Can anyone recommend pasture seed for horses-Southcost Massachusetts

[catjac1975]

I am in southcoast Massachusetts. I am plowing under an old field and am nearly ready for seeding. I plan to plant it to grazing pasture for 2 horses. It is about 2 1/2 acres. Can anyone suggest the seed I should use. I am afraid what I get at Tractor supply will be generic for anywhere. Any suggestions?

 

[chubbydog811]

Assuming you have one near you, check with your local Blue Seal. We got their "horse pasture mix" and loved it. I don't remember exactly what was in it, but typical things you would find in your hay - thicker stemmed grass, timothy, tiny bit of clover, ect. If that won't work for you, they may also be able to tell you what they carry that would work for your area. But I definitely recommend checking at Blue Seal. They can tell you what types of seeds are actually supposed to be in the bag too, instead of just telling you the name "horse pasture mix" and assume you know what that means.

 

[goodhors]

Ask at your local Elevator, Feed Mill. You need to read the bag label, check for
Perennial grasses, NOT ANNUALS. Perennials are like the Garden flowers, come
back every year. Get a mix made for YOUR AREA, not a Mid-states grass mix.
Your sunny days, rain, lumens of light from the sun will be less than other places,
so grasses suited to your location will succeed better. You want that with the price
of grass seed!! Good seed cost like gold dust, and grows lots better than the cheap
stuff sold by the pound at the box store.

You want a variety of seeds in the mix, so you have grazing in cool and hot weather. Bluegrasses
prefer cooler weather, don't do that well in July, August heat. But other plants
in the mix LOVE hot weather, grow well to be eaten then.

Hate to ask, but did you get a soil test done for fertilizing? The land may need
fertilizer more than plowing, because key minerals are in short supply. Even new
seed won't do well if it has no helpful minerals to use for growth.

I get fertilizer from a fertilizer plant, buy what the soil test says I need, in the QUANTITY
needed for growing pasture. And soil tests need to be redone every few years, since
how you use the ground may change things enough to need DIFFERENT minerals
applied. I get a soil test done every 3 years, and so far (12 years) there have been
big changes in what I need for my pastures. I put our dirty bedding on the ground,
pasture horses, a couple lambs, some calves on it, and leave any mowed grass laying
on the turf. All these things change the dirt under the turf. I kind of seem to need
the mixed minerals, Nitrogen, Potassium, Phosphorus for one test, then need almost
all Lime, only a bit of the big three for the next couple years, then back to the evenly
mixed big three again. And at times I need HEAVY applications, this year 300 pounds
per acre of a 13-13-13 mix. Fertilizer is cheaper buying in bulk, mixed exactly to your
soil needs. So a plant is a better place to buy than the box store, in quantities for farming.

I rent a spreader wagon from the fertilizer plant, which handles the ton and a half I
needed quite well. Ford 8N pulls the spreader wagon fine. I have a small acreage,
but I NEED good grass growth to graze all season for the various animals. Couldn't
do that growing as well without fertilizer, as hard as we graze it. I do a lot of rotating
animals to keep the grasses coming on. Not any grazing to the roots. Animals are fed on
almost all grass, unless we go to a show where they get hay. All horses slick and nice looking,
young animals gaining well for the 4-H projects.

You REALLY want to buy fertilizer according to a soil test. Then you are not wasting
money buying the wrong things, letting wasted minerals wash off, because the ground
DOES NOT save them for later! Waste minerals are hard on water systems down river
from you.

I would suggest you could mix your grass seed with the fertilizer, only have to make one
trip spreading both. Then I would suggest a drag of some sort, to cover the seed from
birds, prevent it washing off in heavy spring rains.

Lastly, I mow my fields to a height of 5 inches, no shorter. I let the grass grow to about
8-10 inches, then mow again. You want to prevent seed set, grass plant then goes dormant
for the rest of the season and is useless for grazing. All my animals LIKE new growth
provided by mowing. I saw no reseeding from grass let go to seed. None of the animals
would eat that tall, stemmy stuff anyway. They kept going back to "favorite" spots that
had new growth coming on, grazed it to nothing.

This mowing might mean you have to be out there weekly with the rain bringing growth on
fast, or once a month in the heat of July or August. If grass is not getting taller, no reason
to mow unless you see seed heads starting to show. This mowing helps keep the weeds
much reduced, and grass kept tall often will shade weeds out. Taller cutting height will
protect the soil from drying so fast, prevent sun from burning the roots of plants, soften
rainfall, so water can't run off so fast. My spreading of used bedding provides almost a
"mulching" effect to protect the grass plant roots, holds moisture much better in dry times,
along with providing organic matter to my soil for the microbes and air spaces in my clay
soil. Worms pull the organic peices down into the dirt so it is MUCH more water absorbent
than it used to be.

I learned a lot of my pasture maintenance from taking a Master Gardener Class. They had
grass experts in to talk to us, answer questions. Most were about lawn care, but the
Expert said pasture keeping is just like lawns. Same rule of "Cut often, cut grass high"
for the reasons I said before. Tall grass protects the roots and soil, feeds the plant, doesn't allow
plant to set seed. He made it sound so EASY. My pastures are 200% better than when I
took over, really started to care for them CORRECTLY. I would say the mowing is my best
tool, but only by a couple points. Makes an incredible improvement in growth.

Sorry, got carried away!! Looking at nice pastures just makes you FEEL good, your work really
shows.

 

[catjac1975]

Love it that you "Got carried away." Thaknks

Ask at your local Elevator, Feed Mill. You need to read the bag label, check for
Perennial grasses, NOT ANNUALS. Perennials are like the Garden flowers, come
back every year. Get a mix made for YOUR AREA, not a Mid-states grass mix.
Your sunny days, rain, lumens of light from the sun will be less than other places,
so grasses suited to your location will succeed better. You want that with the price
of grass seed!! Good seed cost like gold dust, and grows lots better than the cheap
stuff sold by the pound at the box store.

You want a variety of seeds in the mix, so you have grazing in cool and hot weather. Bluegrasses
prefer cooler weather, don't do that well in July, August heat. But other plants
in the mix LOVE hot weather, grow well to be eaten then.

Hate to ask, but did you get a soil test done for fertilizing? The land may need
fertilizer more than plowing, because key minerals are in short supply. Even new
seed won't do well if it has no helpful minerals to use for growth.

I get fertilizer from a fertilizer plant, buy what the soil test says I need, in the QUANTITY
needed for growing pasture. And soil tests need to be redone every few years, since
how you use the ground may change things enough to need DIFFERENT minerals
applied. I get a soil test done every 3 years, and so far (12 years) there have been
big changes in what I need for my pastures. I put our dirty bedding on the ground,
pasture horses, a couple lambs, some calves on it, and leave any mowed grass laying
on the turf. All these things change the dirt under the turf. I kind of seem to need
the mixed minerals, Nitrogen, Potassium, Phosphorus for one test, then need almost
all Lime, only a bit of the big three for the next couple years, then back to the evenly
mixed big three again. And at times I need HEAVY applications, this year 300 pounds
per acre of a 13-13-13 mix. Fertilizer is cheaper buying in bulk, mixed exactly to your
soil needs. So a plant is a better place to buy than the box store, in quantities for farming.

I rent a spreader wagon from the fertilizer plant, which handles the ton and a half I
needed quite well. Ford 8N pulls the spreader wagon fine. I have a small acreage,
but I NEED good grass growth to graze all season for the various animals. Couldn't
do that growing as well without fertilizer, as hard as we graze it. I do a lot of rotating
animals to keep the grasses coming on. Not any grazing to the roots. Animals are fed on
almost all grass, unless we go to a show where they get hay. All horses slick and nice looking,
young animals gaining well for the 4-H projects.

You REALLY want to buy fertilizer according to a soil test. Then you are not wasting
money buying the wrong things, letting wasted minerals wash off, because the ground
DOES NOT save them for later! Waste minerals are hard on water systems down river
from you.

I would suggest you could mix your grass seed with the fertilizer, only have to make one
trip spreading both. Then I would suggest a drag of some sort, to cover the seed from
birds, prevent it washing off in heavy spring rains.

Lastly, I mow my fields to a height of 5 inches, no shorter. I let the grass grow to about
8-10 inches, then mow again. You want to prevent seed set, grass plant then goes dormant
for the rest of the season and is useless for grazing. All my animals LIKE new growth
provided by mowing. I saw no reseeding from grass let go to seed. None of the animals
would eat that tall, stemmy stuff anyway. They kept going back to "favorite" spots that
had new growth coming on, grazed it to nothing.

This mowing might mean you have to be out there weekly with the rain bringing growth on
fast, or once a month in the heat of July or August. If grass is not getting taller, no reason
to mow unless you see seed heads starting to show. This mowing helps keep the weeds
much reduced, and grass kept tall often will shade weeds out. Taller cutting height will
protect the soil from drying so fast, prevent sun from burning the roots of plants, soften
rainfall, so water can't run off so fast. My spreading of used bedding provides almost a
"mulching" effect to protect the grass plant roots, holds moisture much better in dry times,
along with providing organic matter to my soil for the microbes and air spaces in my clay
soil. Worms pull the organic peices down into the dirt so it is MUCH more water absorbent
than it used to be.

I learned a lot of my pasture maintenance from taking a Master Gardener Class. They had
grass experts in to talk to us, answer questions. Most were about lawn care, but the
Expert said pasture keeping is just like lawns. Same rule of "Cut often, cut grass high"
for the reasons I said before. Tall grass protects the roots and soil, feeds the plant, doesn't allow
plant to set seed. He made it sound so EASY. My pastures are 200% better than when I
took over, really started to care for them CORRECTLY. I would say the mowing is my best
tool, but only by a couple points. Makes an incredible improvement in growth.

Sorry, got carried away!! Looking at nice pastures just makes you FEEL good, your work really
shows.

 

[Lupa Duende]

Oh boy.
So I have started adopting and adopting and Adopting this summer ad absurdum. We have a herd of goats, chickens, ducklings, turkey, guinea fowl, and the odd child running out here in southern Quebec (feels like northeast kingdom VT to me). I am reading up on what to plant for pasture feed for all of my critters. So far, every grain store tells me that they have the answer and for the past four years I seem to be buying sacks of dusty grass seed that is either smashing in the shade or lush in the high sun but most gives me a 'yard' for only one season. And did I mention how I loathe my grass cutter? Now that we finally welcomed a proper grass cutter with great road apples that squish between the boys' toes... I want to see our pony Maggie happily munching all year long. I emailed Blue Seal; I need to think about fertiliser as we have our well water in the back garden but I want happy little goblins.
Has anyone found 'the answer' to my scattered question?
Thank you in advance,