Establishing A New Pasture

Reasons to establish a new pasture include moving from annual crops to perennial pasture or forage, or to improve an existing pasture that is not producing very well. When planning to seed new pastures there are a few questions that you should ask yourself before actually starting the process. An existing pasture that is not very productive may respond to the application of fertilizer, but the response will not be nearly as significant or long term as reseeding and getting productive species established in the field.

What is the intended purpose of the new seeding?

Do you want early-season grazing or late-season grazing?
Are you going to cut it for stored forage sometimes ?
Is this pasture going to stay down for many years or is it part of a farm crop rotation plan and will be planted to another crop in less than 10 years?
Pasture Species

If you want late-season and stockpiled grazing to be the main use of this pasture, then trefoil and tall fescue should likely be your predominate species. If you want early season pasture, then clovers, alfalfa and orchard grass should form the basis of the mix. Alfalfa will do very well on well drained soils, while poorly drained soils are better to be seeded to clovers and trefoil.

Many people are overly cautious about including alfalfa in a pasture. With proper management, an alfalfa based pasture will give you the best animal performance along with the highest yields of quality forage. Alfalfa's deep roots and heat tolerance make it the obvious choice for mid- to late-summer grazing. With a good rotational grazing system and best management practices, it will be very successful.

There are a number of grass species that should be considered. My preference is for orchard grass because of its early spring growth, rapid regrowth, and once the seed head is removed it stays vegetative for the rest of the growing season. Meadow brome is also an excellent pasture species. Timothy is often found in mixes but it has poor summer re-growth. Other grass species that warrant consideration include ryegrass (especially for a short duration pasture), reed canary grass, festolium (cross between ryegrass and fescue) and possibly bluegrass (especially for a long term pasture). There is a good description of forage species in the OMAFRA Publication 811, Field Crop Agronomy Guide at www.omafra.gov.on.ca/english/crops/pub811/3species.htm

Soil Fertility

Soil fertility is a major consideration. The new seeding will not perform very well if the pH is too low, or if the phosphorous and or potassium levels are low. Pasture fertilizer rates based on soil tests are also in the Agronomy Guide. www.omafra.gov.on.ca/english/crops/pub811/3fertility.htm

Seeding

Forages can be no-tilled or planted into a tilled seed bed. The seed bed should be firm enough to allow for good depth control and seed-to-soil contact. Forage seeds are very small and should be planted 7-10 mm (1/4 - ½ in) deep. The use of a companion crop is optional. If using a companion crop, consider using oats harvested as haylage or baleage at the boot to very early heading stage. This will eliminate the competition effect from the companion crop and allow the new seedling every opportunity to grow during July and August. The field should not be grazed until the forage plants are well rooted. Cattle tear the pasture plants off, and if they are not fully anchored in the soil they will be pulled out!

Planting the appropriate species into a reasonably fertile seed bed should give you a productive pasture for many years.

Source: OMAFRA