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Post by mzgarden on Oct 6, 2016 12:29:28 GMT
I would like to enhance the 3+ acres our little herd of 5 can use to browse by adding legumes. One thing I'm looking at is birdsfoot trefoil and the other is Sericea lespedeza (this is considered invasive so I gotta do more research). I've been reviewing the tons of information that came out of the Michigan small ruminant conference, specifically at this link: www.wormx.info/which has some suggestions for improving pasture and parasite control - specifically barberpole - through the inclusion of tannin producing plants in pastures. The acreage our 5 goats are on was horse pasture many years ago. Then it was left unpopulated for about 6 years. The cattle guy behind us was apparently hayed it once a year as a help to the previous owner and used the hay for his angus. Since we moved in, we bush hog a couple times a year and the goats happily munch as long as the weather holds. Soil tests come back fine, but we will continue to test again each year. What I'd like to figure out how to do is scatter or frost seed an addition of legumes to part of the pasture as an experiment. I don't really know how to do this as we would have to simply be adding seed to an existing pasture. Does anybody here do something like this without equipment, drillers, seeders, etc? If yes -- what's been successful. Or maybe my idea isn't really doable - in that case, can someone make an alternate suggestion?
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Post by here to stay on Oct 6, 2016 16:54:26 GMT
Birdsfoot trefoil is all over here. It forms mats about a foot wide per plant. The goats love it. So much so that it disappears each year first thing. I would say that it might have an issue getting above taller grass unless a specific varity of taller kind is seeded . It is a very persistent plant here. It either reseeds well from the edge or hangs on through being nuked by grazing because its always there each spring despite being impossible to find most of the year.
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