Seeding question
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Topic: Seeding question
Posted By: captaindana
Subject: Seeding question
Date Posted: 18 Jan 2012 at 8:58am
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for all you hay farmers like me. I am going to seed hayfields this spring with my friends 12 foot Brillion seeder. It is the double row cultipacker type with large and small seed boxes on top. I will be pulling it with my 170 so this is not off topic lol. My question is I am seeding brome grass in the large seed compartments and as it may cause bridging problems they [who is they?] recommend a few hand fulls of oats in with the brome to keep the fluffy seeds from bridging. my horse hay customers won't want to see oats [or straw] mixed in their bales, so what else could I mix into the hoppers to make the brome feed evenly and that won't grow? Any ideas? Thanks, Dana
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Replies:
Posted By: JohnCO
Date Posted: 18 Jan 2012 at 9:23am
Capt, Seems like if you cut it in early summer with a brush hog or just lay it down with a sickle bar the oats wouldn't be much of a problem. I wouldn't think you are going to add all that much oats seed compared to the grass anyway. Besides, if the oats are still green when you make the first cutting, oats are going to still be green feed so what's the problem. I've always found that the horse owners are much more picky then the horses!
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"If at first you don't succeed, get a bigger hammer"
Allis Express participant
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Posted By: Gerald J.
Date Posted: 18 Jan 2012 at 10:31am
Critters LOVE green or brown oat hay. They eat it like candy eveen if its intended for bedding. There's not much food value, but horses are created to eat poor quality feed, alfalfa is too good for them unless they are racing every day. And they will bloat if left to eat all the alfalfa it takes to satisfy their volume based hunger and if restricted to a square bale flake a day they will eat the barn trying to fill their belly and die from the splinters perforating their gut.
I tried seeding brome about 22 years ago with a JD FBB drill. I covered the area I wanted planted, stopped and checked the hopper of mixed oats and brome and it hadn't gone down. I covered the area again and again. And again. Still the hopper hadn't gone done. The long awns on the brome seed are VERY good at interlocking and bridging. I converted to planting by hand. With a slight breeze I held a handful of brome as high as I could reach and wiggled my fingers to let seed out and the breeze (3 to 5 mph was enough) spread the seed further than I could throw it. I found that I didn't need to work brome in, it took off laying on top the ground.
There are two machinery techniques that are reputed to work (and the Brillion seeder ought to be the best if the brome doesn't bridge). One is to use a hammer mill to chop off the awns to stop bridging, the other is to use a conservation drill that has a more agressive feeder in the hopper bottom that will reach up and grab seed, breaking up the bridge. I used a conservation drill for switchgrass borrowed from the county conservation board where switchgrass also likes to bridge in a conentional drill.
Gerald J.
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Posted By: JoeO(CMO)
Date Posted: 18 Jan 2012 at 10:45am
Captain, the oats will only be there the first year. If you are concerned about it, rent a conservation drill that has the capability for sowing warm season grasses, or a more common name associated with these drills are Native grass attachment and have a large box The native warm season grass seed have a long beard and the drills have large agitators to keep the seeds stirred up and not bridge. They usually rent these drills at the county FSA offices. I rented a Great Plains No-Till, 10 ft and recommended a 75 HP tractor, used my 185, but a 170 will handle it, weight is more important than the extra hp. I had no trouble with getting the seed through this drill, has been there for 16 years and will be destroyed this year and going back into row crops.
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Posted By: Kevin in WA
Date Posted: 18 Jan 2012 at 11:03am
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The Brillion seeders I had, have an agitator in the large seed box, basically a wire cage roller tumbles the grass seed around above the adjustable openings in the bottom of the box. I would'nt plant any oats with the grass seed, just spray for weeds later and the grass won't have to compete with the oats. Making hay out of oats is a pain and if the oats lodge it will choke your grass stand.
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Posted By: DaveWisc.
Date Posted: 18 Jan 2012 at 11:26am
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The Brillon seeder should be able to seed the Bromegrass without using any oats. The only reason that anyone uses any oats here in Wisc. is to stop soil erosion. If you want to you can spray it with a product call Raptor or Pursuit these are chemicals that will kill the oats if you use that and will help control weeds. The easiest way will be to cut the first crop and then the oats will not come back.
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Posted By: captaindana
Date Posted: 18 Jan 2012 at 1:29pm
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Roger all this guys. I have always cover cropped with oats and know how animals love them and the guy [me] tring to dry them as well as the buyers dislikes them. I have NOT checked into the hopper yet but will soon. The seeder's owner said he always used a 3 pt fert spinner and spun on the oats and brome before using the packer seeder. I say jeepers I don't want that extra trip over the ground! Thanks, Dana
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Posted By: bakwoodsfarm
Date Posted: 19 Jan 2012 at 6:09pm
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The only way I'll seed brome in in the fert. spreader. I always sow some oats with everything I plant(Orchardgrass,Fescue,Matua,Teff) If you cut as early as you can in the spring you will not even know the oats are in there(except Orchardgrass) and everybody down here loves a little oats with there hay. I have a five acres that is just planted to oats every year for one customer, he likes it plain. trick is to get it dry enough.
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Posted By: captaindana
Date Posted: 19 Jan 2012 at 8:13pm
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Roger that Bakwoods. Some seasons here in the upstate, like this past season, we never had over 3 consecutively good drying days.
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