I probably should have done this a couple of weeks ago but I needed to get the useless nags out of the hay field so I could turn the ewes out there and that required getting the gate hung and well you get the picture. Typically we are still more or less in Winter by late March and I have plenty of time to do a bit of frost seeding but it may be a bit late this year already. Oh well I am sure it won't matter too much and every day I had time to try and get it done the last few weeks has been extremely windy and wind with light little seed spreading is not a good thing.
Generally when seeding in the colder temp grasses and legume it's best to get the seeds on the pasture when the ground is still pretty cold and the well before the competing grass and weeds have grown more than an inch or two. In this respect the West pasture is about the perfect height right now as the sheep did a pretty good number on it over the Winter.
We are still getting some very cold nights and mornings and the ground has plenty of bare spots for the seeds to take in. I will be pulling the sheep out of the hay field this week and setting them up in the barn and barn lot for lambing season. So there will be no more grazing now until at least early May and probably mid May at the earliest.
Ya the girls are going to be complaining let me tell you, especially the yearlings. If I had another shelter built (which is planned) I could separate the two groups but that just isn't possible right now. We can still get some fast Winter storms, snow, sleet, hail etc. without much notice this time of year. You would be surprised how fast those storms can roll in off the central plains and the last thing I want right now is a lamb being born or caught out in them.
So the girls have grazed this pasture down quite well over Winter and it is sufficiently cropped down for a bit of frost seeding. I used a 50/50 fescue and clover mix that should mimic what was already growing out there and just help fill in the bare spots the sheep created by over grazing.
This little field is just shy of two acres so I used 20 pounds of seed. I typically use 10 pounds per acre myself rounding upwards but I believe that is a bit higher than recommended. Since I still don't have the East pasture fence done yet this little pasture was used a little too much last year. Hopefully I will have the East pasture done by the time I turn the ewes and lambs out and I can allow the West pasture a good 2 months of growth before it gets grazed and then I can put it in a rather light rotation this Summer. The East pasture contains a lot of broad leaf weeds and briars that need to be grazed early before they get too high. The sheep LOVE those types of weeds but not once they get too woody and stalky. They will literally get rid of the broad leaf weeds in one Summer.
Keep Prepping Everyone!!!!!!!
Very interesting post. Our pastures look about like yours and I've been contemplating some spot seeding. I hadn't heard of "frost seeding" but I like that term. My biggest problems is that the chickens come along behind me and devour all the seed I've put down. Not a cheap way to feed chickens.
ReplyDeleteLeigh - The biggest advantage which I failed to mention is that the freezing and thawing kinda pulls the seeds into the soil giving them better contact. I can see how chickens would be an issue though. My fields are far enough out the chickens rarely make it out into them.
DeleteInteresting, mine could use seeding but it won't happen this year. I could use your girls (not the tractor girls) to keep the pasture cut down.
ReplyDeleteSf - Those sheep can clear an area of all vegetation in no time flat. They can kill off morning glory and Johnson grass in a few months too. Only thing I have found they wont eat are oldr thistle plants and eventually they will get those eaten as well.
DeletePP,
ReplyDeleteWere laying seed for grass growth. The south side of the property has plenty clover, send your critters this way, lol....
Sandy - I wish they would heed the electric fence I would sue em on all the grass I have to mow!!!!
DeleteWe were talking about getting some seed on to one of our pastures, but think that perhaps we should have done it already as the temperatures are starting to go up. Always next year I suppose!
ReplyDeleteVera - Ya I waited a bit too long this year myself but who knew we would skip the annual freeze/thaw cycle?
DeleteI have three Australian shepherds that wear certain areas down and every year I frost seed as you call it, it works well.
ReplyDeleteSheep really seem like the animal to raise in a grid down situation. Their uses are many and they seem fairly easy keepers. I don't like lamb, but would learn to like it!