Planting pasture for ducks and chickens

[BurchFunnyFarm]

I live in the Deep South and was wondering what to plant on the ground to give my animals more food. They have wild grass and the woods to forage in 24/7 but I want clover or something else to grow where I don't have lawn that I can cut occasionally to feed my hogs, mulch, and such with. The ground is really hard here, but we get enough rain that I think it would be minimal labor once established. I have been sprouting oat fodder for them and they LOVE it. Can I just work the ground and plant oats for them?

 

[ChickenCanoe]

My chickens choose grass as a last resort to eat.
I plant alfalfa, beets, turnips, radish, clover, chicory, buckwheat (summer only), sorghum, winter peas and almost any succulent plant.
It's a little wetter here but occasionally I have to water newly planted areas. Scratching up the ground helps seed make contact but mostly I just broadcast.

 

[BurchFunnyFarm]

Okay I think I'm going to try it. Where do you buy your seed? We have tractor supply here. I agree with you, I'm not wanting grass. I'm wanting a succulent mix but don't know what seeds to look for. Would be nice to find something that is already a medley of seeds that I could use instead of buying several types.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

It depends on how much you want. TSC doesn't really sell seed. I have an old time feed store just a couple miles away and they have all types of seeds they sell by the ounce or by the pound. Larger quantities are much less expensive.
I have a Hummert's about 15 minutes from me and I have an order of game bird seeds coming in Friday.
This is their 2013 catalog and the game plot mixes are on page 68.
https://www.hummert.com/_uploads/default/pdfs/SeedCatalog2013_Web.pdf
I have a hard copy of their 2014 catalog and they have about 3 pages of pasture seed in there.

You might want to visit this page to see what to grow there.

http://www.foragingtexas.com/2008/08/chicory.html