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Grass seed in the mineral

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Big Muddy rancher

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Grassfarmer mentioned that he renews pastures by putting a legume seeds in his mineral and lets the cattle distribute for him. Great idea and i want to try this. Has anybody tried it in drier climates? From where he lives to me is like the difference between western and eastern Montana or maybe Harding county SD to a corn field in Iowa.
Where I live we don't really have topsoil. Do you think I could get some alfalfa started in some old Crested Wheat stands?
 
I don't know how it would work in your drier climate BMR but I'd sure try it. We have had best success under our conditions with alsike clover, very good with red clover too but complete failure with cicer milk vetch. A guy 25 miles away had great success with cicer milk vetch. I have never tried alfalfa as I prefer to work with clovers.
I think this system suits some seeds better than others but in general I think it would be a good way to establish new plants and might even work better for you in drier conditions with a less dense thatch on the ground surface. The seeds are sown in a ready made moisture/fertility package and we quite often come on an old manure patty with clover growing out of it like a patch of cress. The beauty of the alsike is the cost/seed numbers per lb. We paid $1.95/lb for seed and alsike has around 1.5 million seeds per pound!! It's a cheap way to reseed.
 
Anik alfalfa

http://www.spiritviewranch.com/classifieds.htm

I do not know if you can get the seed out of canada but this variety of alfalfa sounds interesting.
 
BMR in your country I'd try it first with plain old sweet clover-it will grow on a gravel pile and the seed id pretty cheap as far as I know.sprinkling seed around your salt boxes works pretty good as long as you keep moving them.
 
It's awful dry and not much topsoil here either. I've been meaning to try it for some time as I've seen neighbours have good success with alsike / red clover. Around here it would be in bush pastures so it doesn't seem to me that alfalfa would be a good bet, but try a little and see what you get I suppose.
 
I know of quite a bit of Cicer Milkvetch that was seeded that way.
We have had great luck with topdressing alfalfa seed on the the manure spreader.
 
A blast from the past. Has anyone tried Anik Alfalfa or know where seed might be available in the US?
 
Does anyone know if that Anik alfalfa is related to the Falcata alfalfa developed at SD State University many years ago? I believe it was from stands found in NW area of SD, planted by farmers who emigrated from Russia.

mrj
 
A neighbor of mine tried Anik and really liked it. Very fine and soft, loaded with leaves. Hardiness is yet to be determined.
 
I have tried Anik alfalfa, and love it. We seeded it in some absolute blowsand that had a pH of 4.8, and organic matter levels around 0.5%. It caught, and with careful grazing and long rests for the first 2 years, it is highly productive in a stand with another variety of alfalfa and some meadow brome. The stand is now 6 years old and more productive than ever. It's not a heavy yielding hay variety due its small, fine stems and leaves, but is excellent for grazing. Responds well, and is extremely hardy, very tolerant of grazing and/or winters.

Seed came from Peter Lundgard at Grimshaw in the Peace Country of Alberta. He's a good friend of mine and sells alfalfa seed and cutter bees all over Western Canada. If anyone wants his number just msg me.

In sandy soil you almost always have a low pH, so clovers don't do well usually. We've had good luck establishing alfalfas and milkvetch through mineral, although it's patchy at best, which is to be expected. I like doing it in patches of buckbrush, silver willow, leafy sphurge or any other "undesirable", so you can get something competitve there working for you. The hoof action, manure and urine in those concentrated areas always helps with establishment of course.

I've posted pics before of the alfalfa/meadow brome stands we established in the sandy field, and it all had Anik alfalfa in it.
 
we have dry sandy low ph soils . But have a high water table & very high phosphorus levels . Alsack & red clovers & birdsfoot treefoil will grow thatway here at least . Birdsfoot is growing all down the cow trails in the woods from their manure . takes time though .
 
mrj said:
Does anyone know if that Anik alfalfa is related to the Falcata alfalfa developed at SD State University many years ago? I believe it was from stands found in NW area of SD, planted by farmers who emigrated from Russia.

mrj
Click to expand...

The research papers on yellow alfalfa indicates yes to anik being a falcata type of alfalfa. Does anyone know of a source for a small amount of yellow alfalfa -falcata seed?
 
We had a good take of grass and vetch/clover where we put bales of mature (seeded) hay onto denuded parts of the veld, an old mine spoil heap on a neighbours' property was restored to grass by putting down a mixture of seeded hay and wheat straw, the spoil was totally devoid of any foliage for about 50 years prior to the mob grazing of the bales.
 
This summer we had Jim Gerrish up here on a four day pasture walk on four different places in four different geo climactic zones. One place was grazing mustard under center pivot irrigation to control it as it was out competing alfalfa that was planted the year before. Someone brought up the idea that it was believed that you could spread seed by running it through the cows first simply by mixing it in with the mineral. Jim claimed that they had done studies to see if it would work with several types of legumes and grass and found that very few seeds survive the trip through the cow and certainly not enough to spread it in that manner cost effectively. He felt it was better to broadcast the seed ahead of the cattle and use managed grazing to let the cows tilth it in. He would be able to give the specifics on the studies if you contact him. Hope this is helpful info.
 
An old topic - - - did any body get some of the yellow alfalfa seed and try it in their mineral? I was never able to find the seed but wanted to try a small plot and did not hear any more.
 
George,

We planted several hundred pounds of yellow alfalfa seed when reseeding some CRP. The only alfalfa that
came up was blue. We told the seed company and they replaced the entire shipment - and the new seed didn't do much
better. Quite a bit of the seed leaked in the delivery truck and I threw it out near my driveway. Although there were several
pound of seed involved, now a single plant grew.

I finally gave it up. True falcata comes from somewhere else.

CP
 
George, I put grass seed in my mineral this year. I can't tell you how it worked out but it should be good as we've had above average rainfall. I had a seed company make the mix for me. It was a blend of native varieties. Big Blue, Little Blue, Side oats, Indian Grass were some I can remember. I mixed it in early in the grazing season when the cows manure would be nearly liquid. I quit when pink eye started and my attention was diverted towards that. Cows ate the mineral/grass seed mix without hesitation.

When I initially called to see about getting the seed, the salesman talked down to me. I could tell he thought I was delusional. He said to give him a couple of days and check back. When I did, he had an entirely different attitude. He said "This will work. I had no idea. Please let me know how this turns out for you."
 

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