Planting

Heavy clay and variable to wet soils present a conundrum – while they often need the closest management, they are at the same time the most challenging to manage.

I have talked with several farmers over the years that have tried frost seeding to renovate pastures, improve their forage stand or alter the species mix in their hay and pasture fields.

There is something special about legumes that set them apart from other forages.

Legumes have the ability to sustain beneficial relationships with soil bacteria.

We used to use fall dormancy to estimate winter hardiness of alfalfa; however, plant breeders have broken the relationship over ranges of fall dormancy. Now we have the opportunity to choose differing combinations of the two traits to best suit individual producer needs.

Warm-season perennial grasses, such as bermudagrass, dominate pastures in Texas.

Did winter arrive before all of your reseeding or pasture renovation was finished? If so, a technique called frost seeding can help.

Frost seeding is the process of broadcasting seed onto existing stands while the ground is still frozen with the purpose of thickening the stand or introducing new plant species.