Baymule
Herd Master
I walked pasture #2 this morning. I found tiny filament strands of fescue coming up. This pic is from the front of the pasture where it is pretty heavily wooded. Little emerald dots are clover.
I’m pleased to see the fescue coming up here. Bee, you mentioned laying down a layer of carbon. If you will notice, there is a layer of wood chips we spread for carbon, humus and to retain water and protect grass roots from the scorching heat. A few years ago, we allowed a power line cleaning crew to park their trucks on our place at night. In return for having a protected place to leave their equipment, they brought us 120+ loads of wood chips. I’m already there on building the soil with everything I can get my grubby hands on. LOL
Amazingly, under a huge cedar and pine, in the yard where I didn’t sow seed, is the emerald dots of clover. Hooray for wandering sheep who carry seeds in capsulated fertilizer bombs.
Just to give you an idea of what I have to work with, here is a pic of my soil.
Pure sand. We have worked hard to get to where we are now. This land was once part of a farm owned by a neighbor’s father. Their house once sat in pasture #2, they moved to a better home around the corner when neighbor was 6 years old. The land laid fallow for probably the last 40 years judging by the trees, maybe longer. There are some trees here that look to be older. The land was divided between heirs, most of whom sold to a developer. The developer cut it into parcels, slapped double wides on them and sold them.
When we bought this place in 2014, it was a repo that sat empty for 2 years. The land was covered in trees, brush, briar vines, lambs quarters, ragweed, goat weed, VERY little, if any grass. The previous owners did little, if anything to improve the place. So my seed bank is weeds. I have a 100 year supply of weeds. LOL
Greg Judy said in an article that he spent a lot of time and money plowing up his endophyte infected fescue and other native grasses to replant with expensive “new” grass seed. He proudly gave a pasture walk and was dismayed when one of the farmers took him aside and told him that his beautiful new pasture would revert back to the original grasses in 5 years. And it did. So he learned to work with what he had and to improve on it.
My point is that I don’t have any pasture to start with. I have no grasses, native or otherwise. I have quite a variety of weeds, as long as the sheep like them, weeds are ok with me. But those weeds are not enough. Rolling out round bales to seed the pastures and see what grows, won’t work, and would be prohibitively expensive. Using the uneaten, trampled hay may take longer to improve the soil, but that I can do.
We spent hundreds on 3 different types of clovers and Kentucky 32 non endophyte fescue 3 years ago. One type of clover did not return, the other two did and are slowly spreading over the property. The fescue is doing the same. Even after the sheep graze it hard, when it dies back, we mow it and it leaves a thick layer that adds to the soil.
I’m building my own seed bank with varieties that will do well here. Yes, I have to suck it up and buy the seed. I have studied, read, researched and read some more to select what I think and hope will grow and thrive with what I have to work with. It’s a continuing journey. It will be fun and informative for us to bounce ideas off each other, compare our methods, climate, weeds, grasses, what works and what doesn’t.
I’m pleased to see the fescue coming up here. Bee, you mentioned laying down a layer of carbon. If you will notice, there is a layer of wood chips we spread for carbon, humus and to retain water and protect grass roots from the scorching heat. A few years ago, we allowed a power line cleaning crew to park their trucks on our place at night. In return for having a protected place to leave their equipment, they brought us 120+ loads of wood chips. I’m already there on building the soil with everything I can get my grubby hands on. LOL
Amazingly, under a huge cedar and pine, in the yard where I didn’t sow seed, is the emerald dots of clover. Hooray for wandering sheep who carry seeds in capsulated fertilizer bombs.
Just to give you an idea of what I have to work with, here is a pic of my soil.
Pure sand. We have worked hard to get to where we are now. This land was once part of a farm owned by a neighbor’s father. Their house once sat in pasture #2, they moved to a better home around the corner when neighbor was 6 years old. The land laid fallow for probably the last 40 years judging by the trees, maybe longer. There are some trees here that look to be older. The land was divided between heirs, most of whom sold to a developer. The developer cut it into parcels, slapped double wides on them and sold them.
When we bought this place in 2014, it was a repo that sat empty for 2 years. The land was covered in trees, brush, briar vines, lambs quarters, ragweed, goat weed, VERY little, if any grass. The previous owners did little, if anything to improve the place. So my seed bank is weeds. I have a 100 year supply of weeds. LOL
Greg Judy said in an article that he spent a lot of time and money plowing up his endophyte infected fescue and other native grasses to replant with expensive “new” grass seed. He proudly gave a pasture walk and was dismayed when one of the farmers took him aside and told him that his beautiful new pasture would revert back to the original grasses in 5 years. And it did. So he learned to work with what he had and to improve on it.
My point is that I don’t have any pasture to start with. I have no grasses, native or otherwise. I have quite a variety of weeds, as long as the sheep like them, weeds are ok with me. But those weeds are not enough. Rolling out round bales to seed the pastures and see what grows, won’t work, and would be prohibitively expensive. Using the uneaten, trampled hay may take longer to improve the soil, but that I can do.
We spent hundreds on 3 different types of clovers and Kentucky 32 non endophyte fescue 3 years ago. One type of clover did not return, the other two did and are slowly spreading over the property. The fescue is doing the same. Even after the sheep graze it hard, when it dies back, we mow it and it leaves a thick layer that adds to the soil.
I’m building my own seed bank with varieties that will do well here. Yes, I have to suck it up and buy the seed. I have studied, read, researched and read some more to select what I think and hope will grow and thrive with what I have to work with. It’s a continuing journey. It will be fun and informative for us to bounce ideas off each other, compare our methods, climate, weeds, grasses, what works and what doesn’t.
