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Planting a new pasture questions.

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Andy

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I have some farmground that I am going to put back into pasture. I have the watering and fenceing figures out. Now I need to figure out what to plant. I am thinking a grass legume mix, but am not sure as to what grasses would work the best. I am looking for something that will produce alot of forage, as I am limited in the amount of land I have, and I need to show bigger numbers to the banker so I can buy some more land. So if you could have the ideal pasture what would it be? We get about 16-18 inches of rain per year with most coming in spring and fall, july is uasually very dry here. It will be on good ground but there is gravel under alot of it, so something with deeper roots does best.
 
Northern Ranchers has the best idea! Just drive around the area and see what some of the upscale breeders use.

Being from Texas, I don't anything about SD grasses but I did find this link that might help. Looks like Bluestem might be a good possibility for you as a warm-season grass.

http://agbiopubs.sdstate.edu/articles/EC890.pdf
 
If you are using it for cows you also need to take into account what season you will use it and if that is breeding season or not. Crested might be just great if you want something to turn into early and graze it short until the native pastures come on, but if you already have crested pastures, that may be your worst option because I have had poor conception and poor weights on crested pastures that I was forced to use in July and August. Start by picking a time of year to use it and then pick the grasses that are good at that time.
 
Besides copying what the neighbours are doing, copy what Mother Nature is doing in your area. Look at native pastures. Diversity is the key. The more species you can seed the better. There is no such thing as a monoculture in Nature's model. The only monocultures grown are ones that man has created/planted.

We recently seeded pasture down, and used 5 different grasses and 5 legumes in the mix. That doesn't come close to what you find if you do a species count on real healthy native range. You'll likely find 20 or more species. Of course some are more predominant than others, but they all co-exist.

If you only plant crested wheat, or only plant alfalfa, you limit yourself right from Day 1 as far as what you can do with the land. You'll have forage, but you'll be shifting things to try and accomodate the forage. You'll be trying to graze the crested early, then where do the cows go? Or you'll be trying to avoid the alfalfa early to avoid damaging crowns and such. It's like trying to change a ranch to accomodate cows that don't belong there - same blind theory. If you seed a really diverse mix of species, you build resiliency into your grazing plan, as you'll be able to use it when you see fit, year round.
 
Looking at your neigbors is good advice. The problem is there is very little healthy stands of grass around here. Most has either been overgrazed or grazed exactly the same for so many years that they have damaged the stands,(the tame brome has taken over). I have found a seed dealer about 120 miles away that works alot with reseeding pastures. We are looking at a couple differint mixtures but will at least be 4-5 differint grasses and 2 types of legumes. I will keep you posted as to what we end up doing.
 

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