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  Discussion on KY Bluegrass/Birdsfoot Trefoil Pasture?
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Member:
kpaint

Posted on Sunday, Feb 14, 2010 - 8:13 pm:

Well, now that most of the elk have been kicked off the farm, I'll have to renovate 3 pastures which have been sown with oats or alfalfa in the past. Soooo, I've been reading and reading about what to plant. Currently the horses eat pure Orchard Grass Hay. If KY Bluegrass is grown, PU recommends the legume Birdsfoot Trefoil to be grown with it in my geographic region.

Does anyone have a horse pasture with this grass/legume combo?

Or maybe I should stick with Orchard Grass...
Member:
scooter

Posted on Sunday, Feb 14, 2010 - 8:51 pm:

I always considered birdsfoot a weed

Vicki if your horses can tolerate a legume, which I think birdfoot is along the lines of clover? than that should work. I think the reason clovers/legumes are planted along with grass is to provide nitrogen to the ground and energy for the horses. As Dr.O. said in my clover experiment it is a good source of energy/protein for working horses... not so much for the easy keepers that aren't worked much.

We ripped up half the horse pasture when we built the machine shed and just seeded it down with a pasture mix grass...with NO legumes. It grew well this fall and I expect I will fertilize it this spring, but at least I won't have to kill all of the clover again

SOOO I suppose it depends on your situation and if your horses need the extra energy of legumes... if it is anything like clover it eventually takes over the whole pasture...around here anyway!
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Monday, Feb 15, 2010 - 8:47 am:

Considering you have Haflingers Vicki, I would consider a straight grass pasture, at least where they graze.
DrO
Member:
ajudson1

Posted on Monday, Feb 15, 2010 - 8:53 am:

Up here I've always planted clover with a horse pasture seed mix. I only do frost seedings, walking with a broadcast seeder, so my method needs me to do the clover. The clover (and I think alfalfa) grows really well in early spring and protects the other new grasses coming up. I am not sure how much of the other stuff I get growing this way, but I do have green pastures.

I don't like orchard grass because it's a "clump" grass and I mow the pastures on a small JD garden tractor and don't like those clumps. The horses don't seem to be crazy about it either.

I think I skipped the Trefoil last time.

Since we now own one of those pull behind weed sprayers, my clover will be knocked out every summer when we kill weeds.

We currently have a bare spot where we took the fence down to make a new driveway. I will do a frost seeding of the clover, and then before spring rains are done, I'll go over it with the pasture mix.

I've never had clover take over the pasture, it lives only 2 years here. Some are supposed to live 3 years, but I only count on 2 years of life.

Best to visit other horse people who have wonderful pastures. I find my county ag guys just reads off the internet when I ask him questions! "City learned" don't help in the boonies! And your area is unique...so what applies for me, or Diane, may not apply for your place.
Member:
kpaint

Posted on Monday, Feb 15, 2010 - 10:36 am:

After I posted, I immediately thought the same as you Diane and Dr. O...why in the world would I plant a legume when I have the Hoover-o-matics? I killed all of the clover last year. Too many calories and the slobbers were gross with the Hafies. I was telling myself to avoid clovers and alfalfa mixes because of too many calories. Duh. A legume is a legume.

So, I'm going with a straight KY Bluegrass "Empire" seed thus far. From what I've read here, PU, Illinois, and KY university sites, the Bluegrass tolerates shorter grazing than Orchard Grass. BG can be grazed down to 2-3" while the OG is recommended 3-4". And the BG should be grazed at 4-6" while the OG should be grazed when it is 6-8". My horses love the OG hay we have so I was thinking of staying with the same; however, I'm hoping to keep pastures shorter to cut down on the BUGS since Diva has the bubble wrap looking reaction to mosquitoes, midges, etc....

What do you think of that plan? Or will it cut down on the bugs at all having shorter pastures?
Member:
kpaint

Posted on Monday, Feb 15, 2010 - 10:58 am:

Angie, I wasn't fond of the "clump" look either with the OG. I was hoping for a nice somewhat "turf" look in the pastures as they can be seen from the road. I like tidy whenever possible... And supposedly the BG forage is more turf like although not like lawn turf.

I have several advantages being that we farm and have the equipment as well as landscaping and heavy equipment due to the construction business we do. So I hope I can get a decent stand as BG takes awhile. We have a straw blower and I talked to the husband about strawing the renovated pastures to keep the soil/seed wet as it takes 28 days for the BG to break thru. We seeded a large new lawn with BG turf (not forage) seed last spring and it worked out well but the customer was nervous with the longer germination period. Everyone wants green NOW. But he wanted the BG turf so he had to wait longer. We got lucky and hit the weather right and the lawn looked great.

If the weather doesn't cooperate, the Hoovers may not be on the new pasture this year as I don't want to destroy it. I've read it takes 2 yrs sometimes w/ BG. We'll see. Another advantage I have is husband's Farmer Pride.
As the pastures can be seen from the road, I'm sure he doesn't want to take any guff from the other farmers about a crappy stand of BG. Which would then lead to guff about the crazy wife and all the hoops he "has" to jump through for me. Yada, yada.

I've been reading about rotational grazing and hope to employ that method. I'll have to electric braid rope off areas so the horses Hoover down a smaller, somewhat uniform area as they spot graze and I'd like to minimize that. And husband was talking about having a couple feeder calves, so perhaps I could turn them in the area if there are spots to "clean up" that the horses have left. I hope with some planning and foresight that I don't make a ton of extra work for myself. We'll see.
Member:
stek

Posted on Monday, Feb 15, 2010 - 4:45 pm:

Vicki, you're right that BG can take a while to take hold, but it does make a really nice turf once it's established.

I have seen it do well in pastures back east mixed with endophyte-free fescue, the fescue is pretty hard-wearing.

In general I prefer to mix grasses to get some early and some late maturing, and some that prefer more rain and some less etc to account for varying conditions. But you won't get as nice 'drive by' appeal that way :-)
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