eddie has some and more in Seminole and Prince Edward Island, and I've seen it in Tennessee as well as just a short ways from me in a place called Terra Cotta, Ont. (which means Red Earth) They grow various things well there so I have to assume its pretty good stuff and Eddies Peas are obviously doing well.

I personally don't have any but I sure hit it bigtime with gray, wet, slippery when wet, but concrete-hard when dry,..."CLAY" !! Took tons of it out of my lake and piled it high thinking I'd move it later. Good grief, it had turned to concrete. Right now, late spring, its still damp and I'm able to loosen it up a bit but it will soon be concrete again!

Cheers fellas,
. . . tug

 

[demoman357]

I am impressed by your determination to make it work. I have tried to help the daughter and son-in-law in Buda, TX do the same thing but run into a layer of limestone under 3 inches of topsoil. In Oregon, I have brown clay in the western part and red clay exactly like yours east of the cascade mountains. The clay does not really become saturated in the same way that loamy soil will. It does not hold as much water and the water it does hold has a hard time traveling to the surface to evaporate.

The research into native grasses may help in the places that do not grow as well. Go to a native undisturbed area close to you and harvest some local grass in shovel-depth clumps. Note the soil type, probably lots of old roots and a layer of organic material before you get to the clay. This happens over time. Take the grass to you local agricultural extension agent or someone who can identify it and then see if you can get some seed. It is not by any means the best answer but it may help. As a contractor, I often must reseed areas with the proper mix of native wild seeds to restore an area to what it looked like before construction.

We have a small 3-hole golf course that started life as a gravel pit 38 years ago. The river flooded many times into the pit (with my help) and deposited silt. The silt became about 4 foot deep after 12 years. Then we closed off the river entrance and the non-indigionous blackberries took over like crazy. We now have "old-growth" berries around the perimeter that will bog-down and capture a D4 dozer. We started mowing the interior with riding lawn mowers and the berries went away, or rather were kept at bay, and the grass came. I looked into and received 100 pounds of seed from the states watershed people for free. These programs exist and are worth navigating the murky waters to find them. After 25 years of mowing with the riders (10 acres takes about 16 hours to mow) we have a nice golf course like finish with walnut, cottenwood, willow, and locust trees. It looks better that the county park down the road. It really just took a lot of patience.

BTW - it would have been better to make ten trips that nine in the truck, yes? Clay is very heavy when wet or dry. Do not risk your life by overloading your truck. - Sorry, rantings from an old highway construction manager.

Keep you vision, years from now you will be very happy you did as you look out over your work and say to yourself "ahhhh - just what I wanted".

 

[EddieWalker]

demoman357,

Clay is a funny thing. In my area, I don't have topsoil. It's clay and then further down, it's still clay. Sometimes I hit a pocket of sand, but mostly it just turns into a different color of clay. Yellow, grey, brown and black are colors that I've come across. Grey is worthless, but the brown and black are great for holding water in a pond. The yellow is just kind of weird and so rare that I don't know what to think of it.

Of my native grasses, Bahia is the most common and what I have already growing in the other half of that pasture. It's a good warm season grass for grazing, but because of it's stalks, it's not very attractive. While I'm fine with it, and don't mind if it invades my new area, I'd prefer Bermuda grass. I like the way Bermuda grass sends out runners and ties the ground together to form a solid barrier to stop errosion. It's a great grass for grazing and it just looks nice. Of the other native grasses, none are worth mentioning and more like weeds then a grass that I'd want to have in a pasture.

I went out and looked around in the mud yesterday to see what's going on. Some areas are getting thick with new grass, other areas are still just starting to grow, and then some of it is totaly barren without any blades of grass coming out at all. I'll let it do it's thing over the summer and see what happens. When I see where nothing is growing, I'll take some soil samples and send them off to the Ag Extension to see what it needs.

As for the dump truck, it's a five yard bed that is rated for six yards with side boards. I had the sideboards on it to max out my loads when I first bought it, but had problem after problem with it. Twice I broke the lift mechinism and had to have it welded up. Each time it was a different part. I've also had to rebuild the cylinder, plus an entire list of other issues. I've taken off the side boards and only load five yards into it now. I haven't had any problems since doing this, but don't know if it's becaus I've fixed all the problems, just gotten lucky or the smaller loads are keeping me out of trouble.

Thanks for the tips. I'd love to see some pictures of your golf course. One of the things that I think of while clearing my land is what a golf course or city park looks like. I think they are very peaceful and pleasing to see, which is what I want my jungle to end up looking like.

Thanks,
Eddie

 

[mojoinco]

Lots of great stuff here -- the 'final phase' ought to be about when that youngin' is old enough to do the driving. I saw an old dumptruck in Craigslist here the other day, $2500. About the same rig, just a bit older and a Chevy. Got me to wondering what kinds of projects one could do with that (and far cheaper than a dump trailer). I was thinking (it hurt) about the stuck clay. I wonder what commercial floor wax (chow halls, etc) would do?

Well, Kalifornia is a great place to be from (me too). Permits for everything, not counting having to ask for permission and filing bonds.... I remember living in the desert and being amazed at what the bermuda would do at the hint of rain (about appropriate for the annual rain fall), and pulling the shoots out of the wall of my kids room in Santa Maria. Awful stuff to kill when you don't want it. Oh, peas are a legume (alfalfa, peanuts, etc). Green manure crops might help for areas that seem to need more attention (buckwheat, etc), and need some prepping. Also, I believe rye is a legume as well (nitrogen fixing from the air into the ground). With no chemicals, much less runoff into the lake.

Great stuff! I have had the occasional thought on an rv park. But you are getting there. Oh, love the alder appearance. Made my trim for a basement project with it -- love the colors, grain, and texture in it (finished it off with Watco clear oil/sealer).

Well, enjoy ~ it all looks fun!

 

[EddieWalker]

... I saw an old dumptruck in Craigslist here the other day, $2500. About the same rig, just a bit older and a Chevy. Got me to wondering what kinds of projects one could do with that (and far cheaper than a dump trailer). I was thinking (it hurt) about the stuck clay. I wonder what commercial floor wax (chow halls, etc) would do?...

That dump bed is going to be the death of me. I was very pleased with the results of the Hammerite paint when I first put it on. The results were just amazing. Then this past spring, when I put on a second coat, it didn't work. I won't say that it held the clay in the bed, but it sure didn't release it. Just guessing, I think that the second coat, for whatever reason, never got hard and glass-like. The clay held to it and I had to shovel it out.

The problem is the bottom of the dump bed is bent and waved to the form of the supports under it. I need to put on a new bottom that is flat and smooth. I think this is something that I can do myself, but haven't gone too far in the planning of this.

I have an issue with the breaks and loosing fluid going on right now, so that's my first concern.

I can weld on a new bottom to the existing bed, or buy a liner. From what I've read, the liners are what allot of the commercial guys use. The thing about the liners is they want a flat bottom under them. I could use plywood for this and have it done pretty quickly, and might just go that route. The liners seem simple enough and are pretty reasonable. From what I can figure, it would be about $300 to do my dump truck.

http://www.superslide.com/

I have to do something. It just kills me to spend all that time fighting with packed clay in the bed and not being able to haul as much as possilble. When it all comes out, I can really move a fair amount of dirt. When it sticks, I struggle to get anything done. With winter already hear, I need to figure this out and get it done.

If you ever think of buying an old dump truck, pay careful attention to the condition of the dump bed floor. I notice mine was a little rough, but didn't realize what that meant. After having mine for a few years now, I can understand how somebody can pay $300,000 and more for an off road dump truck.

Eddie