# What grass for a pasture?



## The Wizard (Dec 20, 2009)

I am planning on putting an new piece of farmland into pasture for my beef cattle.

My land is located in Texas, about half way 1.5 hours SW of Houston.

Most people plant Bermuda but I was hoping I could find something that was effective for cattle without the great fertilizer expense.

Thanks in advance.


----------



## UpNorth (Jun 15, 2009)

No matter how you fertilize your field you're going to need to put something down if your soil tests come back low. If you cut the fertilizer rate you probably will give up yield to some degree. That being said a drought year can kill any fertility program if there isn't water for the plants. How dry is it in your part of TX?

Has the soil been tested and what type of soil is it? From there you can make a priority of what is the most important nutrient(s) to apply.

Lower input/alternative fertility programs can produce tolerable and sometimes improved yields, but they require really good management because what you put on HAS to be efficiently used by the grass. A good example of this would be putting urea down right before a light rain. An even better example would be applying a liquid form of a fertilizer right after the cows were move off pasture.

Do you have access to manure? If you do it will improve your feritily in most cases. We actually have the problem of too much of it up here on some farms.

Finally are you a rangeland grazer or a management intensive rotational grazer? I'm guessing being from TX you have the rangeland grazing system on your farm.


----------

