By
Jimmy C. Henning, Garry D. Lacefield, Department of Agronomy and
Robert J. Coleman, Laurie M. Lawrence, Department of Animal Sciences
Pasture grasses differ in their tolerance to close grazing and traffic. Bluegrass and bermudagrass form tight sods and are the most tolerant of close grazing and traffic. Orchardgrass is the least tolerant, and tall fescue is intermediate between orchardgrass and bluegrass or bermudagrass.
- Orchardgrass, endophyte-free tall fescue, or bluegrass* alone.
- Equal amounts of bluegrass* with either orchardgrass or endophtye-free tall fescue.
- Equal amounts of orchardgrass and endophyte-free tall fescue.
- Perennial ryegrass is a short-lived cool-season grass that has exceptionally high seedling vigor and can be used for a 2- to 3-year solution or to thicken up troublesome areas around the farm. Insist on endophyte-free perennial ryegrasses. The turf-type perennial ryegrasses are most often infected with the endophyte, while forage types are not. Ask to be sure.
- Timothy, a superior hay plant, is not a good pasture plant when seeded alone.
- Ladino, red clover, alfalfa, or annual lespedeza may be added to any of the above choices if a grass-legume pasture is desired.
* Bluegrass is best adapted for central, eastern, and northern Kentucky and may not contribute much to horse pastures in southern and western Kentucky.
Establishing grass-legume mixtures. Legumes are more competitive than grasses in the seedling stages because they emerge faster, have a taproot-type root system that penetrates deeper and faster, and develop leaf area more quickly. When seeding a grass-legume mixture, choose the seeding date, rate, and method that give the maximum advantage to the species that you need the most. Spring seedings favor legumes, and fall seedings favor grasses. If a good grass base is desired as fast as possible, plant in the fall and consider reducing the amount of legume seed in the mix or seeding the grass alone. More legume can be added by a frost seeding the following January-February or by no-till drill in March to early April.
Renovating with legumes. Adding legumes to existing grass pastures increases forage quality, adds nitrogen to the system, and is desirable in horse pastures. Begin by suppressing existing sod by grazing or very close mowing. White or red clover may be either broadcast in late winter (January-February) or drilled in early spring (March-April). White clover is preferred over red clover for horse pastures because of the incidence of excessive salivation in horses grazing red clover in mid- to late summer (due to the toxin slaframine, a by-product of a fungal infection of red clover). For broadcast seedings, make sure that the sod is short enough for some seed to fall on bare ground. It may be necessary to drag or lightly disk the pasture to open up the sod and expose some bare ground.
Renovating high-traffic areas. Improving or re-establishing grass cover in high-traffic areas around fences, gates, and barns is probably the most common pasture problem facing horse managers. On the assumption that it is not possible to keep horses off such areas until vegetative cover is attained, the question becomes how best to get vegetative cover as fast as possible and maintain it for as long as possible.
There are two central challenges to meet in this scenario:
1) getting the seed into the ground and
2) selecting a highly vigorous species that will germinate and establish very quickly.
To accomplish the first goal, either use a no-till drill or do some light tillage work in the area to be seeded. Unless the soil is somewhat disturbed, broadcasting seed onto such areas will not give satisfactory results.
Several valid forage options exist for these areas. The ryegrasses (perennial and annual) are the most vigorous in establishment and growth followed by orchardgrass, tall fescue, and bluegrass in that order. Annual ryegrass has the fastest emergence and growth but does not last. Perennial ryegrasses are nearly as fast to emerge and grow as the annuals and will last longer in Kentucky conditions. (Perennial ryegrass can have an endophyte similar to that in tall fescue. Make sure that any perennial ryegrass used is endophyte free.)
Based on the assumption that animals cannot be kept off these areas for substantial lengths of time, the most effective method of getting grass cover may be drilling perennial ryegrass into these areas every other year or annual ryegrass every year. Mixing some orchardgrass, tall fescue, or bluegrass seed with ryegrass (either annual or perennial) may give some longer-lasting cover in these areas, but it is probably more practical just to use ryegrass alone.
Mulching newly seeded areas with straw and then irrigating to keep soil moist will speed up grass emergence and establishment.
Source: University of Kentucky