Jim is planting Barley, Wabi was planting corn. I'm sure Sam is done with wheat by now.

It's getting warm here. Upper 80's and Humid. Been working in the hay fields for 2 weeks. Planted this Summer grazing mix yesterday. Probably hit it once then stockpile for winter. I'm hoping with this and moving electric fence daily, That' will be my winter feeding. I keep hearing about these CoverCrop mixes, figured hell, I'll just mix it in the seeder with a rake, See what they've been talking about. Just waiting on a rain.

The corn, and beans are up, the first cutting of hay is down. A nice rain after the hay is in would be quite nice. The pasture grass is doing nicely. No complaints.

There's a guy up here in NW Pa. that does a lot of intensive grazing including one mix that has something like 17 species in it. His name is Russ Wilson,(search Wilson Land and Cattle or russwilson.net) he puts a lot of videos and information on youtube. He grazes nearly year round in one of the snowiest and coldest spots in Pa. He's always trying new things, you might find some useful information he put out there.

I don't know when you get frost in your area but if it even thinks about getting near freezing, Sunn Hemp dies. It should do well for you in the summer but it won't make it to winter.

Dale

Everything in that mix will die come Nov 1 or so. 1st hard frost. Never even seen a field of sunn hemp, but it's a deep rooted legume and can't hurt to have in there. I'll check out Russ Wilson, Thank you for the tip. Always looking to learn.

Ha!

We have not had anything winter kill yet.



Two bad packer wheel bearings today.

Finish barley tomorrow.

Then its full season cover crops, grazing corn, and SS grass.

Be done seeding in May.


Thats a nice mix you have there.

I had not heard of bmr millet.

Niether had I. I did want "Iron and Clay" Cowpeas because they wont go to seed this far north, and Photoperiod sensitive Sorghum-Sudan. Couldnt find either anywhere around here. So if they fully head before it cools down and I move the cows in... I can worry about acidosis. Probably just me being paranoid.
I've got the old timers at the coffee shop so worked up I took in a mason jar filled with mix. Took 1 of them out there so he could look in the drill himself... Get pretty tired of hearing "that wont work"

I'm planting teff soon. It's hot enough there will be no more frosts. The wealthy horsey people pay way too much for teff hay, and I'm going to help them. I can probably get 4 cuttings if we don't have early frost.

Gettin' there LJ!

Half section to go and I'll be done, hopefully wrap it up Friday afternoon before the 'big' rain this weekend.



Curious to see how your mix turns out. That looks like a nice little drill, what spacing?

County drill, 10.00 an acre. Not sure on spacing. 10ft wide. If someone told me it was 7.5 inch spacing i'ld agree. Not sure what the standards are. I know for sure though, my operation is much go small to own one. And I like toys as much as anyone.



God bless horse people and their money. I'm sure I know some who spend more monthly on hay than groceries.

We are looking at a couple Sunflower disc drills.

I want to use one to seed vetch and triticale behind our lentils.

LJ—I’ve worked as a fishing and hunting guide for a lot of years. A lot of my customers were policemen and for some reason dentists but by far most of my customers were farmers and ranchers. The most common statement I heard from those guys was always “That won’t work where I’m from.”

That would be a good grazing mix. I'ld like to do more triticale, but when i can get bin run wheat or oats, its helps with money. I've been planting hairy fetch at low rate. Trying to get it to reseed and spread itself.



Hard headed lot.

Got my rain last night. Time will tell how my depth was set i reckon.

The triticale will be there to capture the N fixed by the lentils.

And since it gets a lot taller than wheat and such....hopefully gives the Canada thistle a lot of competition in the spring.

The vetch of course will fix more N and can be winter grazed if needed.

That mix would stay most the year....if we had to terminate it we could follow with a warm season cover crop.


The next spring would see a spring seeded organic cash crop.


Thats the plan anyway!

If you could find a standard height winter wheat.....it would be much cheaper than triticale.

Wheat is 5.00 a bushel, oats 5.50 last fall. I've got fields i'm trying to build the fertility and organic matter before going back to perennial pasture. This 40 i'm dealing with now provided 1200 grazing days last year. The winter annual has already gave 2500. One or 2 more seasons and it'll be a pasture mix. Been pulling soil samples to send to the university, the haney test and a full workup at woodsend labs, because if you dont measure it you cant manage it.

We have been on the list for a couple years.

Been too cold here for the Haney test!