Overseeding land poached by sheep

[Llmmm]

Are you saying to overseed now or wait till silage is cut then overseed.I would like to improve the pasture and i just felt with all the clay present it would be a good oportunity to fill in the gaps better have grass growing than weeds

Ill take photo later of field

 

[Great In Grass]

Ill take photo later of field

Would it like this?

 

[Great In Grass]

Are you saying to overseed now or wait till silage is cut then overseed.I would like to improve the pasture and i just felt with all the clay present it would be a good oportunity to fill in the gaps better have grass growing than weeds

Overseed now with either option but if you go with a proper re-seed mixture it will be a later cut of silage compared the Italian ryegrasses.

 

[Llmmm]

Would it like this?

Its much much worse if it was like that i would be happy

 

[Llmmm]

Overseed now with either option but if you go with a proper re-seed mixture it will be a later cut of silage compared the Italian ryegrasses.

How late would i have to leave cutting

 

[ollie989898]

If it is that bad it might want properly reseeding but can't tell without photos.

IRG/westerwolds take your pick largely. Seed cost is going to be the least of your worries if there is no grass to make forage from.

 

[hally]

Just round up it and totally reseed it, if you are farming sheep short term grasses are not ideal for grazing . If it’s badly poached odds are weed grasses will come back and outcompete any establishment this time of year and if you are going to cultivate/dd for ww or irg why not just put a decent dual purpose and then it’s done for a number of years, it’s getting expensive putting in short term grasses unless in a rotation. Use it as a good excuse to put in a ley that will suit your system.

 

[ollie989898]

Just round up it and totally reseed it, if you are farming sheep short term grasses are not ideal for grazing . If it’s badly poached odds are weed grasses will come back and outcompete any establishment this time of year and if you are going to cultivate/dd for ww or irg why not just put a decent dual purpose and then it’s done for a number of years, it’s getting expensive putting in short term grasses unless in a rotation. Use it as a good excuse to put in a ley that will suit your system.

Depends on the nature of the farm/land. In a dry year you might get nothing growing any sense until it rains in July... Also a brand new ley won't stick being trodden by sheep all winter as well as an older one?

 

[hally]

Depends on the nature of the farm/land. In a dry year you might get nothing growing any sense until it rains in July... Also a brand new ley won't stick being trodden by sheep all winter as well as an older one?

If it’s direct drilled that will make no difference, the top of the ley is preserved.
If it becomes dry, not as big a problem in the borders as down your way, then what ever you do will be a waste of time but you have to take a risk in farming or you would never do anything. The op will know better if the field is a dry one or if he is in a drier area. We have a lot of customers in his neck of the woods and they rarely have the issues with dry weather than you guys further south, although last year was an exception. Around here 10times more reseed failures due to wet weather than dry.

 

[Derrick Hughes]

Are you saying to overseed now or wait till silage is cut then overseed.I would like to improve the pasture and i just felt with all the clay present it would be a good oportunity to fill in the gaps better have grass growing than weeds

OK. 3 advantages for overseeding now . You have moisture in the soil , your old thin ley will be made up of late grasses and things like meadow grass that are slow getting away in the spring . If you bang some early. Tertatraploids into that moisture they will be away before that old ley recovers, you also gain full advantage of it this year
If you do it after after silage . You may have a very dry seedbed and you are up against the old grass coming back at you

But we are all commenting by the information given and not what we have seen

Like I said the other option is chemical suppression which I have done a fair bit of and works very well . But again you will lose a lot of your production

 

[Ffermer Bach]

Ive no other silage ground its a large block away from farm the sheep are mine the ideal would be to house them forva short period when grass runs out in febuary on silage block but im only talking 6 weeks and most years its ok

why not try this

Western Seeds (WS) Arable Silage Our Western Seeds (WS) Arable Silage mixtures are a mixture of cereal and forage peas and are unique in the U.K. Our WS Arable Silage mixtures are designed to ensure the successful reseeding of a new ley in such a way that you get the full potential from the grass mixture sown, maximising profits over the length of the ley. Our WS Arable Silage is NOT a wholecrop. This is a common misunderstanding. Wholecrop is usually harvested in 15 to 16 weeks, when the grain is at cheesy stage. This is not good for re-seeding because the cereal cover is on the seedling grass for too long. The result is too much grass being lost due to lack of light and a thin weedy ley that doesn’t perform well. Our WS Arable Silage mixtures are harvested in just 9 to 10 weeks, yielding 6 x 600 Kilo (approx.) big bales per acre.

• No rats in the big bales or clamps – because there is no grain in the arable silage for them to eat • Makes up for any loss of herbage production when sowing grass in spring • Allows you to produce a weed-free, thick, dense new ley which is clean (worm-free) in just 9-10 weeks • Better establishment of clover, especially red clover

and undersown with a grass ley

 

[neilo]

why not try this

Western Seeds (WS) Arable Silage Our Western Seeds (WS) Arable Silage mixtures are a mixture of cereal and forage peas and are unique in the U.K. Our WS Arable Silage mixtures are designed to ensure the successful reseeding of a new ley in such a way that you get the full potential from the grass mixture sown, maximising profits over the length of the ley. Our WS Arable Silage is NOT a wholecrop. This is a common misunderstanding. Wholecrop is usually harvested in 15 to 16 weeks, when the grain is at cheesy stage. This is not good for re-seeding because the cereal cover is on the seedling grass for too long. The result is too much grass being lost due to lack of light and a thin weedy ley that doesn’t perform well. Our WS Arable Silage mixtures are harvested in just 9 to 10 weeks, yielding 6 x 600 Kilo (approx.) big bales per acre.

• No rats in the big bales or clamps – because there is no grain in the arable silage for them to eat • Makes up for any loss of herbage production when sowing grass in spring • Allows you to produce a weed-free, thick, dense new ley which is clean (worm-free) in just 9-10 weeks • Better establishment of clover, especially red clover

and undersown with a grass ley

I’m tempted to try some of that myself, but wondered about weeds getting established well too, as you obviously couldn’t spray them out as seedlings.

 

[Valtra Man]

I’m in the same situation with a rape an Italian I put in last year. Absolutely smashed it with lambs as it was so wet and had no option so the Italians a bit thin. System usually works well for me to cut once then spray off a short second cut and reseed. I only drilled this with an aitchinson so the gaps between slots are wide without the lack of grass in drill lines.
My plan was to scratch a bit of Italian or wester wolds in to thicken it up as I need the silage but would you say leave that and complete long term reseed next year or just cut losses and wipe it out in the autumn and reseed this year whilst it’s bare?
I don’t want to wipe it out now and put a long term in as cutting it here when it’s new seed is a no go as we are steep so it cuts up too much to risk ruts and killing new plants.

 

[Derrick Hughes]

I’m in the same situation with a rape an Italian I put in last year. Absolutely smashed it with lambs as it was so wet and had no option so the Italians a bit thin. System usually works well for me to cut once then spray off a short second cut and reseed. I only drilled this with an aitchinson so the gaps between slots are wide without the lack of grass in drill lines.
My plan was to scratch a bit of Italian or wester wolds in to thicken it up as I need the silage but would you say leave that and complete long term reseed next year or just cut losses and wipe it out in the autumn and reseed this year whilst it’s bare?
I don’t want to wipe it out now and put a long term in as cutting it here when it’s new seed is a no go as we are steep so it cuts up too much to risk ruts and killing new plants.

If its pure Italian and thin why can't you stitch in some long term grass and clover

 

[neilo]

If its pure Italian and thin why can't you stitch in some long term grass and clover

Or even IRG & rape (or annual clovers) again?

 

[Ffermer Bach]

I’m tempted to try some of that myself, but wondered about weeds getting established well too, as you obviously couldn’t spray them out as seedlings.

I am organic, so have to just look the other way at weeds!

 

[Derrick Hughes]

I am organic, so have to just look the other way at weeds!

Dad never sprayed a,crop in his life and was not organic, he farm was more or less weed free . His system was to nip weeds in the bud . Thats why he would not entertain whole crop ideas that let weeds mature and seed

 

[Kevtherev]

I’m late to the party again it seems!

 

[ollie989898]

If it’s direct drilled that will make no difference, the top of the ley is preserved.
If it becomes dry, not as big a problem in the borders as down your way, then what ever you do will be a waste of time but you have to take a risk in farming or you would never do anything. The op will know better if the field is a dry one or if he is in a drier area. We have a lot of customers in his neck of the woods and they rarely have the issues with dry weather than you guys further south, although last year was an exception. Around here 10times more reseed failures due to wet weather than dry.

I've known weird fields where they are sited wrong and get too much wind/dry, but take your point, I hadn't noticed the OP was that far north.

 

[Kevtherev]

Soil test ph before anything else
If it’s really bad condition then maybe disc it up and put fodder crop or Italian on it then reseed at a later date.
Without actually seeing the field it’s a job to advise on here.