Forage First

FAQs

1) What time of the year is the best to plant seed?
The answer to this question depends on whether it is a cool-season grass, warm-season grass, legume, brassica or forage sorghum and where you live in the US. This is best answered by the following: Nothern US is defined as Canadian border to Central Illinois, Transition US is defined as Central Illinois to Northern Mississippi, Southern US is defined as Northern Mississippi to the Gulf Coast.

Plant Species            Northern US             Transition US             Southern US
Cool-Season         Mar. 1 to June 30        Feb. 1 to May 1         Sept. 1 to Nov. 30
                                 Aug. 1 to Sept. 15       Aug. 15 to Oct 15

Legumes: Depends on the species as some (alfalfa, red clover, ladino clover, etc) should follow the cool-season dates above. For others (Berseem clover, Persian Clover,etc) are annuals that are frost sensitive and need to be planted when soil temperatures reach 60 to 65 degrees Fahrenheit and warming.

Warm-Season Grasses, Brassica, and Forage Sorghums: When soil temperatures reach 60-65 degrees Fahrenheit and warming

2) How well do I need to work the ground?
Any time you plant seed, good seed to soil contact is required to have the greatest chance for success for stand establishment. If you elect to turn a corn, wheat or soybean field into a hay field or pasture, you will have to make a few decisions based on A) the amount/percent of stover is left on the ground, B) the depth of wheel tracks if harvest was during a wet time, C) planting method (no-till, broadcast, drill, etc), and D) what kind of equipment will I use for harvesting? Ideally you would work up the top 2-3 inches of the soil to create a smoothe, firm seedbed in which to plant into. This allows a more uniform stand that is easier to harvest with equipment.

3) Which grass will yield the most with my alfalfa?
This is a question that is determined by what part of the country that you live in due to the amount of moisture available and fertility practices you incorporate will determine which products will yield the most. On average the cool season grasses rank highest to lowest in yield:

Reed Canarygrass
Tall Fescue
Orchardgrass
Smooth Bromegrass
Ryegrass and/or Festulolium
Meadow Brome
Timothy
Kentucky Bluegrass

4) Which orchardgrass variety should I plant with alfalfa or other legumes?
The variety you choose should be based of the maturity of the variety. Early maturing varieties like Century Orchardgrass begins to produce seed heads around May 15 making it difficult to manage with alfalfa/legumes that would be harvested around May 25-May 30. Early maturing varieties are better suited for monocultures or in mixtures with other grasses. Late maturing varieties like Command or Icon begin producing seed heads 10 to 14 days later than Century, making them better suited to plant with a legume, especially if you are looking for high quality feed for your animals.

5) Which grass will yield the most in my pastures?
The answer to this question is similar to quaetion number 3 above. It is dependant upon the region of the country that you live in, animal species you intend to feed, management practices, fertility program and the amount of moisture available to the plant. See the ranking in yields of cool-season grasses from highest to lowest in question number 3 above.

6) Should I be mixing different cool-season grasses together in an all grass stand?
Having multiple species in a cool-season grass stand is a great idea if you intend to graze/pasture animals because it provides the animals with season-long feed and may actually extend your grazing season. Many times Mother Nature can have a negative impact on certain species that will either limit their productivity (ie: Kentucky Bluegrass during hot dry periods) or may damage the stand (ie: winter damage of Perennial Ryegrass). This can shorten the life of the stand leaving you without the feed you were hoping for. Different species produce better at different times of the year and so mixing multiple species together is usually a good choice.

7) When should I plant a monoculture vs a mixture?
Planting a monoculture (single species) is usually best only if there is a specific purpose that is required by an end user or climatic conditions. A couple examples of this might be:
A) Timothy hay market for export
B) Teff or timothy hay for horses
C) Yellow blossom sweet clover for honey production
D) Bermuda Grass in southern US that can tolerate high temperatures for extended periods of time

As you can see there are times when a monoculture make sense. If you are wanting to make hay, silage, or graze your animals and want to get the most out of your field all season long, mixtures will be a better fit.

8) What is the proper depth to be planting my pasture seed?
For the majority of the grasses you should be looking at planting grass seed at 1/8 to 1/4 inch depth. If you plant too deep the plants will:
A) not germinate or
B) germinate, but have a weak stand or have weak plants that never reach their maximum potential

Legumes typically should be planted at 1/8 to 1/2 inch depth. Planting too deep has the same effect as grasses.

9) Does pH really matter with grasses as they do with legumes?
Just as with legumes grasses will perform the best in a given pH range (typically 6.0 to 7.5). Plant nutrients including Phosphorus and Potassium can get tied up in the soil limiting the availability to the plants. When this occures the plants become less productive and will not attain their maximum productivity. Plants can become spindly, turn yellow, or show other signs of plant nutrient defficiencies. This can only be corrected by adding lime to acidic soils (pH below 7) or by adding sulfur to alkaline soils (pH above 7.0). Increasing fertility may not fully correct the problem.

10) How do I get the highest quality forage off my pastures?
When looking how to manage your pastures for highest productivity combines planting the product at the appropriate plant species or mixture of species, seeding rate, fertilizing correctly, turning the animals in and pulling them off at the correct time, leaving the appropriate amount of residue for quicker recovery, regular moisture.

In simplified terms, for highest quality of forage is typically when the plants are 8-10 inches in height. This is when you should begin letting your animals into the pasture. Plant maturity and forage quality have a negative corrolation to each other meaning as the plants get taller and more mature, the forage quality decreases. There is a fine line between maximizing yield and quality. Rotating or removing animals from a pasture should be when plants are 3-4 inches in height. This is one of the biggest reasons most people do not maximize productivity of their pastures. Leaving plants at 3-4 inches in height will allow plants to recover more quickly allowing the plant to generate new tillers or rhizomes more rapidly than when they are allowed to be eaten or mowed to 1-2 inches in height like many times will happen.

11) How much fertilizer is required to maximize yields for hay and/or pastures?
Fertilizer is a key component to maximize yields whether you are harvesting for hay or grazing with your animals. They are broken down into Primary and Secondary nutrients for the plants and are the building blocks to a healthy hay or pasture field. Primary nutrients like Nitrogen (N), Phosphorus (P) and Potassium (K) are vital for plant yields and health.

Nitrogen stimulates or promotes dark green color and increases leaf & stem growth. Cool-season grasses require 180 to 300 units of N split applied (spring, early summer, and fall) to maximize yield.

Phosphorus stimulates early root formation, root growth and prepares grass for dormancy. As growth occurs, phosphorus is used to efficiently use sugars and starches and to maximize photosynthesis in young roots, stems and leaves.

Potassium provides overall health to grass, increasing resistance to disease, drought stress and winter hardiness..

12) Which grass and legume species work the best for frost/dormant seeding?
To help thicken up a poor stand requires plants that are aggressive in their growth habit in spring to compete for sunlight and water with existing vegetation. For the most part the following species work the best for this situation: Annual or Perennial Ryegrass, Orchardgrass, Red Clover, Ladino Clover, White Clover and Alsike Clover.

13) How many square feet are in an acre?
There is 43,560 square feet in an acre.

14) What does PLS mean?
PLS stands for "Pure Live Seed". Pure Live Seed is determined by taking the Purity of the seed and multiplying it by the Germination. To give you an example, when looking on a seed tag you will find: Pure Seed - 98.5%, Germination - 80%, Other Crop Seed - 0.50%, Inert Matter - 0.70%, and Weed Seed - 0.03%. The PLS would be the following equation:

Pure Seed x Germination = Pure Live Seed
0.995 x 0.80 = 0.796

So the example of seed above represents 79.6% Pure Live Seed. What does this mean when you actually receive the product?
Translating this to the actual pounds of seed you will receive is calculated by dividing 1 by the PLS percentage and then multiplying by the number of PLS lbs that is required. In our example if we needed 100 PLS pounds of this product you would actually receive 125.6 pounds of seed:

1 divided by 0.796 = 1.256 multiplied by 100 PLS = 125.6 pounds of actual seed.

The lower the purity and/or germination the higher amount of actual pounds of product you will receive. You will find in the Conservation Reserve Program and other government programs that they will require PLS pounds.

15) My alfalfa stand is getting very thin...Can I overseed with another alfalfa to extend the life of my field?
The alfalfa plant is unique among legumes in that it has a autotoxicity to itself. Autotoxicity means as the plant matures it produces a toxin in the soil that will not allow new seedlings of alfalfa to get established and infact will not grow. So it is better to use other legumes such as red clover, white clover, Berseem clover, etc to thicken the stand if you want to extend the life for a single season.

16) I had my soil tested and my soil pH came back at 7.8. Do I need to reduce the pH level to have a better stand for my grass/legume mixture? If yes, what product do I need and at what rate should it be applied?
Most legumes and grasses perform the best when the soil pH is between 6.5 and 7.5 as plant nutrients are usually readily available. As the pH goes too low (acidic soils) or too high (alkaline soils) nutrients become tied up in with the soil particale and are not available to the plants. Taking a soil test will certainly tell you if you are in the correct range. When pH is too low - lime is required to raise the pH.
When pH is too high sulfur is required to lower the pH. The quantity to apply will be determined by the soil type as certain soils require much higher levels of lime or sulfur to change the soil pH. Ask your local agronomist or soil conservation specialist to assist you in finding your soil name/type before submitting your sample.