Making A Pasture

[Mini Horses]

That field of giant Bermuda is looking good!!

Have you heard of/considered the perennial peanut graze/hay? Grows extremely well in the deep sandy soils. and low rainfall. True that most is sown for harvesting as hay but, can be grazed and it's supposed to be excellent proteins. You could mix it in. FL is really using it. Some areas of TX, too.

Just a thought.

so have any of you guys had any experience with comfrey? I just planted my first patch of it. I hope to have a bunch in the future.

it is supposed to be really high in protein and vitamins better even than Alfalfa. My friend uses it for her goats and it's supposed to be good for chickens and other animals too not to mention it grows back really fast.

From what I just read, comfrey has toxins in it.

I have some and can testify the chickens & goats LOVE it. In fact, this is the 3rd time I've had to restart it and it is fenced in now! It is also a really good fertilizer & compost builder. While it does have toxins, the animals do not show adverse effects. heck, it's been used in Europe for centuries -- a medicine & feed.

 

[Beekissed]

Bay, I was wondering if you couldn't seed some of your Bahia right into your hay mulch...it would provide moisture and cover for the seeds until they could sprout and it's already fertilized.

 

[farmerjan]

I used to grow comfrey in CT and fed it to the chickens too. They loved it. If there are toxins, which I was never aware of, then maybe they didn't have any problems with it because they didn't get too much? I got my starts from some people at the food co-op I belonged to up there. That was 40 years ago.

 

[Baymule]

Bay, I was wondering if you couldn't seed some of your Bahia right into your hay mulch...it would provide moisture and cover for the seeds until they could sprout and it's already fertilized.

That is my diabolical plan!

 

[HomeOnTheRange]

Now if I could get him on a horse...…..

Hang tough BJ! Stick with the four wheeled mule!

 

[Baymule]

Hang tough BJ! Stick with the four wheeled mule!

I think you are right. It ain't happened in 24 years!

 

[Beekissed]

@Baymule , I wish you could see this video! You'd really enjoy how these people do regenerative grazing with their horses....but these people could seriously use your sheep to help the horses with the weeds, though they did VERY well on those just by arranging ways for the horses to trample them.

 

[Baymule]

One of these days I'm going to have grass. On the pipeline, the gully cuts it in two. I didn't go to the back fence because normally we have a lot of rain and I didn't want to risk Russell getting his cab tractor stuck. So when we get the bale up close to the pipeline gate, I'm taking it to the back fence. That means the front half of the pipeline will get two rounds of getting hayed with the dropped hay and horse manure.

I posted those pictures of stomped in hay and horse manure on your thread, I need to post them here!

For those who don't understand the value of stomped in dead hay and manure, here are some pictures to illustrate what we are talking about.

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The horses waste a lot of hay, stepping on it, pooping and peeing on it. So why not put it to good use? The soil is pure white sand. I've sowed grass seed on the pipeline,it came up, only to die when the sun scorched the roots because there is no humus. As y'all can see, I'm working on that humus part by using what horses naturally do!

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By moving their round bale around, I am getting a good covering of hay and manure, stomped into the sand, which will add great fertility and humus to the sand. It may look like sh!t to you, but that's brown gold to me!

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[Baymule]

@Beekissed!! I was able to watch the video! It took several minutes to load.... boring..... but it played and only reloaded once! YAY!! That is pretty much what I am trying to do with the pipeline, only I don't even have much in the way of weeds growing on it. It is the worst soil on the whole place. I would welcome a Lambs quarters forest! I have 2 cups of lambs quarters seed I saved from the forest in the garden, think I'll scatter it all on the pipeline. Unlike this lady, I actually want the lambs quarters and even the giant ragweed, both are great forage for the sheep. I am even considering a cow panel protected area for them to grow and reseed. The roots go deep, bringing up minerals and nutrients that a lot of grasses don't reach.

We are steadily working on the area behind the horse barn, pushing the wood chips into swales and spreading the dead sheep hay over the soil. At least that area has the benefit of the leaves decomposing over the years and returning nutrients to the soil. All of this is going to take several years to get to grassy pastures, but the process is extremely interesting and exciting to me!

The back half of the horse pasture is a pine forest. Getting it forestry mulched helped a whole lot, but it is still pretty thick back there. BJ is adamant about keeping the trees, I have pointed out that we need to thin out the small stuff which will contribute to the health of the bigger trees (and also open up more for grass LOL).

There are trees growing in the gulley in the horse pasture, behind the barn, that the forestry mulcher couldn't get to. I want to cut them down and eventually dig out holes and put up cement block spillways to create pools of water to slow down the rain run off, letting more soak in on our land before it exits our property. I have a couple of those black corrugated plastic culverts ready to go when we put in a crossing for the tractor. So much to do, my mind never stops. I get my best ideas by just walking around, standing, and letting it come to me.

 

[Bruce]

I think it is pretty hard to grow grass under pine trees.