Reposition Disc for "No-Till" like results?

Has anyone ever tried a poor man's way of no-till seeding a pasture? Those familiar with a disc harrow know that the angle of attack can be changed (adjusted by moving the line of discs) that allows notched discs to run on top of the ground perpendicular so that they don't really cut into the soil that much. I was wondering if anyone has ever tilled a pasture this way and broadcast the seed followed by a few passes with a drag harrow? No-till seed drills are terribly expensive so I'm trying to plant grass without tilling up the ground so much. I'm going to try this once we get some rain and will report back but I'd love to hear from others if they've ever tried it and what kind of results they got. Thanks!

So, if I understand, basically you're turning your disc into an aggressive plug aerator. If you make multiple passes at different angles, you should make an impact.

I wonder, what pasture grass is growing now? Are you overseeding with more of the same, or introducing an additional mix of grass species? I'm just trying to work out the amount of germination you can expect, and whether this is a cost effective approach.

Douglas Alpenstock wrote:So, if I understand, basically you're turning your disc into an aggressive plug aerator. If you make multiple passes at different angles, you should make an impact.
I wonder, what pasture grass is growing now? Are you overseeding with more of the same, or introducing an additional mix of grass species? I'm just trying to work out the amount of germination you can expect, and whether this is a cost effective approach.

Right now it's a mixture of crab grass, small amount of Bermuda, other mixed natives and weeds. The dirt itself (I can't really call it soil) is nutrient deficient although it grew Milo OK one season. It just seems I can't get anything good to grow here. For many years it was peanuts and cotton. I can't really irrigate it so I don't want to waste money on more Bermuda. I may just put winter wheat down again and keep the cows off till I get a good stand. The problem is summertime, I need a drought-tolerant perennial grass that can choke out the weeds. Maybe Johnson grass or similar. I just hate to keep tilling it up and destroying what little microbial activity I may have going. I like the idea of using a good mix. Thanks for the reply!

Phew, sounds like a challenge. How large is the area we're talking about? It sounds like you've tilled it up before.

A little over 2 acres... yes, it's been tilled several times. I may just have to keep doing seasonal stands of Sun Hemp, the cows love it, only I have to keep working it

The plan seems good to me.  I don't think we need to stress our selves about planting pasture seed. Some just let the animals hooves do it. Some feed hay with the desired seeds in it to the same effect.  IN my case I do not have animals right now but past usage the animals have planted alfalfa in some places and vetch in others. When those reach ripe but not open seed pod I cut it and move it to places with poor forage and let it seed itself naturally. Now that the rains have started it has sprouted. It will mostly grow roots during our mild winter then overwhelm much of the weeds in the spring.