# Grass Mix



## bhounds (Jul 31, 2009)

Hello, was looking for a grass mixture, but can’t find what I am looking for. I wanted a mix of timothy, birds foot, broom and orchardgrass . Alfalfa would be ok, but it will not grow well on my soil. Will the birdsfoot be a good sub for the alfalfa? This will be for balage and dry hay. Any suggestions? Thanks, John


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## swmnhay (Jun 13, 2008)

bhounds said:


> Hello, was looking for a grass mixture, but can't find what I am looking for. I wanted a mix of timothy, birds foot, broom and orchardgrass . Alfalfa would be ok, but it will not grow well on my soil. Will the birdsfoot be a good sub for the alfalfa? This will be for balage and dry hay. Any suggestions? Thanks, John


Have it custom mixed.
What is your soil type.poor drained?low PH?
Were are you located?


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## bhounds (Jul 31, 2009)

I just bougt the farm this past April. I have not had the soil tested yet. The ground is not well drained. Water will stand for quite a while.


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## UpNorth (Jun 15, 2009)

Have you thought of red clover?


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## prairie (Jun 20, 2008)

bhounds said:


> Hello, was looking for a grass mixture, but can't find what I am looking for. I wanted a mix of timothy, birds foot, broom and orchardgrass . Alfalfa would be ok, but it will not grow well on my soil. Will the birdsfoot be a good sub for the alfalfa? This will be for balage and dry hay. Any suggestions? Thanks, John


John,

Where are you located?
Average annual rainfall?
What is "broom" ?
How long does the water stand? Hours, days, weeks?

With the information we have so far, I would consider the following in a mix, using at least three grasses and two legumes:
Timothy
Meadow Fescue
Tall Fescue ( endophyte free or friendly endophyte types)
Perennial Ryegrass
Festulolium
Meadow Brome
Creeping/Meadow Foxtail 
Quackgrass








Alsike Clover
Birdsfoot Trefoil (excellent sub. for alfalfa, where alfalfa struggles)
Medium Red Clover


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## rank (Apr 15, 2009)

Birds Foot takes forever to cure. Maybe longer.


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## bhounds (Jul 31, 2009)

I haven't thought of red clover, due to it's drying time. I guess I wasn't aware of the drying time for Birds foot. I have a short window to do hay. I work full time as a paramedic and also run my own butcher shop here in NEPA. I am also trying this year to do some of the fieldwork with my draft horses. So far have only used them to rake with. 
The yearly rainfall is 40.26 inches. Average per month, from April to September is 4.15 inches. This year is exceptionally wet. Rains every day if not every other. The best window that I have had is 3 days. I was speaking of Brome grass. Sorry for the misspelling, actually I did think that it was called broomgrass. Anyhow the fields are old. The last time anything was done was 9 years ago. The water will stand for a few days.


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## mulberrygrovefamilyfarm (Feb 11, 2009)

Based on everything you said you are doing and the time that you probably have I would look specifically at grasses. They are much more forgiving as far as drying and management are concerned.


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## swmnhay (Jun 13, 2008)

If its realy wet ground another option would be low akaloid Reed Canarygrass.It will survive in standing water,alot of tons.It needs to be cut early for best feed value.


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## UpNorth (Jun 15, 2009)

I agree with SWMNHAY on considering low alkaloid reed canarygrass in your mix. If you do go with it you'll need to pay attention at establishment as reed canarygrass takes awhile to get up out of the ground and doesn't compete well with early season. Taking an early cutting or having some of the other grasses in your mix should help establish reed canarygrass.


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## prairie (Jun 20, 2008)

I would not consider reed canarygrass in a mix with other grasses.
It would work well alone, as a pure stand, or with a legume. 
I have mixed it with other grasses for myself and customers several times, generally with negative long term results. 
Reed canarygrass has enough of a different growth pattern and specific harvest management requirements, that it doesn't mix well with other cool season grasses. Also it can be very competitive and agressive, and generally takes over in wet or sub-irrigated conditions.
Excellent yield and quality when harvested at the right stage, but timing is critical. If harvested just a little to late, it can look excellent, but be only bedding or grinding hay.


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## UpNorth (Jun 15, 2009)

Prairie,

How do you establish your pure reed canarygrass stands? We need to put something else in with it the first year and like you said let the reed canarygrass take over. I would think a guy would have some trouble getting the reed canarygrass to establish without something else in it to compete with the annual weeds. You do bring some good points as far as the timing of the harvest--the stems can really knock the value down.

Geoff Brink with the USDA Forage Research Center did some recent work comparing stem and leaf fractions of some cool season grasses throughout the growing season. Click on the link below

http://www.ars.usda.gov/sp2UserFile...entations/Getting_More_from_Forages/Brink.pdf

Slides 39, 42, and 43 have the numbers comparing the grasses.


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