Last year I purchased some land that has been commercially row cropped for years and am trying to turn it into pasture for sheep. My plan was to jump start it and let nature do most of the work. This past spring I mowed short one 2.5 acre section, shallow tilled it, and planted a sheep mixture of seed (tall fescue, birdsfoot trefoil, white clover, chicory, orchard grass, and Kentucky bluegrass) using a garden seed spreader. It looked beautiful compared to the rest of our fields. I was going to let it go to seed and winter without cutting it, possibly moving the sheep to it after getting a fence up.
Today, the owner of the land beside ours had someone cut their fields for hay and they also cut the section I had seeded. I guess that raises the priority of getting a fence up. Anyway, he apologized and offered to either bushhog it to spread the seeds or to bale it. I wasn't sure what was best. Presently, we do have to use hay to get through the winter, so I went for the hay option.
Most of the seed companies include west Tennessee in a transitional zone but our summers are more like the deep south. Most people around here sow Bermuda grass but after weeding Bermuda grass all my life I can't bring myself to plant it. Also, I don't know of anyone around here who raises grass-fed sheep. All the sheep raisers I know supplement heavily with grain feed. Some I have visited have no grass to speak of. Anyway, I'm inclined to continue with the mixture I started with. The company I buy it from recommends planting it in the spring but I'm now wondering if I should do it this fall. I hadn't checked on it for several days so am not sure how much it had gone to seed.
So, I guess there are several questions, bushhog or bale the cut grass? Overseed it now or in the spring? And should I stick with that mixture or go with what the local people (who basically only know about commercial farming) tell me?
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