Reseeding and Forage crops

[Grassman]

Have various grass fields needing reseeding over the next few years.
Mainly heavy clay land.
Option 1. Roundup, plough, power harrow x 2 roll, seed, roll.
Option 2. Roundup, direct drill, roll.
Option 3. ?

Would the direct drill option work for forage crops, kale, stubble turnips on heavy land?
Does ploughing help the surface drainage?

 

[Sheepfog]

Option 2 all day long. Check pH and P & K levels first and correct as necessary.

Direct drilling is much cheaper, conserves moisture in a dry summer (if we get one!) whereas ploughing can bring up horrible clay that takes ages to turn into a seedbed. You may need to subsoil if there’s compaction before DD though.

We DD all forage and grass reseeds with a contractors moore unidrill.

 

[sticky]

option 2. I have just taken on 40 acres of old turf that has been abused and neglected for years, I had the fields sampled and they ranged from 5.5-5.8 p=0 k=2 (from memory) so I have booked the lime and pig slurry.Over the last week or so I have been weighing up my options and as I'm understocked for my grass area this season I have 90% persuaded myself to go down the reseeding route by spraying off, dd'ing forage rape and then dd'ing new grass. It will be an expensive start but should pay off over the coming years.

 

[M-J-G]

Are the fields level enough, or do they need a tidy up.

If they are ok, then DD, if not plough.

 

[Grassman]

Are the fields level enough, or do they need a tidy up.

If they are ok, then DD, if not plough.

All level enough.

 

[JD-Kid]

Have various grass fields needing reseeding over the next few years.
Mainly heavy clay land.
Option 1. Roundup, plough, power harrow x 2 roll, seed, roll.
Option 2. Roundup, direct drill, roll.
Option 3. ?

Would the direct drill option work for forage crops, kale, stubble turnips on heavy land?
Does ploughing help the surface drainage?

DD dose work OK but if realy old think matted turf it's harder work getting it going
here alot of old matted turf and find working frist year can help break up the turf then DD after that
know a few a few guys do 2 sprays with a fallow between then and go in to oats etc drilling deeper put on a heap of N to help break up turf
some of the cover crop type mixes with deep rooting plants will help too with drainage

 

[Clever Dic]

Hi we reseed about 600 acres every year and have been doing for probably 20 years these are mostly 2 year leys or Timothy.
Timothy is easy in that you always plough after it , there is so much turf to bury that discs / min till leave it all the sods on top for slugs to live under and also provides a cotton cushion for the rolls.
Over the years and we have a Moore uni drill we have DD about 20% of the acerage the rest gets 3x pass with short discs a sumo pass , roll and when ready a combi drill. Although not cheap you get one chance to reseed properly in the year and this gives the most reliable result. I do like DD in certain circumstances but more often than not after 2 years of haylage traffic there is enough surface compaction to make even depth of drilling with the Moore and a level playing field for the kit that we come back to a full works job.

 

[Bury the Trash]

Have various grass fields needing reseeding over the next few years.
Mainly heavy clay land.
Option 1. Roundup, plough, power harrow x 2 roll, seed, roll.
Option 2. Roundup, direct drill, roll.
Option 3. ?

Would the direct drill option work for forage crops, kale, stubble turnips on heavy land?
Does ploughing help the surface drainage?

No glyphosate needed unless there is docks or other weeds that need to be sorted or just glyphosate a 12m headlandland
then plough no more 7 - 8 inches deep

.lime if needed

when aired off roll before it dries out too much.
then pharrow once.
zig zag harrows one pass to level,
roll
broadcast seed.
very light harrow and roll to finish.

n.b. use cambridge type / arable rollers

 

[milkloss]

Hi we reseed about 600 acres every year and have been doing for probably 20 years these are mostly 2 year leys or Timothy.
Timothy is easy in that you always plough after it , there is so much turf to bury that discs / min till leave it all the sods on top for slugs to live under and also provides a cotton cushion for the rolls.
Over the years and we have a Moore uni drill we have DD about 20% of the acerage the rest gets 3x pass with short discs a sumo pass , roll and when ready a combi drill. Although not cheap you get one chance to reseed properly in the year and this gives the most reliable result. I do like DD in certain circumstances but more often than not after 2 years of haylage traffic there is enough surface compaction to make even depth of drilling with the Moore and a level playing field for the kit that we come back to a full works job.

Curious. What are short discs? And what time of year would be using them? We have a set of gallucho discs but I’m not too happy with the way they deal with the old turf, like you say a cotton cushion for the rolls if you’re not careful.

 

[Bury the Trash]

and (especially for spring reseeds )...only use a straight grass seed mix ..... so young broadleaf weeds can be taken out nicely....



....overcast clover at a later date...

 

[Still Farming]

Who sells forage crop seeds on here ?

 

[holwellcourtfarm]

Who sells forage crop seeds on here ?

@Great In Grass @Kevtherev

 

[Al R]

I saw something a few weeks ago where somebody who’s very keen and platemeters his fields etc split a field in two! Half was option 1, have was option 2. The extra grass in the first year alone paid for option 1, which I was really surprised about because I would have said option 2 too.

@Thick Farmer was there to - I’m not sure if Ben is on here but his findings were very interesting!

 

[Bury the Trash]

Have various grass fields needing reseeding over the next few years.
Mainly heavy clay land.
Option 1. Roundup, plough, power harrow x 2 roll, seed, roll.
Option 2. Roundup, direct drill, roll.
Option 3. ?

Would the direct drill option work for forage crops, kale, stubble turnips on heavy land?
Does ploughing help the surface drainage?

Using option 1.
the seed could be IR or westerwolds which can be a good 'pioneer'crop (ime).cheaper to grow..easier to use than forage crops with no metabolic problems in the livestock plus a cut or 2 wopuld possible ..it will last longer and you can use simpler sprays to clean up broadleaves of course,if nescessary .

then after a year or so ...up to 2 years use.. option 2 ..to put down your final grass mix ...but dd'ing will mean to passes at angles or it will be possibly too big a gap between .

 

[Digory]

and (especially for spring reseeds )...only use a straight grass seed mix ..... so young broadleaf weeds can be taken out nicely....



....overcast clover at a later date...

When is best to over sow clover? Autumn or Spring?

 

[ollie989898]

Short term leys are fine to DD in.

If you are grass to grass reseeding you are best to put kale in this May and graze that off first then reseed clean in August.

DD does work but the new ley can ve diggered in weed grasses within a few years as your seed bank isnt ploughed down which sort of defeats the savings.

 

[Great In Grass]

When is best to over sow clover? Autumn or Spring?

For clover you need soil temperatures of 10dC for 10 weeks for best establishment.

 

[Bury the Trash]

When is best to over sow clover? Autumn or Spring?

anytime from late spring to late summer ...obviously it needs a bit of moisture tho so normally late summer (early Sept at latest) ...would be better bet in that respect, no grazing either to let it establish safely as well.....