Chapter 33

SODS FOR PASTURES

Permanent Pastures.--There is a large total area of land that can be brought into profitable production of food only by means of pasture grasses. A small part is too low and moist for tillage, but a larger part is too rough or too infertile. It can be made to yield profit in grasses that are harvested without expense by animals. The grasses afford feed and at the same time protect the soil from waste. The efficiency of much pasture land is kept low by poor stands of grass, the encroachment of weeds, bushes, and briers, close grazing, and the failure to supply fertility. When making a sod for mowing, the aim is to select varieties of plants that mature near the same time. Pastures need varieties maturing at different times, and this is a matter under control when temporary pastures are used. Permanent pasture land soon becomes occupied by the grasses best fitted to soil conditions or most able to crowd other plants.

Seed-mixtures.--Several varieties of grasses should be used when making a sod for grazing. They occupy all the surface more quickly and surely than a single variety, and the pasturage is better. The character of the soil determines the character of the mixture in large measure. When land can be well fitted, a heavy seeding is best, but the cost is nearly prohibitive for thin, rough lands. A brief description of the leading pasture grasses east of the semi-arid region, and north of the gulf states, is given:

_Blue-grass._--No other pasture grass equals Kentucky blue-grass wherever it thrives. It makes a close sod, preventing the growth of weeds and withstanding tramping, and contains a high percentage of protein. While it is best adapted to limestone soils, it is grown with success on clay land outside of limestone areas. It is slow in making a heavy sod, as a rule, and partly because the seeding is too light on account of low germination. The rule is to seed with timothy and other grasses which furnish the greater part of the pasturage for two or three years. When seeded alone, 20 to 30 pounds of seed per acre should be used. It may be seeded in the spring or fall, and preferably in August or September.

_Timothy._--In a mixture of pasture grasses timothy has a place wherever it thrives. It is not naturally a pasture grass, standing grazing rather poorly, but it makes a large amount of feed quickly. The grass is one of the poorest in protein, and the pasturage gains much in quality when the timothy gives way to blue-grass, as it will in two or three years if the latter has favoring soil conditions. In most mixtures it is given a leading place. It may be sown in the spring, but preferably in the fall, and 15 pounds of seed will be found satisfactory, when seeded alone.

_Red-top._--If red-top were as palatable to livestock as blue-grass, it would have one of the most prominent places among our pasture grasses. It is valuable anyway, thriving where land is too acid for blue-grass or timothy, or too thin. It is adapted to wet land, and yet is one of our surest grasses for dry and poor land. It makes a sod that lasts well, and yields better than most other grasses. Notwithstanding its lack in palatability, it should be in all pasture mixtures for soils not in the best tilth. When used alone, 15 pounds of seed per acre should be sown. The seeding may be made in spring or fall.

_Orchard Grass._--In most mixtures recommended for pasture orchard grass has a place, but it should be a minor one. It makes early growth in the spring, which is a point in its favor. It stands shade and also drouth better than some other grasses, but is not at home in a poor or wet soil. It grows in bunches, and becomes unpalatable if not promptly grazed. It needs crowding with other grasses when grown for pasturage. When seeded alone for hay, 30 pounds of seed per acre may be used.

_Other Seeds._--There are other grasses often recommended, but they have no wide acceptance. Meadow fescue is a palatable grass that would be used more often in pasture mixtures if the seed were not high in price. All land seeded for grazing should have some clover sown for sake of soil fertility. The alsike remains longer than the red or mammoth, and is better for undrained, thin, and acid soils.

Yields and Composition of Grasses.--The Ohio station has compared the yields of various grasses and their composition. The following table is arranged from its data, as given in Bulletin 225:

+-----------------+----------+---------+----------+ | Name | Average | Pounds | Pounds | | | Tons Hay | Protein | Protein | | | per Acre | per | per Acre | | | | Hundred | | +-----------------+----------+---------+----------+ | Timothy | 3.49 | 6.38 | 223 | | Blue-grass | 2.18 | 10.12 | 221 | | Red-top | 2.81 | 8.53 | 240 | | Orchard grass | 2.19 | 7.81 | 171 | | Meadow fescue | 2.10 | 8.97 | 188 | +-----------------+----------+---------+----------+

Suggested Mixtures for Pastures.--For ordinary conditions, Williams suggests the following mixture for an acre of land:

Blue-grass 10 pounds Timothy 6 pounds Red-top 6 pounds Orchard grass 4 pounds Red clover 4 pounds Alsike clover 2 pounds

For use on rather wet lands, and especially off the limestone, he suggests:

Red-top 12 pounds Blue-grass 8 pounds Timothy 4 pounds Alsike clover 4 pounds

Hunt recommends the following as a basis, to be modified to suit varying conditions:

Timothy 15 pounds Kentucky blue-grass 10 pounds Meadow fescue 2 pounds Red clover 4 pounds Alsike clover 3 pounds White clover 2 pounds

The Cornell station recommends the following for good land:

Timothy 8 to 12 pounds Kentucky blue-grass 4 pounds Meadow fescue 1 to 4 pounds Orchard grass 1 to 4 pounds Red clover 6 pounds Alsike clover 3 pounds White clover 1 to 2 pounds

For poor lands it recommends this mixture:

Timothy 8 to 12 pounds Red-top 4 pounds Canadian blue-grass 4 pounds Red clover 6 pounds Alsike clover 3 pounds White clover 1 pound

Zinn, of West Virginia, recommends the following mixture for permanent pasture:

Timothy 4 pounds Red-top 4 pounds Orchard grass 4 pounds Kentucky blue-grass 7 pounds Red clover 2 pounds Alsike clover 2 pounds White clover 1 pound

Renewal of Permanent Pastures.--There is much pasture land that could not be broken with profit for reseeding. There is neither time, nor money, nor opportunity at the owner's hand for this purpose, and often the loss of soil resulting from washing would be a bar if the labor would cost nothing. The renewal of such grass lands can be made with profit if pernicious weeds are not in the way. Plant-food, lime, and grass seed are wanted. A disk or sharp spike-tooth harrow, used in early spring or after an August rain, will give some fresh earth for covering the seeds. A complete fertilizer always is needed. The clovers should go into the seed-mixture used.

Destroying Bushes.--The absence of sheep is evident in the appearance of the greater area of permanent pasture in the mountainous regions of the eastern states. Bushes, briers, and other weeds must be destroyed if pasture land would be kept in a profitable state, and only the sheep or the goat is the fully efficient aid of man in caring for such land. The presence of dogs makes the tariff on wool, or lack of it, a minor matter. The cost to the country, in indirect effect upon pastures only, due to unrestrained dogs, is incalculable. The maintenance of good sods without sheep is a problem without solution in some regions.

Close Grazing.--Much harm results from turning livestock on pastures too early in the spring. The ground is kept soft by spring rains, and the hoofs cut the turf. The grass needs its first leaves to enable it to make rapid growth, and the first grass of spring is not nutritious.

Close grazing is harmful, exposing the soil to the sun and robbing it of moisture. When winter comes, there should be sufficient grass to serve as a mulch to the roots. It acts like a coat of manure, giving new life to the plants the next spring. Good sods are not easily or quickly made, and when they have been secured on land unfit for the plow, their value measures the value of the land itself.