# Seeding new Pasture.....Input please!



## justin_mo (Mar 27, 2011)

Just joined this site, as it looks to offer some good knowledge. I am currently debating what grass/mix to plant on a couple new paddocks. I am in West Central MO, and my soil is mostly excellent with some clay in spots. Most of my pasture is currently in fescue with lots of white clover, some red clover, and some native grasses showing up. Rotational grazing has been a huge benefit to species diversification! I am needing more warm season grass to supplement the fescue.

I am currently looking at planting:
-switchgrass
-a switchgrass/birdsfoot/big bluestem mix
-venture or palaton reed canary grass(I know its a cool season, but it just seems to grow at all times)
-or one of the two canary grasses with a legume of some kind
-crabgrass with a legume

Thoughts/opinions? Will be seeding after I get the forage rye grazed off late next month.
Thanks for reading.


----------



## swmnhay (Jun 13, 2008)

Here ya go.

Beef Builder Pasture Mix


----------



## tommystunes (May 26, 2010)

Looking at the seed mix swmnhay suggested,you may be a little far south for some those grasses.My suggestion would be to not reinvent the wheel.Look at what your neighbors have success with , and do something similar.

all warm season grasses have pros and cons.

My knowledge is a little limited to my area (still further south),but crabgrass is great forage here,but you need to break soil every year for it to reseed properly.

Bluestem is hard to establish and is easy to overgraze.

Maybe check with county ag extension for suggestions...


----------



## Highwater (Jan 20, 2009)

Perennial warm season grasses can be pain to get established and a pain to keep up with at least in this part of the country, but they do fill a whole in a grazing calender. Have you thought about using annuals? here they work great to break up and kill fescue stands. With a millet/rye/millet rotation we can go back with an novel endophyte fescue and clover mix and not worry about the k31 bleeding into the high dollar fancy fescue. By the time we rotate through our pasture renovations we have ten years worth of warm season grazing with out ever planting a perennial grass. Here the best perennial warm season is the crabgrass that grows volunteer on the fescue pastures we overgrazed for one reason or another.


----------

