Seeding pasture for goats

[ChickenPotPie]

I have a small orchard I'd like to grow good eats for my child's dairy goats. There were bits of grass, mustard, and various weeds growing out there but nothing too impressive. We've let them eat it pretty much down to the dirt. With the rainy season (green season in CA) coming I'm thinking right about now would be a great time to seed it.

Where do you get your seed for seeding pasture for dairy goats? What's in the mix? What has worked best for you?

 

[lilhill]

We seeded our pastures with chicory, orchard grass, Max Q fescue (NOT regular fescue that can get a deadly fungi in drought conditions and kill livestock) and a little bit of red clover.

 

[cmjust0]

Sericea lespedeza.

It's a legume browse, and is considered a noxious weed in many parts of the country. Established stands of the stuff are very, very difficult to eradicate.

Thing is, it's about 18% protein in mid-bloom and the Ca ratio is somewhere on the order of 4.5:1. It also contains a lot of tannins, and running goats on high-tannin forage helps control parasites.. There's actually scientific proof that running goats on sericea lespedaza in particular reduces parasites loads in goats.

So...my vote is for a big hairy patch of sericea lespedeza.

Either that, or strip disk it to the dirt, walk away, and let it grow back in native weeds and scrub.. That would be the cheapest, easiest way to go -- but you also open yourself up to native noxious/toxic weeds, too.

So that's my $.02.

 

[jodief100]

Sericea lespedeza.

I was just at KSU for a goat conference yesterday and they were discussing some research on different forages for goats. They mentioned Sericea lespedeza and agreed with everything you just said. They also mentioned it can become toxic when it is wilting so you have to make sure your goats do not brouse it after frost. *I think* ( I am bad with names) it was Sericea Lespedeza they were talking about at that particular moment. it was a long day......

They also mentioned that studies show that the "good" fescues are not as hardy as the "bad" fescues so sometime when you plant the "good" fescue, eventually your pasture will revert to the "bad" fescue. There is usually a few seeds of the bad stuff in with the good and it will survive better.

They said chicory is good, so is clover and alfalpha.

I will see if I can find the link to the research......

 

[cmjust0]

Sericea lespedeza.

I was just at KSU for a goat conference yesterday and they were discussing some research on different forages for goats. They mentioned Sericea lespedeza and agreed with everything you just said.

A friend of mine has a patch of it that he bales for hay. Said it can be a PITA to get started from seed, but once it's up and going, LOOK OUT -- it'll flat out take over. I've looked into it a bit, but not too much as I've got plenty of browse as it is.

I should probably start attending some of these seminars and conferences everybody else seems to attend. Seems like I'm always hearing someone say "Oh, I was up at XYZ university at a conference on supplementing marshmallow creme to pregnant does ..." or whatever. Like, "You shoulda been there, man!"

Well...perhaps you shudda told me about it!

*-Note: nobody should feed marshmallow creme to anything...i was just sayin'.

They also mentioned it can become toxic when it is wilting so you have to make sure your goats do not brouse it after frost. *I think* ( I am bad with names) it was Sericea Lespedeza they were talking about at that particular moment. it was a long day......

That sounds more like Johnsongrass, but it could be lespedeza.. I've never *heard* that about lespedeza, but then again, I've not heard everything quite yet.

They also mentioned that studies show that the "good" fescues are not as hardy as the "bad" fescues so sometime when you plant the "good" fescue, eventually your pasture will revert to the "bad" fescue. There is usually a few seeds of the bad stuff in with the good and it will survive better.

What fescue lacks in almost everything else, it more than makes up for in resilience.

I've never been sure if that's good or bad. :/

They said chicory is good, so is clover and alfalpha.

I will see if I can find the link to the research......

Do, plz.

 

[PJisaMom]

So... I have this big area of clay my husband just leveled with the bobcat... right in the middle of my goat pasture.

For the record, I can grow stuff about as well as I can dance (and I have the rhythm of a tree trunk, just for reference).

Should I just let it be, and after several years it'll finally grow something, or should I try to plant something?

And if so... it's nearly winter here (okay... in several weeks, but still)... is there something I should be putting down this fall?

This all totally didn't occur to me until I read this thread...

 

[lilhill]

Sericea lespedeza.

It's a legume browse, and is considered a noxious weed in many parts of the country. Established stands of the stuff are very, very difficult to eradicate.

Thing is, it's about 18% protein in mid-bloom and the Ca ratio is somewhere on the order of 4.5:1. It also contains a lot of tannins, and running goats on high-tannin forage helps control parasites.. There's actually scientific proof that running goats on sericea lespedaza in particular reduces parasites loads in goats.

So...my vote is for a big hairy patch of sericea lespedeza.

Around here, Sericea lespedeza has to be planted in the spring and I wanted the fall planting so I'd have spring browsing/grazing. My goats love the Sericea, but with that said, the first year I fed it to them (baled), they acted like I was giving them candy. Yummy! The second year, they wouldn't touch it (baled). I was getting it from a neighbor near us who plants it every year.

But, I agree that it's good stuff and when planted under the right weather conditions, is great for goats. I believe I read that in drought conditions, it becomes unpalatable. And we seem to have those unfavorable conditions here more and more over the past few years.

 

[ksalvagno]

PJisaMom - I would find out what grasses/legumes are good for goats in your area. Grasses grow great in one area but not another. I mix Kentucky Bluegrass, Orchard Grass and Brome Grass and seed my pastures. These grasses are all pasture grass - you don't want landscaping grass. It also doesn't hurt to add legumes like alfalfa and birdsfoot trefoil.

 

[aggieterpkatie]

I love fescue, even the regular old K31 tall fescue. It rarely has major effects on animals as bad as it does for pregnant mares in the third trimester. Cattle do well on it, and only sometimes have issues with summer slump or fescue foot. That said, if you are going to plant an improved fescue, make sure it's the novel endophyte (or "friendly" endophyte), and not the endophyte free varieties. The endophyte is what makes fescue so wonderfully hardy. Max Q is a novel endophyte, and a wonderful pasture grass. It is a little more expensive and slightly harder to get established than K31, but it is well worth the money. My grass hay is 2nd cutting Max Q and the animals LOVE it.

Plus, with fescue you can stockpile it for winter grazing. Just stop grazing it around late August (at least here in MD that's what we do) and then let it grow. After a hard frost the starches turn to sugar and it's highly palatable. We used to graze beeves on it right up until calving and it met all the cows' nutritional needs just on stockpiled fescue.

 

[ChickenPotPie]

Wow, lots of information. I'll admit some of it went right over my head but at least I get an idea of what might be good and that I need to consider our 6 month "brown season" here when choosing. We don't water the orchard so I'll have to figure out what will grow best in the 6 month green/6 month brown natural CA conditions we live in.

Any ideas?