[Arcticwolffman]

I recently bought a 100 acres in middle TN. On this 100 acres is an approximate 30 acre hay field. It has been neglected and in need of fertilizer and of coarse lime. I am by no means a professional farmer but did grow up on a 300 acre dairy farm. I just turned 60, so a forty year gap and for some reason I want to go back to my roots. My dilemma lies in how to proceed with this hay field. It has Sericea on it. After some extensive searching on the internet I only found one article saying it is a good crop all the other search results are pretty much negative to include how to get rid of it. To further complicate my decision is the fact that only a portion of it (maybe a quarter of the field) is a good thick luscious looking crop the rest of the field is sparse to hardly any at all. What I've learned so far is if you don't cut it early say 18 inches or less animals won't eat it with the exception of goats. I really do not want to grow a crop that I can't get rid of. My plan is to feed it with lime this year and decide what to do with it after that. I do have a moldboard plow but have been told the roots go deep with Sericea so its hard to get rid of.
So my question is should I try to get rid of it and start over or try to fertilize, reseed it and and try to create a niche market for for myself? Additionally if I go the route of reseeding it, what kind of equipment should I acquire? As I have been told harvesting is tricky to not knock off the leaves while bailing. Would a haybine be a better choice over cutting and raking? For selling I am thinking small square bales would be my best bet. Additionally if I am working into this slowly would mulching it and leaving it lay this year help with my fertilizing needs?

 

[Bebop]

I would talk to my local county extension ag department . They may know how to advise .

 

[MARK (LI)]

I never heard of this stuff before, but I looked it up and did a little reading, and like you, find the information contradictory and confusing.....on one hand good for live stock, but can cause illnesses????..I would forego any application this year other than something to eliminate it...then take pro active measures next year to grow a crop... @Bebop makes a great suggestion......talk to local Agricultural Department

 

[mopar65pa]

Where do you live now? It looks as if it is an invasive plant. That means to me it's a worthless weed.
Around here (PA)Timothy grass and alfalfa are the grass to go to.
What are you raising livestock wise? Cows? Goats? Sheep? Do you have a pasture area with grass?
So many questions.

Ok here's my take on it after growing up on a farm.

They told us not to plow and just disc in the 80's. Rotate crops so as not to suck the nutrients for one plant out of the soil.
Personally I would plow that stuff over, disk it, and plant Timothy or alfalfa for a year or 2. Yes plowing both times. Get that rotting forage into the ground. Take a soil sample to the local testing place and figure out what it is lacking to make good crops.
Do you have a way to get the poop to the field? AND do you have enough animals to feed the field with poop?

Small farm, square bales are the way to go. Easy moving, easy stacking and storage space. (as opposed to round bails)
I am in the middle of buying a 20 acre plot of land now and want to get back to self sufficiency and food supply.

I have been looking on line for implements to help me. Haybine $800-$2000, Rake $800 to1$000, Bailer $1500-2K, $1000 for a poop spreader. I have a tractor so that takes care of most of 10K right there. BUT mine is not big enough to support a bailer. So I will have to buy a 35+HP tractor to support some the implements. (mine is only 26hp)

So much info without a full background of what your plans are or what you have in livestock is the question.

I will help you as much as I can keep in touch.

Tony

 

[Ken22]

I had 50 acres of hay that was not producing. It was 40+ years old. I rented the land to a neighbor for 2 years for free, and this year, he will seed 75% Alfalfa and 25% Brome. Hay has gone from $40/bail to $150/bale in the last 3 years. Next year, I'll recoup what I didn't get for 2 years. Alfalfa is what is needed around here.
This way, you wouldn't have to look for equipment you may not use much afterward.
Do check with your Ag department as was preveiouly suggested.

 

[Arcticwolffman]

I would talk to my local county extension ag department . They may know how to advise .

Will do.

 

[Arcticwolffman]

I never heard of this stuff before, but I looked it up and did a little reading, and like you, find the information contradictory and confusing.....on one hand good for live stock, but can cause illnesses????..I would forego any application this year other than something to eliminate it...then take pro active measures next year to grow a crop... @Bebop makes a great suggestion......talk to local Agricultural Department

I did not catch that about the illness, on the contrary I read it helps with some digestion issues if done right however it has to be done at the right time....... and you know the weather doesn't always cooperate.

 

[MARK (LI)]

Sounds like it is ok for goats...they eat anything

 

[Arcticwolffman]

Where do you live now? It looks as if it is an invasive plant. That means to me it's a worthless weed.
Around here (PA)Timothy grass and alfalfa are the grass to go to.
What are you raising livestock wise? Cows? Goats? Sheep? Do you have a pasture area with grass?
So many questions.

Ok here's my take on it after growing up on a farm.

They told us not to plow and just disc in the 80's. Rotate crops so as not to suck the nutrients for one plant out of the soil.
Personally I would plow that stuff over, disk it, and plant Timothy or alfalfa for a year or 2. Yes plowing both times. Get that rotting forage into the ground. Take a soil sample to the local testing place and figure out what it is lacking to make good crops.
Do you have a way to get the poop to the field? AND do you have enough animals to feed the field with poop?

Small farm, square bales are the way to go. Easy moving, easy stacking and storage space. (as opposed to round bails)
I am in the middle of buying a 20 acre plot of land now and want to get back to self sufficiency and food supply.

I have been looking on line for implements to help me. Haybine $800-$2000, Rake $800 to1$000, Bailer $1500-2K, $1000 for a poop spreader. I have a tractor so that takes care of most of 10K right there. BUT mine is not big enough to support a bailer. So I will have to buy a 35+HP tractor to support some the implements. (mine is only 26hp)

So much info without a full background of what your plans are or what you have in livestock is the question.

I will help you as much as I can keep in touch.

Tony

Not sure I will catch all the answers but I'll try.
I live in Indy and property is a 6 hour drive in middle TN. I work out of town 16 days at a time so getting animals is not in the cards right now. A chicken factory just opened up a few miles down the road I went to talk to them about droppings however they said it was already spoken for. But I have not tried to contact whoever has control of it. I like your idea of plowing it under and am curious as to how much the rotting foliage will help with the soil nutrients? I did soil samples and they came back calling for 2 ton of lime per acre. I do have a question on that though. If I lime it and then plow it under is the lime gone to waist? Not sure I caught all the questions.

 

[mopar65pa]

Not sure I will catch all the answers but I'll try.
I live in Indy and property is a 6 hour drive in middle TN. I work out of town 16 days at a time so getting animals is not in the cards right now. A chicken factory just opened up a few miles down the road I went to talk to them about droppings however they said it was already spoken for. But I have not tried to contact whoever has control of it. I like your idea of plowing it under and am curious as to how much the rotting foliage will help with the soil nutrients? I did soil samples and they came back calling for 2 ton of lime per acre. I do have a question on that though. If I lime it and then plow it under is the lime gone to waist? Not sure I caught all the questions.

Plow the foliage first, disk or harrow the ground after the plowing. Get some poop from somewhere, but chicken poop is the poop to have. Spread the poop and disk again and plant. The following year test it, lime it if it needs it and turn it again with a disk.
As far as I know you plow every 2-4 years and just disk in between. That is the new fad. But I've been out of the loop for a few years.
You want your PH levels to be in the range. If not things will not grow to full potential.
It may take 2 years to get a good growing ground for your needs from what i have read.
If you have wooded land you can "scrape" 2 to 3 inches off of and spread on the growing ground do it! Forest dirt is awesome!
The thing with plowing is it turns the dirt too far down for the plants to gain nurturance from the last crop BUT You still need to bring the dirt up from underneath so you can fertilize that dirt. Then you have a foot of good dirt to grow with.
If you are just growing hay be it timothy or alfalfa it only needs 6 inches of feirtle dirt to grow. Most plants only need 6"s of feirtle dirt.
I personally like to have 6 to 12 inches of feirtle dirt to grow in.
If you do lime it let it sit for a week or a couple rains, then disk it and plant. If you don't it will burn the roots of what you are planting.
So much info to take in I know. And there are so many ways people tell you to do this stuff. I just go back to my roots of growing up on a farm and how we did things and why. That's what I'm giving you.
I hope it helps and I will be using all this stuff when or if we end up with the property we are looking at.

I wish you the best and if anyone has better advise or updated knowledge take it. I'm old school training. 🤣