What steps and timetable would you use to do this. The farm I just bought was all in corn, so now its covered with stupid short hay stalks. (Well, I guess they’re not stupid. Just annoying.) There is a cover crop of some kind of grass (maybe rye) overplanted.
How do I turn this in to wonderful pasture? I’m in New Jersey. Thanks!
It depends. Do you want to get rid of all the stubble? If so you are going to have to plow it under. If you can live with the stubble until it goes away, you can leave the cover crop, chop it and get it off in the late spring and then seed with grass. I would make reach out to whomever was farming it before to inquire about plowing and also chopping the cover crop.
Do you have an Ag service in your area to discuss your options with?
The land that is now our pasture was corn stubble prior to us buying it. No cover crop. We ended up plowing it all and planting for hay and pasture. We were unable to find a farmer who not too busy to do the work so we did it with a small plow we bought. Very time consuming.
If the corn field had been sprayed with a weed control, it may take a couple of years to get a pasture started. Ask the former owner when it was last sprayed.
If not chopped like “rustbreeches” mentioned then have cows graze on it for the winter come spring have a farmer work the land …
Then decide to till or not to till ?
Often no till-land is subsidized by a farm bill.
When soil is tilled it causes erosion & nitrogen can be released lending to green house gases. It also releases carbon & reduces the amount of water the soil would otherwise retain.
I would talk to former farmer to see what was used in way of fertilizer & herbicides. They would be a good source for deciding what kind of seed is best for your land. If your soil has great water holding capacity you can successfully do a spring planting & establish a field w/legume & quick germinating rye grass. If your land is low water - holding crops maturity is generally slower. You should have plan in place for whatever effort will be made to control weeds & insects.
As a rule of thumb - a good grass mix pasture will take a year to fully establish itself & create root system strong enuff to withstand erosion & traffic.
[QUOTE=JackW;7922508]
If the corn field had been sprayed with a weed control, it may take a couple of years to get a pasture started. Ask the former owner when it was last sprayed.[/QUOTE]
YES! Find out what was used and when. Some weed killers carry over for 3+ years. You will often get a pasture to start and at about 2" high it will all die.
Do the corn stubble have any weeds among them? If the fields are clean with nothing but stubble then odds are you will not be having a pasture for at least one more growing season.
Second the recommendation to check out any past herbicide uses.
You also don’t list your location. In my area, this time of the year, the ground is usually too hard to work, so everything would be put off until spring. By some grace of god, the ground is actually not yet frozen, so some of these steps could be done now.
But my general plan would be:
Leave it all as-is for now. The roots of the corn and cover crop will hold everything in place over the winter.
Plow everything far under in the spring, once the ground is unfrozen.
Harrow, to smooth everything out.
Plant your grass seed, and let it sit for the rest of the year. Tread lightly around the edges to get your fencing up. You can MAYBE let the horses onto it for the late fall, and you MAY need to mow it once or twice. It will definitely vary on the year, the grass, and the location.
Horses can go out on it over the winter, once there’s some snow cover.
Can start using it as pasture the following year.
You definitely won’t have grazing land in 2015, not if you’re going to do it right with perennial grasses.
It’s also going to be a ton of work if you don’t have the proper equipment.
A warning about those corn stalks…be careful riding/walking in them. They are at the perfect angle to stab into your calf/your horse’s leg, and they are SHARP. I have a big scar on my calf from running through them as a child, went right up the side of my leg and took off a huge strip of skin. Disgusting. :blech:
I should have given more detail… First, I did say I am in NJ. Recommendation from the farmer was to leave it fallow until the fall of 2015, then plant in the fall. He has been using no till methods, but I would think I would have to wait 2 years before the corn stalks completely break down. And, as GFAG says, they are awful to walk on. I’ve been staggering about, laying out the locations of the buildings. Killer to walk on. Good idea to ask him about herbicides and pesticides. Maybe that’s why he recommended letting it sit.
The good news is, that since I haven’t built anything, there won’t be horses on it until everything is built. I’ll put up sacrifice paddocks, but I want my pastures established by spring of 2016. I winter in Florida, so I’ve got time to plan all of this out.
Even if I had cows, the current lack of fencing would be a problem, so I can’t use them to get rid of the stalks. Sounds like a great idea, though.
Thanks for all your help!
Sorry, missed the New Jersey part.
In that case, pending any new info from the farmer, I’d follow my outline above and you’ll have your nice pastures in spring of '16. 
Is the farmer you bought the land from the one who harvested the corn and planted the cover crop?
(Guy I bought my place told me that the farmer that he’d leased the property to knew about the impending sale and was fine with loosing his cover crop - that was a big old lie, and I’m very glad I went to the local Extension office where two phone calls cleared that situation right up… I had to send the leasing farmer a letter letting him know that the lease would not be renewed once he’d harvested his barley crop the following spring, and I couldn’t do anything to the property until that had been harvested. Hopefully, you don’t have that kind of situation, but it’s worth it to make certain.)
[QUOTE=dressagegirl123;7922379]
What steps and timetable would you use to do this. The farm I just bought was all in corn, so now its covered with stupid short hay stalks. (Well, I guess they’re not stupid. Just annoying.) There is a cover crop of some kind of grass (maybe rye) overplanted.
How do I turn this in to wonderful pasture? I’m in New Jersey. Thanks![/QUOTE]
Did they use no-till farming practices (Roundup?)
David
Yes doesn’t no till mean herbicides? Not sure.
I have always seen/heard that you till in the fall and plant a cover crop such as rye grass, then till that in in the spring, harrow, and plant your grasses. This takes a year, so that the following spring you can put horses on it. I would not be sure about any kind of 2016 grazing.
[QUOTE=dressagegirl123;7922379]
What steps and timetable would you use to do this. The farm I just bought was all in corn, so now its covered with stupid short hay stalks. (Well, I guess they’re not stupid. Just annoying.) There is a cover crop of some kind of grass (maybe rye) overplanted.
How do I turn this in to wonderful pasture? I’m in New Jersey. Thanks![/QUOTE]
Here’s a link that will be helpful. It provides some thoughtful information. The advice to contact your local extension agent is a wise recommendation.
No till means more not less. Tilling kills a lot of weeds, so to keep a “clean” field farmers will use more herbicides. The most gains come from less erosion and less laps around the field (savings in fuel).
[QUOTE=Ambitious Kate;7927559]
Yes doesn’t no till mean herbicides? Not sure.
I have always seen/heard that you till in the fall and plant a cover crop such as rye grass, then till that in in the spring, harrow, and plant your grasses. This takes a year, so that the following spring you can put horses on it. I would not be sure about any kind of 2016 grazing.[/QUOTE]
Do you mean 2015 grazing?
The field already has a cover crop on it. Following my timeline above, she’ll be able to have pasture grazing spring 2016, maybe a little bit Fall 2015, depending on grass varieties, weather, exact property, etc.
[QUOTE=Ambitious Kate;7927559]
Yes doesn’t no till mean herbicides? Not sure.
I have always seen/heard that you till in the fall and plant a cover crop such as rye grass, then till that in in the spring, harrow, and plant your grasses. This takes a year, so that the following spring you can put horses on it. I would not be sure about any kind of 2016 grazing.[/QUOTE]
My understanding is more herbicides get used, particularly Roundup. Seeds are drilled into place, and weeds are eliminated by Roundup. The crops are Roundup-resistant. The reason many advocate no-till farming is less soil erosion.
My basic concern is whether ordinary grass will grow there, and how long Roundup stays in the soil. This is a very controversial subject of course.
David
Maybe I’m a little slow, but if the cover crop is growing there why won’t more grass grow there? For that matter, grass and alfalfa will grow there even if it has been sprayed with a residual.
In fact, with open ground like that you might be glad to have a healthy dose of herbicide. We bought ten acres years ago that was an abandoned barley field; no cover crop had been left and apparently no herbicide residuals either b/c that was the weediest patch of earth I’ve ever seen. We battled the weeds for YEARS.
ETA Round-up/Glyphosate is generally understood to have little or no residuals, especially for ag land. There are other herbicides that can have residuals for up to five years for broadleaf or shrub plants but in my odd ball experience I don’t know of an herbicide that has residuals effective on grass.
ETAA(gain) OP, I’d do what rustbreeches said, plant in the spring with a grass mix/cover crop and keep the horses off until spring 2016 and then only light use until the grass catches on.
Barely is a grass, so no problem with carry over. Unless I missed it I thought the land was nothing but corn stubble?
She said there is a grass cover crop on it.
Disk with an attached harrow. The disk blades are set at alternating angles, it should chop up the stalks, the following harrow will smooth the ground. You may get away with one pass. If you decide to plow, you’ll still have to disk and harrow to get the smooth surface you want for a pasture.
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