Seeding Pasture

[TheMan419]

No Indiana is not a backward state (at least when it comes to agriculture). Soil test will cost me $20, if I take the soil in. A bit more if I want them to come take the sample. Then you put the lime in the coconut and shake it all up.

Yes I realize that we can have good results from roundup after just an hour. I prefer to have more like 24. I have noticed much better results from the spot spraying I do that way. Loaded product for this big of a project is the only way to go.

 

[Larry Caldwell]

Unless the weed is noxious, like tansy ragwort, the horses will eat it just fine. There is no reason to convert it to nothing but grass, and there can be real advantages to mixed forb pastures. You can pug seed subterranean clover in the winter when the horses hooves will drive the seed into the ground. It's very drought tolerant and will provide summer forage when the grass has gone completely dormant. Inoculate it with rhizobium bacteria and it will fix nitrogen and help the grass grow. Chicory is another deep rooted plant that is excellent forage.

 

[TheMan419]

Unless the weed is noxious, like tansy ragwort, the horses will eat it just fine. There is no reason to convert it to nothing but grass, and there can be real advantages to mixed forb pastures. You can pug seed subterranean clover in the winter when the horses hooves will drive the seed into the ground. It's very drought tolerant and will provide summer forage when the grass has gone completely dormant. Inoculate it with rhizobium bacteria and it will fix nitrogen and help the grass grow. Chicory is another deep rooted plant that is excellent forage.

I forget the name of the weed, but there is one that is the primarily dominate weed. We actually had it tested through our vet. I cannot remember if he sent to Michigan State or Purdue, but they said it is toxic to horses. So the current paddocks we made for them we had a friend till under and they are essentially dry lots.

Pasture grass will not be a mono crop. It will have some combination of clover, a modified tall fescue, likely some rye and I forget what else. Purdue's agronomy department has a mixture they recommend. I will find something close to that or have it mixed by a seed dealer. It is designed to have something in the mix grown from spring through fall.