fertilizing my pasture

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I never thought this would be such a difficult decision. I have over a hundred hours of research into this and I'm still flip flopping on what to do.

I have about 35 to 40 acres of grass (no legumes, some weeds). Last year it did miserably. I'm in zone 5 (bordering zone 4) in eastern washington state. I had soil tests done. My nitrogen level is near zero (2ppm). I have excess of P and K (81/112ppm,367ppm). My pH is 6.0 with a buffer index of 6.8. I took the samples in august during a drought, so my pH is most likely actually higher.

So the bottom line is that I need to add some nitrogen and it would be wise to raise the pH a bit.

I have decided to add 500 pounds of dolomitic lime per acre. I know it is debatable about whether I should add more or not, but my research suggests that you should not add more than this unless you intend to till it in. I'm thinking that I'm not going to till it in - this is just to help my pasture be more productive.

Oh yeah, here's another red letter item: It turns out that nearly all of my animals are not getting enough protein. I'm raising chickens, cattle, pigs and goats. (and earthworms that I hope to eventually feed to the chickens)

So the last issue is nitrogen.

It seems to me that in the long run I need to plant lots of legumes in my pastures. My land is pretty hilly. It seems that near the top (where it is dry) I should plant a stand of drought tolerant alfalfa. Maybe 80% alfalfa and 20% grass. Near the bottom of the hill (where there is a little more moisture) I should plant 20% alfalfa, 40% non bloating legumes and 40% grass.

Maybe I should not bother with the N just yet. Maybe I should just focus on getting the legumes going.

I think I'm giving up on any chemical N fertilization. I want to start on the road to organic certification soon. Plus, I want to raise the organic matter and the microbial/macrobial levels in my soils. It seems there are so many issues with the chemical approaches.... I'm thinking of getting a ton or two of feather meal on hand just to help out with smaller projects and maybe some parts of grass pasture that does not yet have legumes.

Oh yeah, I've also decided to get that soil microbial soup put on my soils. That should help with improving the overall health of the soil.

Well, by writing this all out, I feel I may have answered my own questions. Can anyone validate my plan or tell me how this won't work?

-- Paul Wheaton (paul@javaranch.com), April 13, 2002

Answers

Paul,

I am farming organically as well. If you are under in nitrogen, I would run some Cornish cross chickens in the pasture with your other animals. Put them in movable pens and have them follow behind the other animals to break up manure patties, etc.

I would take soil test results with a grain of salt. In times of rain, drought, cold and heat the results on the same pasture in the same year with vary considerably.

If you are talking about overseeding with the legumes (with a drill planter) that might work. If you were talking about tilling it up and redoing it, you are setting yourself at least 3 years behind because you will fight every weed seed that was dormant in the soil until you unearthed it. Check out information on grass based farming.

If you want overall increase in nitrogen now then add alfalfa meal, bloodmeal, or chicken manure to your pastures. You also have enough area to try different methods in different pastures.

The soil soup sounds like a great idea. I would be interested in your results on that.

Good luck! Amy

-- Amy Richards (amysgarden2@earthlink.net), April 13, 2002.


It is hard to remember that it takes a minimum of three years to get more from your land than what you put in.

Have you cross fenced the area to start doing rotation farming? That way, you can work one section at a time. Run your stock in a section to break the surface and eat the weeds and grass and lay manure. Move them to the next section. Lime and plant legumes on the first section.

You haven't really stated what your final goals are except to be organic. Are you planning on 40 acre of pasture or are your long range goals to have a different cash crops? Do you have irrigation or are you dry farming?

I'm glad you answered your own question.

-- Laura S. (Ladybugwrangler@hotmail.com), April 13, 2002.


I'm with Laura on this - what is your end goal? You had talked about some trees once I think, just a windbreak, or for harvest, or for fruit... All hay, all pasture, throw in some other crops - where do you want to be in 5 or 10 years other than just organic? Is this land supposed to add value to your bottom line, or is this a for-fun hobby to blow off steam?

If it's just for fun, dive in & do your plan, don't spend another 10 hours on it. :) If you seriously need to generate some income from the land sooner rather than later, go to the coop, have them apply what your soil needs, and get a crop off of it. Ease into the organic thing from there, maybe 10 acres at a time, after you get the soil balanced & weeds under control.

It all depends what you need in the short term, and where you want to be in the long term.

Oh, and if you need to make money, find a market for your organic stuff before going into it - it costs more to get a crop, and you could really hurt for income if you are just guessing on what to grow & don't have a plan of what to sell for how much.... Spend your long hours planning time on marketing, not fertilizer planning, if you are going into organics.

--->Paul

-- ramblerplm@hotmail.com (ramblerplm@hotmail.com), April 13, 2002.


These pastures are for hay and forage. Since my protein is low, I need to increase protein. I'm a bit phobic about bloat, so I don't want to get too carried away with alfalfa.

We were originally planning on doing organic beef - with 99% of the feed being grown on our land. We learned last fall that our land would not be able to support more than 6 head of cattle. So now we are exploring what would be a good fit for our land. We hope to try a little bit of many things and discover our niche. In the mean time, what we produce will be for our own use.

We have some other acres set aside for experiments with market gardens and green manures.

Right now, the big concern has been fertilizing the pasture, but I'm now thinking that I should focus more on starting legumes in the pasture. Starting legumes without fertilizing seems pretty smart because this way the legumes won't have as much grass competition.

-- Paul Wheaton (paul@javaranch.com), April 13, 2002.


Paul, do like someone else suggested, break the 40 acres up into say 4 parcels of 10 acres, then experiment. Adding clover to one parcel, maybe chickens or chicken manure on another etc etc. That way you can see what works best for you, you can then rotate your cattle through these pastures and they will fertilize more. Let us know what you decide, and the outcome.

-- Carol K (ck7951@bluefrognet.net), April 13, 2002.


Adding composts and manures was my first thought. Before the soil test results came in I had brought in 120 tons of manure and a couple of tons of straw and made a huge compost pile: http://www.richsoil.com/pigs.html

But the soil tests show phosphorus and potassium levels to be damn near toxic. Adding anything containing P or K seems like a bad idea. Gotta stick to stuff that is pure N.

-- Paul Wheaton (paul@javaranch.com), April 13, 2002.


Paul,

Good luck with this...

Does organic certification preclude the use of urea? Can you get animal piss for fertilizer? The dolomitic will not be a bad thing at all, but yo need some nitrogen and you need it bad. Why not certify in three years after this year...go with some careful urea additions to feed your plants and your animals. Otherwise just kick back and know that it will be 6 or 7 years befor you achieve anything close to a balance. i prefer not to use "chemical" fertilizers, but urea is about as harmless as it gets.

Have you looked at Allan Savory's books on integratiove management? Might help with the long term big picture.

oscar

-- Oscar Will (Owill@mail.whittier.edu), April 13, 2002.


Paul, as a soil scientist, I want to ensure you that there is no such thing as toxic levels of P and K! Don't know where you got that idea. And if it was dry and droughty when you took your soil test, it is likely that the pH could have been slightly higher than under normal conditions. Wetness and rainfall leach basic cations which would lower soil pH. Dryness cause soil moisture to move upward in the soil profile. This moisture brings some of these cations to the surface which would result in slightly higher pH. Adding nitrogen is a double edged sword. As you said, N will help the grasses compete with seeded legumes. On the other hand, adding N will raise the protein content of your grasses. It is usally a waste of $$$, trying to raise soil PH by broadcasting aglime. It should be worked into the soil for best results. Don't have any economic advice about organic N sources for 40 acres. Usually one is talking of application rates in the range of 2 to 5 tons per acre of an organic amendment to get 100 lbs. per acre of available N.

-- Cabin Fever (cabinfever_mn@yahoo.com), April 15, 2002.

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