old feed lot to crop or hay

old horse power · Apr 3, 2016

:? I've been asked by a local church to redo their grounds around the church it around 20 acres let to them by a old cattle feeder. The ground did have buffalo grass on it but soon became
weed and all kinds of mess.
Thinking on plowing the ground let it air out and so oats and alfalfa or should it go into a row crop for a year or so ?
They prefer a green land scape so was thinking alfalfa for after.
Looking for idea's.

Janicholson · Apr 3, 2016

You will have hundreds of ready to germinate seeds of that weed mix ready to sprout. I would probably bale what ever comes
up and mulch it, then roundup the plot and after two weeks, plow it down, and plant it is a valuable hay crop for the area..
Get their permission so everyone is in the loop, including the real owner. Jim

RayP(MI) · Apr 3, 2016

Oats may hold off weeds until first season, and shelter alfalfa. (nurse crop). Next season you may well find a lot of weeds
coming on. Be prepared to spray, and I don't know any spray that's safe for alfalfa. Maybe someone has a better answer.

tom stalker · Apr 3, 2016

I took an old overgrown weedy field to corn for 2 years

Sod broke down nice and weeds went away when spraying the corn

Third year seeded it down to a mixed hay crop and have been baling it ever since

DeltaRed · Apr 3, 2016

The manure will be so thick that nothing will grow.And for several years in the thick spots.And as said,the 'seedbank' is FULL of
millions of seed just waiting....... Since it was a "feedlot" be on the lookout for buried hazards. Fence posts,railroad
ties,concrete,pipe,scrapiron...........Let the weeds grow and brush hog em from time to time. At least it will be "green". Or you
could scatter some oats out there and just disk em in. Them mow them and the weeds.........

paul · Apr 3, 2016

It will be a little too rich.

Would be nice to put corn on it for a couple years and use the nutrients.

Oats will lodge, but oats with alfalfa should work.

I would consider roundup alfalfa, normally not needed here, but you are going to battle weeds something bad on this, really bad.

Could plant oats, spray it for weeds, and then do a fall planting of alfalfa, that works well 'here', you could find out how a crop grows with the
cheap oats, then get to work the ground again in fall and put in alfalfa if things look right, or regroup if the weeds or fertility is too far off, put in a
cheap cover crop or what for over winter if it doesn't look good for alfalfa?

Paul

DeltaRed · Apr 3, 2016

Round-up Ready alfalfa. That s#!+ only lasts 2-3 years and is horribly expencive.Spray Round up,kill all the weeds.But the hay dies out soon and you have to plow out and replant.Plant grass into it(the old thin alfalfa) and you have an 'unsprayable mess. Roundup kills the grass,2,4D/banvell(broadleaf Herbicide) kills the alfalfa.

hd6gtom · Apr 3, 2016

We plowed 1 up early many years ago. Then had it roto tilled 4 times in April and once in May then
planted to to garden and sweet corn. The yields were fantastic. Did that for 2 years then seeded
it to oats as a cover crop over alfalfa. We fertalized it heavy with phosphate and potash each
year and it produced a great hay crop for many years. Sold the hay, after expenses, church got all
the profit, win win for everybody.

coonie minnie · Apr 3, 2016

If it is sod now, why plow it??? I've had very good luck no-tilling corn into messes like that. Tillage is only going help germinate the weed seed bank that is there.

After a year or two of corn, then I'd seed to alfalfa, providing ph etc is acceptable for alfalfa.

Corn, then soy, then alfalfa would be good. Corn has a lot of wed control options, so does soy, and the soy will leave minimal residue to seed alfalfa into.

brutus49DC · Apr 3, 2016

a plow is the last thing you want to use before you plant alfalfa, the seed bed needs to be FIRM, crop it a year or two then seed it down after a low residue crop like soybeans, I suppose you could spring plow it, summer fallow it or plant a forage crop like sudan or teff grass to bale off and fall seed it

flying belgian · Apr 3, 2016

Oats will not yield well following sod. btdt. I think I would double disk it, seed it into oats as a cover crop and then before weeds go to seed about 4th of July I would moldboard it. If weeds come
up again and get as far as going to seed this fall you will have to disk it once more. Then next spring you can seed it to alfalfa with either oats or wheat as nurse crop. I agree with other poster to
explain to church that this will be a 2 yr. process.

dzc3 · Apr 3, 2016

Keep the weeds cut so they can put out a seed head. No weeds may let the grasses come back. Frost seed the grasses you want to grow for next year

GordoSD · Apr 3, 2016

old feed lot to crop or hay

old horse power

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tom stalker

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