Food plot / general pasture questions

[mmorisoli]

I only have a few years of ranch management under my belt and was primarily focused on taking back our land from the invading cedar trees. Years later and about 60 acres cleared it is time to shift to fixing up some old pasture land and planting some food plots.

We have two ranches just outside of Austin Texas. One is 60 acres the other is 200 and they are about 20 miles apart but each are pretty different.

I have a Kubota L3940 with a skid steer quick attach, loader bucket, grapple with third function, 6 box blade, 6 shredder and an old beat up but still working disc harrow.

I have been reading and reading and reading all I can about land management, soil PH, seasons etc. I now know that I need to lime ahead of time to get the PH in control, plant some type of seed after I disc, run a cultipacker after the seed but I have no clue how in the heck to spread the lime or the seed. I really don稚 even know the best place to purchase seed or lime Our local feed store has some but haven稚 been a wealth of information, they seem to think I know what I am doing because I guess I look like a ranch hand.

Two weeks ago I went to the feed store and purchase 20 sacks of lime and proceeded to spread it about a one acre experiment section. Good grief, after 3 sacks I looked like a ghost and my arms were going to fall off. There must be a better way !!!

Do I go to Tractor Supply and purchase those 500 pound three point broadcast spreader? Would that work? Can I use the same spreader for seed?

Also, I don稚 own a cultipacker but I have had luck with some old chain link fences with tires wired down. That actually worked pretty good, but the fence isn稚 going to last very long.

So I am reaching out to you good folks for input. Ridicule away, I am tough and can take it. Any insights on when to disc, when to plant, how to plant, what to plant is all welcome.

Thanks in advance for your help, Mike

 

[boomer1025]

The TSC spreader would work for both seed & lime, but get the pelletized lime and not the powdered stuff.

 

[flusher]

I only have a few years of ranch management under my belt and was primarily focused on taking back our land from the invading cedar trees. Years later and about 60 acres cleared it is time to shift to fixing up some old pasture land and planting some food plots.

We have two ranches just outside of Austin Texas. One is 60 acres the other is 200 and they are about 20 miles apart but each are pretty different.

I have a Kubota L3940 with a skid steer quick attach, loader bucket, grapple with third function, 6 box blade, 6 shredder and an old beat up but still working disc harrow.

I have been reading and reading and reading all I can about land management, soil PH, seasons etc. I now know that I need to lime ahead of time to get the PH in control, plant some type of seed after I disc, run a cultipacker after the seed but I have no clue how in the heck to spread the lime or the seed. I really don稚 even know the best place to purchase seed or lime Our local feed store has some but haven稚 been a wealth of information, they seem to think I know what I am doing because I guess I look like a ranch hand.

Two weeks ago I went to the feed store and purchase 20 sacks of lime and proceeded to spread it about a one acre experiment section. Good grief, after 3 sacks I looked like a ghost and my arms were going to fall off. There must be a better way !!!

Do I go to Tractor Supply and purchase those 500 pound three point broadcast spreader? Would that work? Can I use the same spreader for seed?

Also, I don稚 own a cultipacker but I have had luck with some old chain link fences with tires wired down. That actually worked pretty good, but the fence isn稚 going to last very long.

So I am reaching out to you good folks for input. Ridicule away, I am tough and can take it. Any insights on when to disc, when to plant, how to plant, what to plant is all welcome.

Thanks in advance for your help, Mike

Broadcast spreaders work OK for granulated fertilizer, lime and larger size seeds (oats, wheat, peas, beans, etc). For smaller size seed (alfalfa, vetch, etc) you generally mix the seed with sand or larger size seed to get it broadcast effectively.

Get a soil analysis done so you know how much lime, nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium your fields need.

That L3940 tractor is pretty small as are those 6-ft implements if you intend to renovate relatively large acreage (30+ acres). Hope you have the time to do all you need to do for your food plots and pasture renovation.

Good luck.

 

[EddieWalker]

How big are the sacks you are spreading? Is it a white powder?

When I've sent in my soil analysis, it's always come back to add one ton of lime per acre. Here in my part of Texas, that's about half of what everyone I know is told to add. Ag lime has always been grey and more like grain or really small pellets. I've never seen or heard of it being a powder.

Lime takes months to actually do anything. What you put down today is really to help your growing season in the fall.

After you apply it, you will need to take another soil sample in about 4 months or so to see what you need to do when you do your fall planting. Again, that application will affect the following years spring planting.

What you grow will decide what you should use to amend your soil. If you want to plant peas, they need to know that when you send in your soil sample. Or bermuda or whatever it is you want to plant.

You want to plant after the chance of a freeze. Here in the Tyler area, that' the end of April, but I'm going to do it in a few weeks just because we've had such a mild winter and I think I can get away with it.

If you are just planting food plot mix, then all you really need to do is disk up the soil real good with your fertilizer and lime, then spread your seed and drag something over it to set the seeds. Keep it simple and adjust every year until you get what you are wanting. If this is the first year, you might not get the deer in there like you hope. They might be shy, they might have so much other food to eat that they don't bother with what you plant, or you might have planted something that they just don't care for. Trial and error until you get it right.

Eddie

 

[clemsonfor]

When I've sent in my soil analysis, it's always come back to add one ton of lime per acre. Here in my part of Texas, that's about half of what everyone I know is told to add. Ag lime has always been grey and more like grain or really small pellets. I've never seen or heard of it being a powder.

Lime takes months to actually do anything. What you put down today is really to help your growing season in the fall.
Eddie

A one ton rule is pretty good for anywhere in the south if you dont get an analysis. AG lime is usually a powder that will clump into like clay hunks sometimes when not ground all the way or it gets wet. Yep the stuff is like a powder not really pellets. BUT your region may be different as what is availible. Its been almost 10 years since my soil science class but i do remember there are at least 3 kinds of common lime and probly twice that at least. It can be any different size with the smaller the particle size the faster it will work.

You are correct it takes 6 months for lime to really take effect.

But OP dont skip the lime this is more important than fertilizer really. If your soil ph is to low the fertilizer will actually bind up in the soil and not be "availible" for the plants roots to uptake it thus you wasted your money as you wont get full benefit out of any fertilizer you buy in this case. And no it will not stay there till next year. You will get a "residual" fertilizer effect for the next few years but this will eventually wear off as its uptaken but usually just washed down into the "soil horizon" (see i still remember some of my terms).


As far as your tractor that will take you forever to do those fields, like a week or more!!

 

[smstonypoint]

As far as your tractor that will take you forever to do those fields, like a week or more!!

I agree.

Suppose your soil test indicates you need one ton of lime per acre. With a 500 lb. capacity spreader, you would have to load the spreader 4 times per acre. Multiply that by 260 acres, and you would have to load the spreader over 1000 times.

With 260 acres, you need to be buying the lime and fertilizer in bulk. Commercial fertilizer dealers and most ag. cooperatives provide spreader services -- they will use their trucks to spread the lime and fertilizer you purchase from them for a fee.

Steve

 

[AlanB]

I have no idea how far you would like to go with knowing your soil, but here are some things to think about.

Your local Ag extension service will usually offer testing with recommendations. Usually about $15

Your local Co-Op (not sure what they are called in your area, but sure you have something similar) will also offer low cost analysis and recommendations. They usually do ours free if we are buying the amendments from them.

Both of these routes will involve non organic fertilizers.

I would recommend this book, and this mans services. The Ideal Soil Book: A Handbook for the New Agriculture: Perfect Soil through Cation Mineral Balance and Soil Fertility secrets of William Albrecht, Carey Reams, Agricola, and Michael Astera

I used the lab he recommended
Logan Labs, LLC
620 North Main Street
Lakeview, OH 43331
Toll Free: 1-888-494-SOIL

There are several types of Lime, and your magnesium content in the lime can sometimes be detrimental to what you are trying to accomplish.

In my area, limestone is mined and Ag Lime is one of the products produced. The Mine will have the lab analysis on their product. Here we buy at $9 ton. The snow cone would be the handy and appropriate way to spread over acres, and as was said before, get pelletized or granular, not powdered.

I am assuming you are doing smaller plots from the title, not the entire areas mentioned. By all means, if you are doing 25+ acres, just have your local co-op or similar organisation come knock it out. Ours also has buggies / trailers for large volumes.

My personal word of advice from being at this rodeo this year, do not assume that the people selling this stuff have any clue of what they have or what is in the bags or what you need. Read every bag yourself and check percentages etc to know what you are getting.

Good luck.

 

[EddieWalker]

My personal word of advice from being at this rodeo this year, do not assume that the people selling this stuff have any clue of what they have or what is in the bags or what you need. Read every bag yourself and check percentages etc to know what you are getting.

Good luck.

Good point!!!

My former in law (Father in Law's brother) was a sales rep for one of the bigger chemical suppliers in the area. They don't do lime, but sell everything from fertilizer to restricted chemicals for killing weeds.

He spent his days filling orders and taking big clients out to lunch. I showed him my very first soil report and asked him what I needed to buy. He was clueless. We sat there for over an hour with him telling me all sorts of things and reasons why it was too complicated for him to decide on a product based on just the ag soil analysis.

I posted what the report said on here and got replies from the guys on here that explained what it said so that I could easily understand what I needed to do. Once they did this, it all made perfect sense to me.

Eddie

 

[MuleMn]

Pelletized lime will break down faster and become effective sooner than ground limestone or so my Extension Agent says.

 

[Western]

you've got some great advice so far, so I can only add a couple of thoughts.

Agree 100% about using you're local (FREE) AG Agent, Find your agent here:
AgriLife Extension County Offices | Just another WordPress site

Use the web site to, allot of great general info: (Open the Aggie Horticulture link)

AgriLife Extension Service

Personally, 1st time in that field, I would get a soil test done as the guys mentioned.

If it is a large enough area your doing, the co-op or feed store usually has fertilizer spreaders you can use. If you buy a small one, MAKE SURE you rinse it out well after you run fertilizers through it.