seeding over old grass hay

mnbob

Member
My son recently bought a small farm with about 20 acres of grass hay. It has been cut and baled but no fertilizing etc for many years. I has very few weeds now. He would like to put in a timothy-orchard grass mix. I have never done this with plowing. What would be the best way and time to seed? We do not have any no till equipment.
 
If yu live in a colder climate, frost seeding has worke well for me. Especially with orchard grass as it is naturally invasive. Just seed in late winter, preferably right before a snow fall and fertilize in the spring.
 
What kind of hay does it have now and does it yield well. Maybe there is enough timothy and orchard grass there already.
 
Colder climate?? we aree all globally warmer!!! ha
Not far from Bemidji MN, 20 to30 below is common in winter but no constant. I guess its now in "field" grass. Son says someone told him pulling a straight disk and seeding was good. never heard of it but I am a plower. Late winter, like in late Feb or March? Thanks guys[/quote]
 
We have some around here that graze bare in fall then in
nov spread alfalfa or clover seed on the bare ground it
wont germinate till spring.you can spread with a hand
spreader but check on soil fertility there is a lot of good info
on grazer sights
 
If the field is smooth now I agree with the frost seeding in late winter, early spring. Orchard grass and Timothy will take hold of that.
 
We are in the same boat - only our pasture has a
lot of weeds, in addition to native grasses,
orchard grass, some timothy, fescue and clover.

Our plan is to mow and bale the field to clear it
off and then spray to kill everything and reseed.
We have a sprayer, but our local ag store
(Southern States) will spray it too - if you don't
have the equipment. They also offer a seed drill
for rent - which we plan on renting.

At the end of the day, the plan is to have two
separate fields. One being 100% orchard grass and
the other 100% timothy.

Several reasons for this. First one is - they
both come-in at different times. Orchard grass
and a few weeks later, the timothy. This gives us
a chance to focus on one field and then the other
without having everything down at the same time.
All of our eggs aren't in one basket so to speak.

The second reason is hay quality (as I understand
it). If we have a mix of orchard grass and
timothy - if we cut when the orchard grass is
ready, the timothy hasn't had a chance to maximize
it's yield. If we wait on the timothy, the
orchard grass will have gone past it's prime
cutting point, would likely have gone to seed, be
stems and not as desirable hay.

I guess if we ultimately like one grass over the
other, we would make both fields the same.

Take what I say with a grain of salt - talk is
cheap, we'll see how our fields turn out, but we
have a path we are holding to.

Good luck,
Bill
 
I planted 15 acres of what the seed company here calles pasture mix.. Orchard, timothy, along with 4 others that I cant remember but the Orch and Tim had the most % on the bag. I wait till the timothy heads out and cut mine. Nicest field I put up if I do say so myself..get about 1300 bales, off that a year.. thick as snot..Question that comes to mind is why mess with the field if its virtually weed free and produces hay?? I should note that I use goat doo doo on mine every three years..
 
I wouldn"t do any seeding just yet especially if the field already
produces a crop. Put some lime on this fall and some fertilizer.
Bet you will see a much more productive hay field next year.
 
Hay crops have changed a lot over the years. Grew up in southern Mn, next to the Corn Patch border. I have been away from the farm since 58. Dad died of cancer winter of 58-59, my brother was in Army, I was to young at the time to take over, & between me & Mom, we didn't know enough about the operation to make a success out of it.

In those days, grass hay was considered junk, suitable only for horses. Alfalfa or clover hay was considered too rich for horses, made them fat & lazy. Since Dad was the only one in neighborhood that still had horses, we harvested road ditch grass for them. Grass hay was free. Beef & dairy cattle got alfalfa or red clover hay. No one expected to get a hay crop the year it was seeded. It was worked into the corn, soybean, oats rotation. Hay ground was plowed down as "green manure" after being harvested 3 or 4 years. It was seeded with oats, or flax, as a "nurse crop". Harvest the oats/flax, & if a late fall season, get a cutting of hay off it the same year.

The thinking at the time was that alfalfa/clover was more efficient use of the land for beef weight gain or milk production.
Just rambling.
Willie
 
Most of that still applies today, But around here you can get more from horse owners than cattle guys. My best prices so far this yr have come from second yr alfalfa/orchard grass. Made some of my best hay from that ground this year. It all went to horses at a premium price. All local delivery to boot.
 
What is the "grass hay"? Is it native? or a mix of brome and intermediate?
Determine what you market is before
you produce anything.
 

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