Avery Nisbet

The soil test is a must as stated above.

Rolling out hay like you said also works. I have found if you can throw some manure out in the bare spots with the hay it helps even more.

Have you looked into meadow fescue.  Some of the newer verifies out of Wisconsin grow well in shade and can deal well with heavy grazing pressure. They can also deal with less than perfict soils. One is called hidden valley. Last I checked it's not on the market yet. A pickup with corn prices caused the seed growers to till it under.

Meadow fescue also has none of the endophite problems of tall fescue.

There is also reed canary grass but it is considered invasive in some states.

I have a very similar situation.  I have red Georgia clay. My bad field came back with a ph of 4.7 and my "good" field came back with 4.8 this is after applying 1ton of lime an acre. I would recommend finding a mineral for the animals that does not contain iron. Same qith their feed. I have sheep and I'm also currently looking for a mineral that contains no iron available in my area. Southern states has a 2:1 mineral that has no iron but no feed stores near me carry it. Which is strange as it would be one of the best for the cattle in my area.

1# get the iron out of their mineral and feed.
2# get the PH moved up.

I recommend having the lime spread for you. I purchased a herd 2500lbs spreader for lime and I would have to say I don't like it. Way cheaper/easier to have it spread. Though on just 5 acres you could do it with a push spreader and 50lbs bags. It would take a while maybe do a 1/4 acre a weekend. 10x50lbs bags. There is also coral calcium that can be sprayed on with water. I have not used it but a cattle farmer near me likes it.