Running Pasture Renovator

I have some Tift-85 pasture land that I have cut hay and ran cows on. Seems as if the hay always runs short on Nitrogen. I've put out 75-80 units after each cutting, but by the time 4 weeks have gone by it seems to run out of N. Fairly stiff ground, not that sandy. I checked N levels in tissue and soil. Always low. Thinking about running pasture aerator over it to see if this would help. Anyone here have any experience and when is the best time of year? In southwest GA by the way.

In my area, Northeast Louisiana, it takes double that rate of nitrogen fertizer per acre to get top yields and high protein Bermuda grass hay, 150 pounds per acre of actual N per cutting. If
75-80 is the recommended rate in your area then what about your soil PH, efficient use of fertilizer in most grass hay requires a PH of 6 -7, the
other thing that comes to mind is volatization of urea based nitrogen fertilizer which is a problem with any fertilizer with urea unless you get a
good rain almost immediately after spreading.

Usually soil test in this area recommend around 400-450# N/year. Maybe 100#/N per cutting. After seeing how much N it took my overseeded oats/rye to get going, I'm thinking that may be the case here. More N needed. pH looks good and all other nutrients show good other than Boron on tissue samples. Have added B but never seem to see it on tissue samples. Thanks for your input.

I don't have Tif-85 but I run common and coastal. I use the Hay King Pasture Renovator, about 8 hp per shank (running in mid range gears/PTO
rpm) in heavy clay when the clay is dry enough to give-way and not gum up.

The coulter in front of the blade slices the runners and everywhere there is a nodule on the stem, a new set of roots aka new plant is
established. The ripper also opens the soil allowing oxygen and moisture to penetrate. For me it's equivalent to a good dose of N. Also a
couple of things, in the summer the clay shrinks, opening cracks where every shank ran and makes for rain absorption (ground moisture) when
the fall rains come.

Also on the subject of grass and nutrients, yes bermuda loves N but the Texas Agricultural Research Center at Renner, Tx. back in the '60's
manned by a bunch of Ag. PhDs determined that N + P gives you a lot bigger bang for your buck and P doesn't move so you need to put it
where it's used....in the root zone. With the ripper opening up the root zone, broadcast applications of granular P can get down there, applied
after ripping. K depended on the residual in the soil as to impact. In Alkaline N. Tx. soils, K was abundant and not that big a part of the
nutrition equation as they saw it.

Thanks for the input! I've heard that about the coulters and the nodes. Actually saw where a guy that was in the sprigging business had a toolbar with a coulters set 12-18" I think. Planted some grass last year on land that was growing every year with crabgrass and common Bermuda. Didn't spray anything after planting and crows foot grass took over. I can see the T85 in rows now because of the warm winter here and was thinking about running this rig possibly. Same type as yours. Some runners but the other grass kept the 85 runners without access to dirt I think so it didn't spread as it should. Wish I would have spayed Weedmaster after planting!

Plant some clover in it.

How deep does the pasture renovator run?

I was out checking my renovation of my Bermuda hay patch today after several rains this week and average temps above the 70's. The slits in
the dirt from the colters are filled with little baby Bermuda shoots and plants. Top that with my getting the fert. out about a week ago and nice
slow spring rains and this should be a bumper hay crop. Sometimes the hay gods just smile on you. This is one of those years....just yesterday
finished seeding the sudan-sorghum field that I had all prepared and fertilized and today we got right at an inch on the whole place taking most
of the day to fall....nice and gentle.