Is it possible to just throw down seed for grazing on poor soil with lots of weeds? My husband plowed about 2 acres and planted millet that came up ok, nothing to brag about but the goats, geese, chickens can graze. The thing is this field is not close to the goats housing/current pasture. I threw down millet seed over dry ground in the adjoining pasture where I want to fence in next to the goats. This ground is almost all weeds and poor soil and I have seen nothing since I seeded about a month ago. I tried the same thing in their current pasture. I know people rotate pastures and reseed, so what am I doing wrong? If my husband plows up everything we have this nice bumpy soil. Are we using our tractor wrong? Am I misunderstanding the concept of notill?

-- Lynn (johnnypfc@yahoo.com), July 20, 2001

Answers

Have been reading the books, "Malabar Farm", and "Pleasant Valley" by Louis Bromfield. He reclaimed several worn-out farms with his methods - and I don't know if I have it down right, but it seems that he'd analyze the soil, then spread lime & fertilizers, and just sort of "half-till" it under, mostly. Plowing seems to bury the stuff too deep so that the plants can't utilize it. He then always planted 4-5 different types of clovers to use as "green manure", and cut and tilled (not plowed) it under every year, or used it as pasture as needed. Took a couple of years, but the soils always responded, as he was able to give the soil what it needed - lime & fertilizer to get the clovers started good, then turning the clovers with their nitrogen into to the earth to be utilized. But he didn't always PLOW. He called it "trash farming", in that the farm implements he used didn't bury the grasses & clovers, don't know how to describe it - but plowing leads to erosion and topsoil flying away in the wind. His method left lots of dead plants and grasses sticking up to catch the rain. He did this for pasture for his beef, and also as preparation for planting corn, wheat, etc. He believed clovers to be the best green manure ever.

Don't know if I've described all this right - maybe someone else can put it into better words??

-- Bonnie (chilton@stateline-isp.com), July 20, 2001.

Lynn, The place we have was mostly swamp grass and weeds when we purchased it. Ran some drainage ditches and got a 6 steers for 16 acres. (Around here you pasture 1 per acre.)Limed and fertilized it all to the specifations of a soil report. Applied seed in the late fall and drug it with a harrow. We added more cattle as we went and let the neighbors put 22 cows with calves on it every winter. The manure went a long way. When we quit with cattle, we could graze 14 head even in dry summers without any supplemental feed. As for goats using the pasture, I would not be concerned about weeds. They are browsers, not grazers and actually prefer the weeds. They would be great way to clean up your pasture. We have Boer goats and a donkey now and the fence line has never been cleaner. They have an excellent lush pasture but prefer "the greener brush on the other side of the fence."

-- Terri Perry (teperry@stargate.net), July 20, 2001.

As I understand it, no-till farming implies a substantial use of herbicides to kill off the weeds that would otherwise be cleaned up by cultivation. This enables you to cut down on cultivation (you still have to plant the seed, but you can direct-drill that into the ground as above), and leave the vegetation standing with the results detailed above. Normally used for cropping. Whether you think this is a good thing on balance or not is up to you - it has its pros and cons.

As for fine seed scattered on the top of unworked ground - I'm sure the ants were grateful.

As for ploughing, it's a good start - it's not that you didn't use the tractor right - it's that you didn't use it enough. You need to go over it again with a harrow a few days later, when the furrows have had a chance to dry a bit (again as above - they're good, aren't they?) This levels out the furrows, and creates a good seed-bed into which seed can be sown in a consistent manner, and with good consistent contact with the soil so it can germinate well. Also lets you get the seed buried away from the birds and the ants. However (AGAIN as above) you don't want to overwork the soil too much, too often, or you leave it vulnerable to erosion - both by wind and water. Using it to establish a good permanent pasture (multiple clovers and other legumes, good mix of grasses for your area - does this also sound familiar?) is certainly justifiable, IMHO.

-- Don Armstrong (darmst@yahoo.com.au), July 20, 2001.

Probably fire ants, this place is still loaded with them and they get yhe seed on the soil and under it! Hopefully we have a harrow, or at least my husband knows what it is. I know we have a disc and a thing that looks like a drag bar. This is an old Farmall Tractor, that was let run down, but given a new life by the previous owner.

-- Lynn (johnnypfc@yahoo.com), July 20, 2001.

Lynn, if your thing that looks like a drag bar has a flat array of points that can stick down, then it's a harrow (you would probably pull several of these at once to make a fair width). If it's more or less just a bar then it's probably the thing that harrows would be attached to, then pulled round.

There is also a thing called a disc harrow, which is sort of like a very lightweight disc plough, but they're not very common.

-- Don Armstrong (darmst@yahoo.com.au), July 21, 2001.

Thank you for your help. We didn't have time to look today but will soon!

-- Lynn (johnnypfc@yahoo.com), July 21, 2001.

Lynn, just a note about broadcast seeding. It will work, but not at this time of year. Early spring (after the last hard freeze) when the ground is constantly moist is the best time.

-- Paula (chipp89@bellsouth.net), July 24, 2001.