Over the last few weeks, the pasture and hay questions I have been asked have all had a common theme: heavily weed-infested hay fields. In each case, there were different events that led to the problem, but they were dealing with the same issue.
I am sure that at some point every producer has had that field that has gotten away from them, and they are not really sure what to do to get it back to being productive. If you are in a similar situation, how can you work through the problem to develop a plan to restore these fields?
I have to start these conversations by giving the governmental answer, “It depends.” And it does!
It depends on your goals. It depends on your resources. It depends on when you need the forage from that acreage. Although there are many factors that will go into the final plan, there are a few basic principles to keep in mind that will help clear the mess.
Remember the basics of planting
In all of these cases, there was heavy weed pressure and very little desirable forage. This means that they all were looking at reseeding. This also means you need three things to happen.
Soil fertility: First, you need to have adequate soil fertility. Hearing an extension educator tell you that you need to be soil testing is as common as hearing us say “it depends.” I have never had a forage discussion where I didn’t remind the producer that they should be soil testing and correcting fertility issues. Without adequate fertility, the future stand has no chance of reaching its potential and being productive.
Seed-to-soil contact: Secondly, when planting seeds, you need to have good seed-to-soil contact. In these heavily weed-infested fields, they all needed a way to deal with all the plant material from the weeds. They could spray, mow, till or use a combination of all these practices. They need to look at their resources and see how they can manage the undesirable plant material so that when they plant, they can be sure to get good seed-to-soil contact.
Soil moisture: Third, and finally, they need to do this when they have enough soil moisture for the seeds to germinate and when there is enough of the growing season left for the new seeding to establish itself enough to face whatever challenge comes next. That could be the drought and heat of summer or the first frost of fall.
Work backwards to build your plan
Once you have evaluated your resources and determined the steps that need to be completed to produce the new forage stand, I like to use the calendar to work backwards to know when to complete each task. If there is adequate soil moisture, it can take 5 to 14 days for seeds to germinate. Once germinated, it can take at least a month for the young plants to produce about 6 inches of top growth, which will help them overwinter.
If you are planning to use a herbicide to control the weeds that are present, then you need to follow the label to know how soon afterwards you can plant. You will also need to build in time if you need to submit soil samples for testing, make any necessary fertility adjustments, mow the acreage and possibly do some tillage. The biggest question is when you think it will frost and what will be the latest planting date you would consider.
You may decide that, after you have laid everything out on the calendar, there is no way you can accomplish those tasks this fall. You may need to focus on a spring planting. Now you can decide what tasks can be done this fall to reduce the weed pressure and prevent soil erosion until you can pick back up later.
In a way, things haven’t gone right in this field, and it may not be easy to get the problem corrected. Things usually don’t go as planned, and you will often need to make changes. However, if you remember the basic steps that need to happen and plan the best way to make those things happen, you stand a better chance of being successful.
