Just starting out, switching cropland to pasture for Livestock, need help pls

Some background for you guys -- also, please ask me anything if I do not give all the needed information -- I am SO new at this, just starting out.

I have 24 acres (In Piedmont of North Carolina) in total, but 8 is wooded, a few are road frontage and a couple have my house and outbuildings on, so I have about 12-13 acres that were used for maize (feedcorn) and soybeans by a farmer who rented the land from me.

I bought the place, built a house and want to turn it into a small hobby livestock farm (dairy, cow/calf rotation, etc and goats, chickens) for my retirement years. I am just turning 50. I have the help of the local Farm Services Agency but here in the US, we don't get as much help on the ground with advice as you might in the UK.

I want to turn the cropland into pasture, the only help I've been given is what seed mix to buy (Fescue+ Clover) and my current farmer has said he'd seed the fields for me to turn them into pasture but he is suggesting I disc it all up and flatten it out and put out some double mat over the natural water ditches and "make it all pretty and perfect" before seeding it.

But all I want to know is, do I HAVE to do what he recommends? Do I need to 'make it all pretty and perfect' for acres of grazing animals??

If you want photos, I can take some, let me know if it will help.

britishblue said:

It's good if the field is flat and level for any work you may want to do. You may want to make hay for feeding livestock so field has to be level for mower to get a nice cut, etc etc

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It's not that bad or bumpy though -- my neighbor who has 300 acres right next to me for his Angus cattle uses the fields that abut my property for haying and it's basically the same gentle roll of ground as mine.

It isn't perfect -- it's just been growing corn and soybeans for about 4 years, but its by no means a mess. I just love the character it's got now and my tractor can ride right over the little ditch no problem.

I guess perhaps he is telling me to fix and cover the ditch with mat so it doesn't widen and make a bigger problem. I *might* be being impatient I suppose. I just wish I knew more, or had more people with eyes on it so I could get lots of advice versus just one fella.

rafaelroob said:

For any work that you could be interested in doing, it is preferable if the field in question is flat and level. You might want to make hay for feeding your livestock, in which case the field needs to be level in order for the mower to obtain a nice cut, etc. etc.

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Okay that makes sense but it's been cropland for a few years as it is now and the combine hasn't had any issue harvesting -- nor has my bushhog (tractor mower) had any issues mowing bits that I've wanted to mow.

I was reading that planting pasture on Soybean stubble is fine to go ahead and plant on and that's what I have right now. I'm just basically trying to see if I can skip the discing up and matting the drainage ditch, it's only a few inches wide and it's no trouble and of course its a natural barrier, we won't need to put a paddock across it.