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Low-till hay sowing, Central Texas zone 8a

Posts: 69

Location: Burnet County TX zone 8a

posted 4 years ago

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Howdy,

We're casting hay seed this year to better feed our keto machines (2-3 Aberdeen steer). It's the first year we'll have done this. Previous years they just ate grass, whatever grew. This year we'll supplement with about 5 acres of Sorghum Sudan Grass Hybrid annual. I considered Giant Bermuda aka Texas Tuff, which is perennial, but its cost is waaaay higher and I'd rather start off with an annual in case I want to change course.

I've burnt that field and sourced a working old disker. I plan to float it on the 3pt behind a 55hp tractor, with no additional weights added, so it's doing low-till. I know about disking on the contour to avoid erosion. Our land is already swaled on a macro scale. We're keto permies so if you're vegan etc please just skip this post. Our veggie garden is no-till btw.

My main question is if anyone else has adapted a standard disker to do low-till. I wonder if simply letting it float on the 3pt will be light enough, or will I need to build some wooden runners that float behind to reduce its depth. I suppose that could also close the furrows but that would mean casting into a narrow area behind the disk and in front of the float/closer.

We're repurposing a silly lawn seed caster. We removed its handlebars and it sits on our lap, while we crank its drive wheel by hand. The seeds are tiny and 50 lbs will plant 8 acres.

I say we're zone 8a but from now on, after losing all our pineapple guavas despite double bagging them, we plan to only plant things that can handle a zone 7 winter. Jack Spirko mentioned the same idea recently on a podcast.

Bolar clay loam ph 7.4 lightened with mulch, sand and sulfur. Caliche limestone 4-12" under that, so we build up deeper with retaining walls.
Agorist, Texas Master Gardener, 0-3 zone permaculture = from slippers to cattle.
https://soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/B/BOLAR.html

Silas Rempel

Posts: 98

posted 4 years ago

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First off, it depends.
How heavy is your disk?
How hard is your ground?
How much ground cover is there?
Can you set your tractor 3pt to a certain height?
There are a lot of variables. But those small 3pt discs usually are very light and I don't think you ought to have any problems floating it. Making sure it runs level so that all your down pressure is equal on the front and back gang would be a good idea as well.

Anne Miller

steward

Posts: 16948

Location: USDA Zone 8a

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posted 4 years ago

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We have a disk that we use for our food plots. We are in the Texas Hill Country.

While I don't exactly understand your description of low till are you wanting to barely scrap the soil? Even though you burned the field will that be enough to get the roots?

After distributing the seed we use our mule to get good contact with the soil and seed.

Invasive plants are Earth's way of insisting we notice her medicines. Stephen Herrod Buhner
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Joe Hallmark

pollinator

Posts: 335

Location: Central Texas

posted 4 years ago

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That is what I did. I have a lot of rocks so I didn’t want to do a one time plow and turn a bunch up. My ground is hard clay /rock so this worked out pretty good. I ended up using a hardland mix from turner seed. 5grasses. Bermuda needs a lot of nitrogen where this mix doesn’t. I can’t say how well I like it bc it hasn’t sprouted yet.

Anyways it might be something to look into I’m same zone as you

Good luck

Reno Husker

Posts: 69

Location: Burnet County TX zone 8a

posted 4 years ago

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Silas Rempel wrote:First off, it depends.
How heavy is your disk?
How hard is your ground?
How much ground cover is there?
Can you set your tractor 3pt to a certain height?
There are a lot of variables. But those small 3pt discs usually are very light and I don't think you ought to have any problems floating it. Making sure it runs level so that all your down pressure is equal on the front and back gang would be a good idea as well.

Too heavy for two men to pick up but under 1700 because my FEL forks can lift it. See pic below.
Not hard unless it's bone dry, in which case it's very hard BOLAR on USGS
Little now. Just some native grass sprouting from burnt tops
Yes, but my idea is to float it, to avoid depth variations from uneven terrain.

Thanks for the leveling tip.

Disker.jpg

Reno Husker

Posts: 69

Location: Burnet County TX zone 8a

posted 4 years ago

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Anne Miller wrote:We have a disk that we use for our food plots. We are in the Texas Hill Country.

While I don't exactly understand your description of low till are you wanting to barely scrap the soil? Even though you burned the field will that be enough to get the roots?

After distributing the seed we use our mule to get good contact with the soil and seed.

We're in Oatmeal and it has rare good soil. Bolar clay loam is 80% of our land. BOLAR on USGS What area are you in?
Low till is just going deep enough to plant. This avoids turning, which disrupts the soil's natural layering of microorganisms by depth. I'd use our Minneapolis Moline seed drill but it's not suitable for tiny seeds.
No, the roots of native grass are still there. We plan to supplement that native grass, not replace it. It's sparse now after burning.
Are you talking about the animal mule or Kawasaki UTV? We'll have a couple head of cattle on there walking around on it. I could borrow more head from a neighbor as needed to trample more.

Reno Husker

Posts: 69

Location: Burnet County TX zone 8a

posted 4 years ago

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Hi everyone. Our plan worked ! We have 6" baby hay sprouts all over the acreage we seeded. God has smiled on Texas with all this rain so far. I wound up at the hospital for chest pains, but it was caused by some muscle tear from running that seeder. No problem with my ticker, working outdoors eating no junk, no carbs, no sugar, pays off. Doc pronounced me low risk and I took off outta there. Hospitals give me the creeps.

Back to low-till hay, I also seeded a neighbor's 6 acre plot, much heavier, and that came up very strong. He wanted me to cast about 120 lbs per acre on his land so I did. I only cast 20 lbs per acre on my own. I think next year I'll step up to about 40 lbs per acre, and specify seed with no treatment on them.

IF YOU SOW HAY, be sure to check the label on the seed. Sweet Hay Grazer is the brand I used and it's coated with chemical crapola so it starts faster and preserves longer. I called the company and they said it's also available with no coating on the seeds. Next year we'll do that.

Reno Husker

Posts: 69

Location: Burnet County TX zone 8a

posted 4 years ago

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Just took a walk. Our sorghum hay sprouts are about 12" tall !

I remember because of the snow. Do you remember tiny ad?

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