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Steps to Establish and Maintain Legume-Grass Pastures

Lime and Fertilizer
Take soil samples before preparing seedbed, clearing brush, or filling gullies. Lime and fertilizer according to needs shown by soil test. Apply lime and fertilizer before plowing or heavy discing. Soil pH and fertility deficiencies may be connected more rapidly with application of lime and fertilizers with fall tillage, although this may not be desirable on steeply sloping land.

Seedbed Preparation
A seedbed following a row crop may be prepared with a disc or harrow. When renovating a pasture, destroy sod by shallow plowing or discing on the contour with a heavy cut-away or brush disc. Use a tandem disc and harrow to finish the seedbed. Apply lime and fertilizer before discing or when drilling if a grain drill is used for planting.

Species and Variety Selection
Select species that are suitable for desired yield and persistence. Iowa State University Extension Publication PM 564, Forage Crop Varieties and Seeding Mixtures, covers characteristics of many forage legumes and grasses used in Iowa.

The following mixtures are frequently used in Iowa:

Forage Seed Mixture Recommendations (lbs. per acre) For Rotation and Permanent Pastures

Moderately to well-drained soils

Imperfectly drained soils

Poorly drained soils

Droughty soils

Pasture for Horses*

Supplemental Pasture

*Special care is needed when feeding horses. Consider these cautions when selecting forage mixtures for horses, Sudangrass, sorghum hybrids. Endophyte fungus-infected tall fescue should not be fed to pregnant or gestating mares. Though not as serious,alsike clover has caused photosensitivity and sunburn in horses. And, red clover can cause horses to salivate excessively.

Seeding
Seed in one of the following ways on a well-prepared seedbed:

All seeding and seedbed firming operations should be on the counter.

Caution: Do not disc in seed. Seeds should be no deeper than 1/4 to 3/4 inch.

Seedings can be made in the spring as soon as a suitable seedbed can be prepared. Spring seedings made after mid-May may not be successful.

One to two bushels of oats per acre may be seeded with any of the previously listed mixtures as a companion crop with spring seedings. The oats may be grazed, taken as silage, cut for hay, or harvested as grain. In a dry spring, it may be desirable to remove the companion crop as early as possible to conserve moisture for the new seeding.

Late summer seedings made between Aug. 15 and Sept. 1 without a companion crop are often successful. Moisture often is limiting at this time of year but there is less weed competition. Well-established stands can be grazed the following year. Late summer seedings of birdsfoot trefoil may be less successful than spring seedings.

Weed and Companion Crop Control
Graze rotationally after oats are 8 inches tall. Do not graze between Sept. 15 and frost to allow recovery and build-up of food reserves in the plants.

Mow as often as needed, particularly where brush is a problem. Weeds must be kept to a minimum during the seeding year.

Selective preplant herbicides may be used in place of a companion crop. See your county extension education director for information on herbicide selection and use.

Be sure to read the label on the container. Use preplant herbicides only when seeding pure stands of legumes; the herbicide will not allow forage grasses to establish.

The herbicides Butyrac and Butoxone are formulated to control broadleaf weeds in a grass, legume, or mixed grass-legume seeding. The active ingredient is 2,4-DB, a form of 2,4-D which has little or no herbicidal effect on legumes. These herbicides are most effective when broadleaf weeds are less than 3 inches tall. The labels note that treated pastures should not be grazed or harvested for forage within 60 days after treatment. These herbicides should not be used on sweet cloverseedings.

Management After Establishment
Clip as often as needed to control weeds, if pastured.

If weeds and brush cannot be controlled effectively with fertilization, grazing and clipping management, refer to extension publication PM 601a, Weed Control in Small Grains, Pastures, and Legume Forages.

Top-dress with phosphorus and potassium according to soil test recommendations or refer to extension publication PM 869, Fertilizing Pastures for maintenance fertilizer rates.

Graze rotationally and avoid over-grazing to maintain ground cover and animal grains.

Remove livestock by Sept. 15, rest pastures 30 days, then graze after a killing frost if desired.

Fields may be harvested for hay, but do not cut between Sept. 15 and frost.

Increase Management Level
The management level of your livestock program can be increased by following these suggestions:

• Plan efficient forage production and use during the entire year to make your pasture improvement program successful.
  
• Increase livestock numbers as forage production increases.
  
• Upgrade livestock quality.

Prepared by S.K. Barnhart, extension agronomist. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) prohibits discrimination in all its programs and activities on the basis of race, color, national origin, gender, religion, age, disability, political beliefs, sexual orientation, and marital or family status. (Not all prohibited bases apply to all programs.) Many materials can be made available in alternative formats for ADA clients. To file a complaint of discrimination, write USDA, Office of Civil Rights, Room 326-W, Whitten Building, 14th and Independence Avenue, SW, Washington, DC

20250-9410 or call 202-720-5964. Issued in furtherance of Cooperative Extension work, Acts of May 8 and June 30, 1914, in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Stanley R. Johnson, director, Cooperative Extension Service, Iowa State University of Science and Technology, Ames, Iowa.
File: Agronomy 3-3 PM 1008 Revised June 2004
Iowa State University, University Extension