# Mixing Hay Seed



## weatherman (Dec 5, 2008)

Getting ready to sow new hay field Saturday. This would be the second time I've done this. First time bought the seed pre-mixed. I recently purchased 300 lbs of Alfalfa, 275 lbs Orchard Grass and 200 lbs rye grass. My local vendor is not open until Saturday morning that would normally mix the seed using a mixer. Looks like I will mix the seed by hand. Looking for tips and tricks.


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## slowzuki (Mar 8, 2011)

What are you seeding it with? I've tried some seed mixed that separates. My brillion has both seed boxes for small and medium sized seeds, I've had better luck keeping small stuff in the small box instead of mixing it in.


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## carcajou (Jan 28, 2011)

Do you have access to a clean cement mixer? Otherwise just lay out a clean tarp and mix with a scoop shovel. If your alfalfa is not innoculated remember to do so prior to combining your seeds. I have a plastic water trough that works nice for smaller batches.


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## prairie (Jun 20, 2008)

We mix dozens of truck loads of grain, cover crop, grass, and grass/legume mix seed every year. We have a mixer that will handle 15,000 lb+ batches and two small mixers that will do up to 400 lb batches. But we still do many small batch mixes on the floor with a scoop shovel, because it is faster and easier.
I would mix the orchardgrass and ryegrass together on the floor and run it through the grain box on a drill, and put the alfalfa by itself in the small seed/grass box of a drill. The ratios and types of seed you have are not going to stay mixed well, if you put all three together. If you only have one box on your seeder, I would seed the alfalfa first, then make a second pass at a 30-45 degree angle to the first pass with the grass seed. Make sure that depth is controlled so you don't bury the alfalfa seed with the second pass.
As a rule, once you get more than about 20-30% small seeded legumes mixed with grass seed, seperation may be an issue depending on the types of seed.


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

May I ask what you're shooting for far as mix once it's up? Sounds like an awful lot of OG seed. I usually plant around 15 pounds/acre of alfalfa seed and around 3lbs of OG seed.


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## weatherman (Dec 5, 2008)

mlappin said:


> May I ask what you're shooting for far as mix once it's up? Sounds like an awful lot of OG seed. I usually plant around 15 pounds/acre of alfalfa seed and around 3lbs of OG seed.


Thanks for the excellent suggestions. Looks like I fat-fingered the OG total. It's not 275lbs but 175lbs. Good catch. I'm custom hiring the prep work and planting. Originally, I was going to seed the field but a friend stepped up said he can do it all so now I don't have to rent the Brillion seeder. My end goal is a 50/50 mix. I'm using the rye grass as a cover crop. Ideally, alfalfa will go in around 14lbs/acre, OG around 8lbs/acre and rye around 8lbs/acre. I bought a little extra for overlap and Murphy's Law. If I don't use all the grass seed plan to frost seed early 2014 on a 7 acre field.

I don't know the make/model of the seeder but the friend says it has two boxes, one in front, bigger box, and rear box, smaller. If that is the case can the alfalfa go in the rear box and grass go in the front box. The plan is to make two passess at half the rate each. One pass the length of the field and the other pass at some angle.

So it looks like I only need to worry about mixing the grass seed either on a tarp or a clean cement mixer. I added the inoculate to the alfalfa last night. It was suggested to add Myco Seed Treatment to the seed in the boxes. Any experience with Myco Seed Treatment product?


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## R Ball (Feb 26, 2013)

We have always seeded our grass seed separate from our legume seed due to its size.
We use a much smaller broadcast seeder that will even fit on a rtv or atv . i think it does a better job. But I have seen it done both ways.


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## weatherman (Dec 5, 2008)

prairie said:


> I would mix the orchardgrass and ryegrass together on the floor and run it through the grain box on a drill, and put the alfalfa by itself in the small seed/grass box of a drill. The ratios and types of seed you have are not going to stay mixed well, if you put all three together. If you only have one box on your seeder, I would seed the alfalfa first, then make a second pass at a 30-45 degree angle to the first pass with the grass seed. Make sure that depth is controlled so you don't bury the alfalfa seed with the second pass.
> As a rule, once you get more than about 20-30% small seeded legumes mixed with grass seed, seperation may be an issue depending on the types of seed.


Thanks for the suggestion. I mixed the grass seed together using plastic tub concrete mixer. Four hours later, ready to go. The seeder has two boxes so I can seperate the alfalfa and grass mix. I'll spread at half the rate in one direction then spread the other half at an angle. Rain is coming early next week. Looking forward to Saturday.

Thanks for the tips and tricks hope to get a good stand.


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## weatherman (Dec 5, 2008)

Yesterday was a good day. Got the seed in the ground, waiting on the rain.


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## prairie (Jun 20, 2008)

weatherman said:


> ...I mixed the grass seed together using plastic tub concrete mixer. Four hours later, ready to go. ...


I have tried a cement mixer twice, the second time just to prove to myself that it does not work well with grass seed.
My wife or I could have mixed that amount of seed, with a scoop shovel on the floor and re-bagged it, in about 30 minutes, 40 minutes maximum.
The trick is to layer it proportionally on the floor , then mix it with a scoop shovel. Yes, there is a technique to get it mixed quickly and thoroughly, but I or my wife don't know how to describe it. Either of us could could show you in minutes. A few employees never catch on, but most master it in a few batches. The biggest time killer is gathering the seed, and opening bags quickly. Learning to open and dump bags quickly is another technique that many employees never master, and therefore are no longer employed. Today, my wife just opened and dumped into bulk boxes, 300 bags (15,000 lbs) of forage peas by herself. She can open and dump a pallet of 50 polyweave pea bags (2500 lbs) in less than 20 minutes. We try to get as many bulk tote bags in as we think we need, but things don't always go as planned.
Our mixing charges are as follows, but do not even come near covering costs. we are contemplating adding at least $0.02-$0.03/lb to all rates.
Small Quantities/Partial Bags $0.10/lb, (under 250-300 lbs)
Mixing & Bagging, 50 lb bags $0.05/lb
Mixing & Bagging, 25 lb bags $0.10/lb
Mixing & Bagging, bulk totes $0.04/lb
Mixing & Bagging, bulk into truck/tender $0.03/lb


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## weatherman (Dec 5, 2008)

prairie said:


> I have tried a cement mixer twice, the second time just to prove to myself that it does not work well with grass seed.
> My wife or I could have mixed that amount of seed, with a scoop shovel on the floor and re-bagged it, in about 30 minutes, 40 minutes maximum.


Lesson learn on the first bag, didn't mix has expected. I layered the bags and got good results. I was up against time to get this done. Using the cement mixer allowed me to get other things done while it mixed for 10-15 minutes. Your wife is quite impressive. I'll bet your favorite employee.


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