Laying seed down as you move your meat tractor?

[itsy]

Do any of you guys seed the pasture as you move it? I don't know how lawn/grass/clover works, but the meaties are really tearing up the pasture they're on. We don't mind, but we'd like to re-seed it with something good so the weeds don't take over again. Can that be done as we move the tractor?

 

[Katy]

Quote:
I suppose if you have enough moisture for germination and a big enough area that you won't have to use that spot twice in one season it could work.

 

[rainplace]

We're finding that the pasture after the meaties immediately move looks terrible, but after a week or so it starts recovering, except the area they sleep in, that bit looks bad for a couple of weeks. After a few weeks it's growing like mad and the area they slept in is just starting to pop. It's the best looking pasture we have right now, the cows love it. I wish we had the market to run more of them at once, because our pasture sure could use some more chicken.

 

[itsy]

We're pleased with how quickly it recovers, too - but the area they're in started out as mostly weeds, so it's mostly the weeds that are taking over. I'd love it if it were more clover, though.

 

[mcf3kids]

How often will they be back on the original plot? We have ours on a thick lawn and am very impressed at how little damage they have done - we have moved it nine times (once a day) and immediately upon moving it water the poop into the lawn. I was picturing bare patches or really burnt lawn and we have yet to have any. Seed will take 5-7 days to germinate and 3 weeks to be strong enough to have them on. We have a newly seeded area (5-6 weeks ago) and although it looks good the blades are so much finer than the mature lawn we are not going to use it. I would think that if you are not going to use it at all for this batch it might work well to help for future batches. Let us know how it works out.

 

[al6517]

I wouldn't lay any new seed down as it may just burn due to the high Nitro and ammonia in the fresh droppings. WTS depending on your grass type it should come back very nicely and fast too, deeper rooted grasses are protected better from the feeding onslaught, as opposed to shallow rooted shade grasses, which could be re-seeded but not till the late fall, then only move the birds onto it after the grass is well established.

 

[moonsynth]

How about seeding before the chickens move to that spot. They will scratch the seed in, while eating some possibly, and the seed will be under the poop where it might be able to grow. Not sure about it burning or not growing from to much nitrogen or ammonia.

 

[Brunty_Farms]

I wouldn't reseed, clover and orchard grass seem to take over as they are really the only ones in my pasture that can handle the higher nitrogen. The weeds will die out... best time to plant pasture is in the spring. We frost seed clover in when the grass is really short and when we have some bare spots.

 

[Bossroo]

I would steer away from the orchard grass because it is a clumping grass and therefore the clumps would make it harder to move the tracter resulting in extra labor ( a few *@#^+) and possible extra wear and tare to the tractor. Those of you that have mature orchardgrass pastures know how difficult it is on your ancles to just walk through them. I used chemical warfare, barley green crop and disc for 3 years to get rid of it at my prevous ranch. I would use clover and something like endophite free fescue grass or bluegrass instead.

 

[Oregon Blues]

Check germination temperatures for the type o grass that you use.

The grass I plant germinates at 50 degrees, so unless it is cool at night, it is a waste of money to plant it in the heat of summer.

I suspect your grass will come back quite nicely if you water it a bit.