Seeding Pastures

After I finally figured out how to get the no-till drill set and calibrated (at least I think I did) I was able to get going on actually getting seed into the ground. I drilled my mix (Pradel Meadow Fescue, Perennial Ryegrass, Orchard Grass, Italian Rye Grass, and Alice White Clover) Saturday afternoon and evening and did about 5 acres. It was nice to see the visible progress of slowing cover more ground and getting a start on adding some cool season grasses to the pasture. It also gave me plenty of time to observe and think as I was bumping along on the tractor. Here are some of my observations:

• There is clover coming up in quite a few places. In fact it is the only thing that is growing on the clay that covers our septic filtration area.
• There really was a lot of bare ground in the pasture. In some places the switchgrass stand had just become very thin and in other places the brush had gotten so think that it shaded out all the grass. That was especially true in the area where I mowed down the brush yesterday.
• The lack of quality grass and the bare ground was kind of depressing at times.
• I have no idea what I'm doing! Yesterday while I was taking a break from the tractor I tweeted, "Ever feel like you're doing something, but not sure if you're doing it right? I do ..." I knew that seed was leaving the drill, but if it will ever grow ... of that I'm not sure!
• Warm season grasses are just that ... warm season. As I look at my pasture I don't see the lush green that surrounds the farms around me ... oh for some lush and thick grass. It will come in time.
• I'm excited about the possibilities of mob grazing ... if ever there was a farm that could use some good microbe management this is it!
• Now ... I'm praying for grass to grow!

Putting Together a Pasture Mix

As the cows have gotten out and grazed our pastures this spring I have really started to notice how much work they need. I have mentioned previously that our 40 acres was in the Conservation Reserve Program for at least 13 years before we purchased it and in that time nothing was really done to it besides the initial seeding of switch grass and various prairie grasses. As you look over the ground on a whole late in the summer you see plenty of tall prairie grass, but once it has been grazed and once you take some time to walk through it you really begin to understand how overgrown everything is with brush and weeds.

Which leads me to my question. Do you have any thoughts on a good pasture mix that I could broadcast on before or after the cows hit an area? I attended a little round table discussion on the subject at the PFI conference this winter and I need to find my notes from that because I realize that this is a subject that is very regional. But, I know that there are people around my neck of the woods that read this blog and I always love to get ideas from other parts of the country.

What kind of grasses, legumes, and even weeds (or at least what some people call weeds) have you had the best success with? And, do you have any suggestions for seeding down areas? Now might not be the best time I realize, but I would like to tackle this as much as possible.