Any suggestions as to what grass to plant? Initally I will be just planting in areas that I am reclaiming from weeds, later I have a couple alfalfa fields I am going to turn into pastures Something hardy in Zone 4 and palatable to horses and sheep would be good.
I just planted fescue and white clover. You may wish to read up on Endophyte free fescue verses the regular stuff. The local farmers tell me that the endophyte free only last a couple of years. Also the legumes, like clover, seem to offset some of the endophyte issues. You may wish to visit the Stockman grass farmer at http://www.stockmangrassfarmer.com/sgf/faq.html
I also found a wonderful article at the ATTRA site on grass based dairy and beef. See http://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/gbdairy.html#choice [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]
Another pretty informative (yet somewhat scattered) site is Grassseed.com.
Some of the new strains of bermuda are supposed to make pretty good pasture, and allow you to cut it for hay also.
A man's likely to mind his own business, if it is worth mindin' - Eric Hoffer
You want to keep away from endophited fescue if you plan to have horses on the pasture, or ever seel the land to a horse person. Endophited fescue causes early termination of horse fetuses. In addition, clover and alfalfa are great legumes for pasture seeing as long as you are careful about how much actually grows in the pasture. Both legumes cause white horses to have sever reactions to the sun and a fungus will grow on any white legs if the horses eat the legumes when dew is present. I have paint horses and have totally eliminated both legumes from my pasture for this reason. The blistered noses and eyelids weren't worth it. I have been clover and alfalfa free for two years now, and not one spot of sunburn or fungus! Yeah!
Here are some horse favorites:
Fawn tall fescue. It is summer pasture and hay grass. Should not be grazed the first winter.
Bermuda grass: has deep roots. Has been linked to some cases of colic since the leaves are long and bulky.
Rye grass is great if it will grow in your area. Will tolerate heavy grazing.
Hope this helps [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]
The slower you go, the faster you get there!
We have been legume free for 5 years. We use a mixture of tall orchard and slick brome. Our horses love the mix and the problems of founder are all but eliminated.
Horses were evolved to eat grasses not legumes.
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