# rehabbing a field?



## prof fate (Jun 18, 2018)

Have about 22 acres of what has been used as horse pasture for 20 some years.

It's not getting grazed enough to keep it down, so the better half has been having it brush hogged a few time a year.

I'm thinking, now that we have a decent tractor, that we partitiion is off and turn 10-12 acres into hay fields - the smaller fenced areas will be more intensively used (6 horses at the moment, usually has 2 borders also, so 8) and instead of mowing for no reason can turn the un-pastured acres into hay and get something out of it. We're spending 4k or so a year on hay.

I've brush hogged it all and some of it is hay, a few acres pretty good (used to be well grazed and mowed paddocks..maybe 4 acres) but most of it is very weedy - last year before we got the tractor it was only brush hogged in mid august - so everything went to seed.

I'm mowing about 5" high and doing it just about the time the weeds flower but don't seed - read that this will increase hay and reduce weeds.

Is that enough?

Can we spray and with what?

And seeding new hay..how and when? All I've found is putting in new pasture...nothing on reseeding an existing pasture.


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## GOOD HAY (Aug 8, 2010)

I have done quite a bit of this kind of work over the years. I don't like to spray if I can help it. I believe that if the crop is thick enough there won't be room for weeds to get started. If you have spots of bare ground I would get seed on there to make the stand thicker. I have had best luck with that in the fall when it is cooler and generally a little more moisture to help germinate the seed. The trick to get over seeding to work is to get it in contact with the ground. I have spread with a broadcast seeder then harrowed to try to get the seed in contact with varying results. I am now using a regular drill behind a light disc and am having very good results. i talked about this in another post.

http://www.haytalk.com/forums/topic/85290-case-5100-grass-box-tubes/

I use DC red clover and Treasure timothy. Anyway, the main points, seed in contact with ground, do it when it is a bit cooler and moisture with be available. I like September, October after second cut because it is cooler,damper ( even the dew hangs around until noon) and not as much competition

from the existing crop. Good Luck


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## Hayman1 (Jul 6, 2013)

If you are going to use the hay yourself and you don't give/sell your manure to others like the mushroom guys, use grazon next, clean up the field now and then maybe use Cimmaron in late september to ward off any winter annuals. After that, you should be essentially free of weeds and you can no til orchard grass in early spring, I am guessing that is about april 1 for you but there are plenty of HT guys from PA that can tell you exactly. I suppose if I were doing it, I would spray grazon next now, to keep everything at bay for the summer then nuke it for a fall seeding. You could also do two nukings with Gly about 5-6 weeks apart, the second one no more than a week before you plant and you should have a clean seedbed for no till og.


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## pede58 (Oct 27, 2015)

I got one for ya'll, 5 acre patch with 3yr old RR alfalfa, construction tore up a good chunk in the spring and that was reseeded with waterway mix and the 4H kids that take care of this overseeded the rest with the same mix, makes it a little more saleable for them. Now the tore up part is coming good, the overseeding I can't tell but now I got to spray for thistles, any idea on what to use???? The way it looks now I got 40% waterway mix 60% RR alfalfa.


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