By Rafford Pullen

Fall is just around the corner, and now is the time to make plans for our winter forage program. How much, what and when are just a few of the questions we need to be thinking about since in the North Texas area, our ryegrass and small grains will be planted in September.
This article will be devoted primarily to the best method on “how to plant” your winter forages to get the best results. Most of these planting methods can also be found by going to our website, www.pullenangus.com, and clicking on the Marshall Ryegrass tab.

Over-seeding perennial pastures is by far and away the most popular way winter forages are planted by cattle producers. Most failures are seen where pastures are seeded by either a no till drill or broadcast into a pasture where the grass is so tall that sunlight cannot reach the seed after it germinates.
Plants do not grow in the shade, and as a result, there will not be much, if any, growth until the existing forage has been set back by a freeze, which usually occurs in November and by that time day length is shorter, temperatures are lower and there is little to no growth until spring.
There are several options to prevent this and the best overall, in my opinion, is to graze the pasture very short then run a disc over it set straight since we are not trying to turn any soil but only trying to cut the roots on the existing pasture to allow sunlight penetration to begin as soon as the winter forage germinates.

In the case of broadcast seed, it makes no difference if you disc prior to or immediately after seeding. If the seed is planted with a no till drill, running the disc prior to planting would be our choice. While not entirely required if using a no till drill, the disc will set the grass back better than the drill. Research done on this resulted in doubling the amount of fall forage verses planting in short grass only.

To read more pick up a copy of the August 2017 NTFR issue. To subscribe call 940-872-5922.