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Discussion on Rye Grass
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Member:
vera
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Posted on Wednesday, Feb 18, 2009 - 1:00 pm:
I was recommended a pasture mix that is sold for livestock (horses included) that contains four types of rye grass and festulolium. This is supposed to be ideal for over seeding and it is quick growing. Is the rye grass safe?
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Member:
leslie1
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Posted on Wednesday, Feb 18, 2009 - 2:54 pm:
If you take a peek at
Nutritional Content of Popular Feedstuffs for the Adult and Older Horse and thenscroll down you can see the rye grass info.
Also heres a thread on the festolium stuff:
https://www.horseadvice.com/horse/messages/3/207517.html
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Moderator:
DrO
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Posted on Wednesday, Feb 18, 2009 - 7:45 pm:
Yes ryegrass is safe but a few notes. First is rye (the small grain) and ryegrass are very different. The second is there is a large number of species that are very different in their behavior including annual and perennial species. It does not mean much to say "ryegrass" without knowing which one. I use annual ryegrass frequently as a sort of natural mulch to help fix the soil as it germinates very early and rapidly.
I have no personal experience with perennial ryegrass or the hydbrid festulolium (sp?). Perennial ryes do not tolerate our hot dry summers very well. The hybrid is supposed to be better but I have noticed many of the hybrids advertise high NSC's a possible problem with easy keeping horses.
DrO
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Member:
vera
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Posted on Wednesday, Feb 18, 2009 - 9:38 pm:
25% Tetraploid perrenial ryegrass
25% Diploid perrenial ryegrass
20% Intermediate ryegrass
20% Festulolium
10% Tetraploid rygrass
Thanks for the info about Rye and ryegrass. I didn't realize the difference. The NSC fact that you brought up scares me.
I found another mix with only 10% Festulolium, orchardgrass, tall fescue, timothy and ryegrass. Would that be a better mix? My hay guy mentioned to me that Timothy is hard to sow and I've tried orchardgrass and it wasn't that successful.
Another thing that I was thinking of was to overseed with Teff this summer. What would you think about that?
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Member:
scooter
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Posted on Wednesday, Feb 18, 2009 - 10:12 pm:
Angela I see you are from Il. so am I. When over seeding you want to get it done as early as you can in the spring, it just doesn't work well when it starts getting warm and dry. Timothy and Orchard grass are cool season grasses. I have over seeded with them before late in the spring around mid April and they have grown fine, but it does die out in the heat of summer. Rye grass is good for over seeding as long as it's done early also. Timothy and Orchard grass is slower coming in then rye.
I've never been a real big fan of over seeding as it seems a good majority of the seed doesn't take unless conditions are very favorable (seems rye and clover will grow pretty well) but clover tends to take over the pasture
In the long run if your pasture is poor or pretty bare it's much better to rip it up and start over FME. After years of over seeding and spending lots of $$$ on seed that didn't germinate, I started ripping up and replanting different areas of my pasture (not where I am now) fencing it off until it had established and it worked out much better and I had a beautiful pasture when done...and it seemed to grow much faster. That's when all my horses started getting fat tho
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Member:
leslie1
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Posted on Wednesday, Feb 18, 2009 - 10:33 pm:
Angela
I too am overseeding my pastures this weekend. Got my mix from Southern states --It is a horse pasture mix.
I thought about trying the teff too for the summer and then reseeding this fall with cool season stuff.. but went with the pasture mix, just cuz. I have almost bare pastures and am just going to use my aerator/seeder and hope for the best. I dont have a farm tractor. I plan on smothering the ground with seed. Surely some will stick?
who knows tho--I may have to reseed in the fall .
DianeE do you reseed every year? Angela please keep me informed on what you use and how well it goes.
Cheers Leslie
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Member:
scooter
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Posted on Thursday, Feb 19, 2009 - 7:08 am:
Leslie, I used to overseed every year, with poor results, that's why I went to REseeding. That grass seed is expensive! It takes much more to overseed than to REseed. The clover always did real well when overseeding, but it then took over the pasture...thus the fat horses!
The important think with either OVERseeding or REseeding is the seed is touching the dirt and it hopefully stays moist. We have clay for dirt which doesn't help anything. If your aerator/seeder puts it in the ground rather than on top of it that will help. You are from Ky. too and your soil type may be way better than our clay! IMHO the results will probably be different in different areas....The thing about seed is it needs lots of water, and to be touching / or even better be under the dirt a little. (as a side note I have read, and different people have told me if you soak your grass seed in water for 24 hrs. I THINK) it grows faster and better....but is harder to spread.
I have never seeded or overseeded where we live now, it hasn't been needed, but when I had to seed the bank above the arena we used a horse pasture mix, worked the ground up well and I had to water it for HOURS daily.(middle of summer) it came up VERY well
Good luck!
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Moderator:
DrO
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Posted on Thursday, Feb 19, 2009 - 8:21 am:
One of the most effective way to overseed is with a grain drill that actually places the seed in the soil. It is an expensive piece of machinery but they can often be rented or better pay someone to run it. When planting cool season grasses the fall is much much better than the spring unless you have cool moist summers.
Angela for recommendations you should speak with someone familiar with your local conditions and extension service usually has experienced folks.
DrO
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Member:
ajudson1
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Posted on Thursday, Feb 19, 2009 - 9:32 am:
My pastures really suffered the last 2 summers with the dry weather we had. I need to OVERseed also and all I can share with you is what I've done previously here in Upper MI.
I've done a frost seeding every other year for probably 20 years. I walk with a hand cranked broadcast seeder and do it when there is snow on the ground yet, and frost in the soil yet.
The melting snow provides moisture, and the ground freezing & thawing works the seeds in.
Biggest problem? Birds thinking they have died and gone to bird seed heaven!
So I've done the walking and cranking during rain even to get the seed in the snow so they don't get at it!
I've tried various mixes, and the clover is what does the best. The idea is the clover grows fastest and protects the other seeds that start slower. At least that is my understanding of it.
I do see some timothy, and orchard grass. I don't like the orchard grass much because it is a clump grass and makes mowing after grazing harder.
If you don't plan on mowing, it would be o.k., but I am not sure the horses like it too well.
Last time I know I did a broader ranged horse pasture mix. But as DrO says, talk with you county extension guy, and also if there are some older farmers/workers at your local feed mill, ask them questions. They've been doing this long enough to know what has worked over the years.
I was going to do the Teff last year. Even had some folks at our experimental station interested in how it turned out and wanted me to report back to them. I wanted to plant on top of the soil while leaving the other grasses alone.
Problems? Well, I could not buy a small amount for just one acre to try it. It was expensive. It is VERY VERY tiny seed. It must be kept moist the whole time it is starting. So unless you can keep it moist, and really baby it to start it out, I am not sure you'd have good luck with it.
Again, ask questions of everyone locally. If you do try the Teff, please let us know on HA. I'd love to hear if it worked out or not.
Remember you must do what works for YOUR area. You can't even go by what works in the state in general, there are differences within every state even.
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Member:
leslie1
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Posted on Thursday, Feb 19, 2009 - 2:04 pm:
The Forage speciaist at UK says that Teff is similar to Timothy in feed values. Recommends it for making hay.
But has reservations about using it as a grazing crop due to shallow root systems. Horses would probably pull it up. (even after the stand has been established)
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