We're about to proceed with some clearing and seeding and, as a complete novice, I would sure appreciate some braintrust advice.
The roughly three acre area to be cleared is second growth on a sandy (some clay) loam base that tends to be acidic. Small oaks, poplar, rhodys, locus and scrub. Not too many rocks on this particular site. Topography is hilly (we're in NC mountains), but tractorable sp?, facing south. 3400 ft elev.
Our basic plan is to mark the few trees and bushes we want to save and have a dozer, hoe, and truck crew come in and clear everything else, saving what material we can. They will dig a hole and burn off tops and stumps, then cover and promise to then make sure the area is relatively root and rock free.
We're then thinking in terms of disking and prepping ground including adding whatever lime etc., might be recommended, then seeding, dragging harrow, fence or such to cover seed and spreading straw.
I've talked with the local farm supply house, but still have questions as to best seed mix. We are about two to three years away from actually putting this area to use. We plan to use part of it as future pasture (first for goats and eventually for horses) and the other part as vineyards.
Current thinking is to put in some soil nourishing mix, say clover, some rye, fescue and orchard grass, wildflowers?, ...then mow it for a couple years and perhaps reseed to help it get thicker.
I've heard that some grasses are either good for or bad for horses, but I'm having trouble narrowing it down to an ideal mix for what we are doing. Do we need different mixes for each field?
Experienced perspectives, caveats and suggestions will be much appreciated!
Your ground prep sounds fine. Loosen up the soil as deep as you can. Nothing wrong with the planting method either.
Can't help with seed selection as that can be a local item and the best advice may be locally obtained. To me your choices sound good. Just make sure they are PH compatible. Mowing may not be required as the grases may go to seed and reseed themselves. A n early spring mowing be good to mulch the standing grass. Experiment on different sections to see what works best.
Three acres of pasture and how many horses? It's not much area and horses are very hard on small pasture areas. They end up turning it black. I know this is not what you wish to hear but horse pasture of small size does not do well. The trees you have remaining may also suffer root damage from the horses hooves. This can vary as to the species of tree.
Thanks for the feedback, Egon. The fields we are working on now will be pasture for at least a couple of years before any animals are introduced. Actually, most of this area will be for future plantings...vineyards. My lovely wife has dreams of horses...I know the realities of daily care, but am at least willing to begin the process. If we do get the hooved ones, it will be two or four...and if so, I have another seven acres we will prepare to fields so as to rotate them.
Be careful of fescue grasses and horses. There can be problems with a type of fungus that likes this type of grass. If you do use fescue make sure it is a low endophyte variety. Here's a link on the topic.
Timothy is a favorite of horses. If it does well in your area you should consider using it as the primary grass in your mix. We use a mixture of Timothy, orchard grass, and clover in our pastures.
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