Pasture mixes - Green Acres

   / Pasture mixes - Green Acres #1  

Zleviticus

Member
Joined
Mar 3, 2019
Messages
35
Location
Frankfort,KY
Tractor
Ford 3600
Ok this may or may not go here but i am looking for some advice. We bought some acreage and looking to take about 5-10 or so and put 2-3 beef cattle on in the next few years. Last year the field was under corn and it was late before it was harvested so it did not give much time to doing anything last year. This year it was too late to start in the spring so we disced it and put it under oats for now just to help with some of the weed control and also for erosion control as it is on a hill/slope in parts. The oats are doing well thus far. However fall will be here before we know it and i want to start planning what we will put down to start getting the pasture ready for cattle in a few years. I figure it will take that long to get things where they need to be to primarily grass feed the cattle. Plan to do rotational grazing with a few months on each quadrant and once slaughtered, a year off from grazing all together. Then start over again.

The question is what the heck should i put down? I assume a mix of fescue, alfalfa, timothy and whatever else. I am trying to go without a ton of chemicals and fertilizers.

Thoughts? Comments? Questions?
 
   / Pasture mixes - Green Acres #4  
Find someone to bale your oats for hay, not an expert but do it while the stems are still green before the grain fully heads out. A friend of mine who is a hay producer full time does it often and it sells well as cattle feed. Or let it fully develop and harvest it, but letting it go and mowing it off won't gain you much but it would be some excellent dove hunting when mowed down if the head are left to fully go to grain. Many folks commonly drill oats and sew alfalfa together with it but they are usually shooting for a hay crop.

When you do plant for pasture go at least a year of growth before grazing it, so if planted this fall don't put cattle on till at least next fall. My hay guy I spoke of told me on the latest pasture i planted to only sown my grass seed for now, control for broadleaf weeds then if I want clover of alfalfa sow it after the grass is established and weeds are controlled, both will grow by broadcasting into existing stands of grass and without drilling them in the dirt.
I have had success with the pasture graze mixes sold at farm supply stores, the one I used in my horse pastures was a mix of Timothy, Orchard Grass, Fescue, Aslike Clover, Ladino Clover and Alfalfa. While it too off and is growing well 3 years later the Timothy is dwindling out, the clover is thriving too much, the alfalfa and grasses are doing well. Now for me to control certain weeds that are mostly broadleaf I will also have to burn down the good legumes I have. I just mow often instead. Also I have been spreading out where I feed hay to my horses in a feeder that holds a little more than one square bale and I can drag it with a four wheeler or carry it with a tractor and have found the hay to kind of seed itself to a degree in different places from the waste hay that gets dropped and stomped into the ground.
 
   / Pasture mixes - Green Acres
  • Thread Starter
#5  
Find someone to bale your oats for hay, not an expert but do it while the stems are still green before the grain fully heads out. A friend of mine who is a hay producer full time does it often and it sells well as cattle feed. Or let it fully develop and harvest it, but letting it go and mowing it off won't gain you much but it would be some excellent dove hunting when mowed down if the head are left to fully go to grain. Many folks commonly drill oats and sew alfalfa together with it but they are usually shooting for a hay crop.

When you do plant for pasture go at least a year of growth before grazing it, so if planted this fall don't put cattle on till at least next fall. My hay guy I spoke of told me on the latest pasture i planted to only sown my grass seed for now, control for broadleaf weeds then if I want clover of alfalfa sow it after the grass is established and weeds are controlled, both will grow by broadcasting into existing stands of grass and without drilling them in the dirt.
I have had success with the pasture graze mixes sold at farm supply stores, the one I used in my horse pastures was a mix of Timothy, Orchard Grass, Fescue, Aslike Clover, Ladino Clover and Alfalfa. While it too off and is growing well 3 years later the Timothy is dwindling out, the clover is thriving too much, the alfalfa and grasses are doing well. Now for me to control certain weeds that are mostly broadleaf I will also have to burn down the good legumes I have. I just mow often instead. Also I have been spreading out where I feed hay to my horses in a feeder that holds a little more than one square bale and I can drag it with a four wheeler or carry it with a tractor and have found the hay to kind of seed itself to a degree in different places from the waste hay that gets dropped and stomped into the ground.

It is only about 2-3 acres of oats. We have 20+ acres of sunflower for doves (my neighbor) and i am not a dove hunting fan. LOL I planted oats because they were cheap and are more for a cover crop than anything. I needed to put something down and fairly quickly. $9 for 50# of whole oats... can't beat that.

I worry about too much clover with bloat issues. i have 3-4 years before i put anything on the pasture grazing. I don't want any animals out there until i am living out there in case something should happen. However to get a good stand i need to start this fall.
 
   / Pasture mixes - Green Acres #6  
I don't think your growing conditions are much different from mine, you're actually further north than I am so I would think anything that would work for me would work for you. I would look into whatever grasses your ag extension office recommends and it looks like you have time to get it growing well..
 
 
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