Planting grass seed in a pasture

[GamblerAcres]

So my question isn't exactly about hay but I figure all you hay experts know a thing or two about planting grass in a pasture.

I have about 4 acres which have been completely decimated by horses. The pasture is flat, clay rich soil which holds water and takes a long time to dry out, even in the warm summer months of southwest ohio. Drainage is horrible and I'm sure it's pretty well compacted from the horses. Because of these conditions the horses have turned this grazing pasture into a giant mud lot.

It was used for hay by a local farmer before we moved in so I know it can grow grass. I have a Kubota MX5200 w/fel and a box blade but no planting related attachments.

My question is, assuming the horses are removed, what's the easiest/cheapest way to plant new grass? Is there a single, do-it-all implement I can rent?

 

[Jerry/MT]

So my question isn't exactly about hay but I figure all you hay experts know a thing or two about planting grass in a pasture.

I have about 4 acres which have been completely decimated by horses. The pasture is flat, clay rich soil which holds water and takes a long time to dry out, even in the warm summer months of southwest ohio. Drainage is horrible and I'm sure it's pretty well compacted from the horses. Because of these conditions the horses have turned this grazing pasture into a giant mud lot.

It was used for hay by a local farmer before we moved in so I know it can grow grass. I have a Kubota MX5200 w/fel and a box blade but no planting related attachments.

My question is, assuming the horses are removed, what's the easiest/cheapest way to plant new grass? Is there a single, do-it-all implement I can rent?

See if you can find a local farmer who has tillage equipment to plow and disk it and prepare a seed bed. Maybe even seed it for you. No sense investing in equipment that you don't intend to use regularly especially on just 4 acres. What's your plan to keep horses from damaging it again?

 

[Trillium Farm]

How many horse on those 4 acres? If you have more than 1 per acre you'll be redoing this again. You have to manage your pastures by letting it lay fallow and recover, if not the result is mud, also consider adding birdsfoot trefoil to the mix as it withstand trampling and water and will add nitrogen thereby helping the grass.

 

[Oldoak]

Some how or another you are going to have to work that ground up. At a minimum, disk it. Plowing first would be much better. Then the cheapest way is to spread fertilizer with a 3 point hitch cyclone spreader. It is also the cheapest way to seed it although not the most efficient way. Then drag it with chain harrows or a even a section of chain link fencing to help cover the seed. Again, not the most efficient method, but the cheapest way and it does work. When going that route apply more seed than the recommended seeding rate. Allowing that some seed will not be properly covered or compacted sufficiently for it to germinate.

Soil testing and applying lime if needed is a good idea too.

In the long run, Jerry's reply of possibly having a neighboring farmer with all the right equipment plant it for you would be the best way and possibly at a very reasonable price. Years ago, when I planted a few acres corn each year for the wildlife, my good neighbor would plant it at the same time he was planting his own ground.

 

[dieselscout80]

Some county extension offices have no till drills to rent. I would get a soil test before doing anything to know what line a fertilizer you need.

That said I think 4 horses on 4 acres is two to many unless you are feeding hay year around.

 

[rgr33]

Lots of good info on this already, but when I replanted my pasture this is what I did:

Killed off all existing weeds and undesirable grass with Roundup

Plowed field

Disked a lot

Seeded heavily with the specific pacture grass seed I wanted for my cattle

Dragged lightly with an old cyclone gate

Pray for rain.

Test soil every year or two. Add lime and fertilizer, as needed

I cross fenced my pasture, so that I could rest it a bit, and also do weed control and watering, when cows were on the other half. Having a 4 acre pasture, I would think 2 horses would be ok, more than that, and you may never be able to keep a good healthy pasture for your livestock.

 

[LouNY]

Have a neighbor do it, I would also try to have it deep ripped or run a sub soiler thru
when the ground is good and dry.
Deep ripping or sub soiling when the ground is to wet can actually increase the compaction
in the ground.

 

[super55]

Big question is do you have a place to keep the horses off if you do a complete pasture restore and for how long or are you looking more along the lines of overseeding?

I would say a complete pasture renovation would require the horses to be off it for a minimum of 3 months.

 

[LouNY]

When we do a pasture reseed we try to take the grass hay off it the first year some times two and keep cows off for at least a year, two works better to get the roots established.

 

[Fallon]

Some county extension offices have no till drills to rent. I would get a soil test before doing anything to know what line a fertilizer you need.

That said I think 4 horses on 4 acres is two to many unless you are feeding hay year around.

They do here in Colorado. But it was booked until May when I looked into it around this time of year.

I tilled up 3 acres with a subsoiler & rototiller. Broadcast seed then drug it with a fence panel. Packed it down with the tractor tires. Grass came in well in most places. Ended up a bit ruff if I drive across it against the grain I packed it down.

I keep thinking about getting a reservation in early to use the no-till drill to re-seed the back couple acres. It wasnt overgrazed like the front, but needs help in some areas.

 

[goeduck]

also consider adding birdsfoot trefoil to the mix as it withstand trampling and water and will add nitrogen thereby helping the grass.

Does anyone know of a non invasive grass that withstands livestock reasonably well.

 

[NTG]

Completely ignorant suggestion here, but if your fences are "pig tight" could you get you a couple feeder pigs and let them rip it up for you? Sell them or butcher them at the end of the season and your field is plowed and fertilized. Don't know if that'd work, but just an idea.

 

[sixdogs]

If the ground is reasonably flat and still has pockets of grass here and there you can just broadcast seed and most of it will take. That's if you do it now while it's still freezing and thawing. I've done it for years on both nice lawns and back acres that were either fields or just old lawns. You can use one of the 50lb sized "organ grinder" seeders like an Earthway brand for around $100. I've done many hundreds of acres like this over the years and farmers in the 1950's and '60 did it all the time. Ohio State Univ has lots of info online about winter seeding so you can research it.

If it's a former horse field there will be lots of dormant grass seeds in the manure and buried so they will come up in time. I'd start with a perennial rye if it's just a field and maybe add a smaller amount of another variety maybe next year. Put on the maximum suggested rate. I'd also spray the weeds out with 2,4-D in the fall and make sure to fertilize heavily in the fall. Maybe 250-300 lbs to the acre of 32-4-10 or even 19-19-19 a week or two before Thanksgiving. You can do it with a small rotary push spreader and get your fertilizer if there's a Heritage Fertilizer plant nearby.

All this isn't ideal but it solves the problem without a lot of work and if luck is on your side you'll get a good stand.

 

[kthompson]

You need to get drainage taken care of first. As has been said subsoiler at right depth could be all that is needed. You can use shovel to dig down a couple of feet and see if there is a hardpan preventing water moving down through the soil and if so might solve the water issue. You may need to install underground drain tile or ditching.

If your box blade has rippers on it that probably will do all you need to get grass seed in well enough to grow. Grass reseeds on it's own naturally by dropping seed on the ground and it grows rather well. I have over seeded winter rye on lawn grass often by just broadcasting it and it does well. You make small grooves with rippers or disk blades cutting say two inches or so will open ground well enough for such as oats or wheat to come up well.

 

[quicksandfarmer]

Completely ignorant suggestion here, but if your fences are "pig tight" could you get you a couple feeder pigs and let them rip it up for you? Sell them or butcher them at the end of the season and your field is plowed and fertilized. Don't know if that'd work, but just an idea.

My experience with pigs is that when they root they remove organic material and compact the soil. What they leave behind is inhospitable to all but the hardiest weeds.

 

[Jerry/MT]

Does anyone know of a non invasive grass that withstands livestock reasonably well.

What exactly do you mean by "...withstands livestock reasonably well..."? All pastures require intelligent management to remain viable in a grazing situation.

Orchard grass, non-harmful endophyte fescue, as well as bent grass along with some clover would work well as the Puget Sound country . Timothy is good but doesn't withstand grazing pressure very well. Consult with your County Extension agent or the local NRCS office

 

[super55]

I'm with the others here saying you need to subsoil. That is top priority. If water can't penetrate through then root systems won't either.

If you could post a pic of the pasture I think you could get a lot better advise on possibly what to do. My pastures will get mowed down pretty quickly too if I don't constantly stay on top of things.

I have found one of the best things in my situation has been to drill oats to take some of the pressure off the grasses. They are cheap and extremely easy to establish and handle grazing pressure quite well. Established grasses usually regenerate pretty good as long as they aren't constantly being taken down to the dirt.

 

[NTG]

My experience with pigs is that when they root they remove organic material and compact the soil. What they leave behind is inhospitable to all but the hardiest weeds.

Ah, got it. Scratch my suggestion OP.

 

[DJ54]

I have to agree with Sixdogs on the frost seeding. I've been using it for 20 years on my hay field, and horse pastures, in fact. it's almost time to do that here in Ohio. I plan to do a light seeding on my pastures myself. I use one of the old pto driven Garber Seed Easy spreaders. You can usually find them
on ebay for less than $100. I bought one, like this one pictured below at an auction for $20. Best $20 I ever spent. Bolts on the draw bar, and PTO shaft is a piece of straight radiator hose. It holds approx. 15 lbs. of seed. It's best to find one with the seeding rate settings decal on it. Most are still there, if it's been taken care of. The company may still have new one's if it's not there. The best time to do it here, is the last two weeks of Feb., or the first two weeks of March, when the ground is going through the freeze/thaw cycles, and the top surface honeycombs. You're basically mimicking Mother Nature, when grasses/plants drop their seeds. The honeycomb effect, opening and closing in the freeze/thaw cycle,will pull the seed into the ground.

I have to agree with the sub-soiling also. I did mine I'm thinking 4 years ago. I have the one pasture that has a slight bowl to it in an area, just before it breaks downhill. I made 4-5 passes on it back then, and even after this last few days of heavy rains here in this saturated ground, the water disappeared within an hour. So I'm well satisfied it is still working.

I also have to agree with the taking of soil tests, and get your ground up to snuff, probably mainly on the lime. In reality, you don't want a lush pasture for your horses, especially in the Spring or, you're likely to have issues with Founder. Lush Spring grass will have a protein content of 21%. If the horse are turned out on it, to eat at their leisure, and gorge themselves, Founder is a good possibility. This can also happen after a period of summer drought, then early Fall rains from one of the hurricanes out of the South bringing it back to the lush stage.

Personally, I had 4 horses on approx. 2 acres of pasture, now 3. Yes, they keep it ate down pretty close, but I also supplement with hay. I make my own, so there was always enough 2nd, or 3rd cutting to feed, and just enough that they'll clean it up, and not waste it. If you buy your hay, that may not work for you, but if you have one founder, it can even get more costly, and you'll be feeding hay for 6-8 weeks anyway to get them through it. Plus walking them 2 miles, twice a day. Been there, done that 5 years ago, when I had 1 pretty bad with founder, and one not so serious, but still meant walking each 2 miles, morning and evening. My easy out was to buy a good used horse walker, and let it do the work for me. 30 minutes morning, and evening did the trick, but was still over an hour + of my day to do that. It's kinda' one of those pay me now, or pay me later deals with either having a so-so pasture, or a nice pretty lush one.

One other tool I have I use, is a 6' plug type aerator, that has spoons that take plugs out. It definitely helps loosen up the pasture surface. I even run it in my hay field every 2-3 years,depending on how damp the soil was when I've made hay. These last couple of years hay was made when the ground was slightly dampish, and was compacted with that many trips over the field with hay making equipment. Mid April is usually when the ground is suitable to aerate. Somewhat dry, but damp enough for the aerator to penetrate. The great thing is, you can run with it, as fast as it is comfortable to ride the tractor.

This is just my personal experience with horses. They are definitely not like cattle or other livestock. Lush pastures are really not a good thing. Mine will sustain 75% of their needs, while not over indulging, and 25% comes from feeding hay, to take some stress off the pasture. I also have my pastures in 2 sections. The one is the sacrificial pasture, that takes the beating in early Spring, while saving the other for later grazing. I won't turn them out on the second pasture until around Memorial Day. Up to that point, I keep it mowed, or make first cutting hay off of it, just so they won't get that lush high protein grass. And clip it about a week before turning them out on it, so they won't get too much.

Just my opinion, take it for what it's worth...

 

[goeduck]

What exactly do you mean by "...withstands livestock reasonably well..."? All pastures require intelligent management to remain viable in a grazing situation.

Not for pastures, but for seasonal holding pens. The only thing that seems to come back in the holding pens is weeds.