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| I posted this on dairyforums.com also...
Well the winter blues has got the ol' brain thinking for spring, and it's only January !!!
Last year my grandpa let me run 6 breeding age heifers and a bull on his pasture. Its a 2 acre maybe 2.5-3 acres pasture. Obviously it was overstocked and hay had to be supplement. The pasture always had 2-3" of growth. I wanted to try and rotational graze it, but never got around to getting the supplies. It probably wouldn't have worked very well anyways.
Well....Theres a creek running parallel w/ the pasture, and on the other side is a small field (1.5-2 acres). Grandpa has always put this into row crops. It's a low, wet (spring mostly) area and is hard to access with big equipment. Therefore, I've been thinking of confronting grandpa about putting it into pasture. With him getting older and looking to retirement I thought it might be helpful to him to not have to fiddle around with this large garden.
So my question is what would be a good mix to put in this field for heifers say 13-19 months of age? I will probably be buying seed from Welters Seed & Honey in Onslow, Iowa as they are only 30-35 min. from our farm. I would also compare there prices with the local co-ops, but I believe Welters is fairly reasonable. Looking at there site I noticed quite a few of there pre-mixed deals contain a majority of alfalfa (50-60%). I wouldn't think heifers would need that much, if any alfalfa. Maybe Clover? I've also heard alfalfa makes for poor grazing. I thought this may be a good mix, but has alfalfa http://www.welterseed.com/ProductDetails.aspx?id=144 .
Also, the field was corn last years. Would conventional tillage be the best way to prep the ground? We have no grain drill to sew with, so could we use a neighbors 3pt broadcast seeder?
I assume soil sample would be a good place to begin once the frost is out?
Thanks for any input!
Jake | |
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Pasture seeding advice in Iowa
