Every hay field on owned property, we always sprigged. You have to sprig with hybrids. Some that I rent I don't know how they originally established them. They could have been seeded, being common, coastal and one is Russell. I have re-seeded bermuda fields before, just broadcasting it with saw dust. Even sprigging, you don't cut it til year two. I don't know if you could graze it any earlier.
All I done to establish my 3 acres was to kill out the existing grass with roundup. Went over the field with a disc. The man I bought the sprigs from had a sprig digger that off loaded the sprigs onto my 16 foot utility trailer. My wife and I just used our hands to scatter the sprigs off of the trailer onto the field. Then I went over the field with the disc. I hadn't taken soil samples, didn't put any fertilizer out until the following Spring. And that field has done good ever since.
I am probably going to try seeding some. But seeding seems like a real big gamble. $ 356 or more per acre for seed alone.
What kind of prices have you gotten on sprigging?
You hit the nail on the head. Up north, nutrient management had an impact, but not near as much as what I see down here. The key is recognizing that the improved varieties of both Bermuda and Bahia have the POTENTIAL for higher production withe correct/managed nutrient levels/fertilizer. The rub/issue comes with the added management needed to maintain those levels in the sandy soils in the south that tend to be less capable of maintaining a higher constant nutrient level that is available for the improved grass varieties that demand this to produce the higher touted yields. Without this added management level, the hybrids/improved grass varieties simply aren't going to produce the yields touted but will instead produce based on the soil potential, which is going to be considerably closer to the production levels of the 'common' grass species varieties currently on the field.
If you are willing to fertilize reguilarly, get the wrangler. If you aren't going to fertilize regularly, get the common. What will help either if you don't fertilize is adding a perennial legume that will fix nitrogen and essentially provide some fertilization for you. I don't know enough down here yet. Someone else may add, but consider adding a forage variety of alfalfa to the seed mix. Perennial peanut sounds promising, but I think it has to be sprigged.
UGA has developed a warm weather alfalfa to be planted with world feeder bermuda for pasture...not hay. I know as late as 2022, they would sprig fields for you at no cost...you just had to fertilize and lime to their specs. Up here in north Ga, people usually have a fescue, bermuda and clover mix in their pastures. I don't want clover in my hay fields, though. so I just put out nitrogen.
From Atlanta north, the soil is red clay. Might be 2 feet of top soil on it, but if you drill down, you will eventually find the red clay. Macon down, you get the sandy loam. If a north Ga plot gets way out of balance ph wise, it take a lot of lime to get it to where you need it, but not too hard to keep it there once you do. Our soil is like having a pond with a cement bottom in it. Down south, it doesn't take as much lime to raise ph, but you gonna have to do it at least once a year. It is like having a pond with a screen wire bottom!
Made a mistake. Recommended seed rate for Wrangler seed is 11 lbs per acre. So a 50 lb bag of feed at $ 356 a bag will seed around 4 acres. Still expensive gamble.
I remember doing that as a very young teenager or pre-teenager. The whole family took part. I don't remember where Dad got the sprigs.
We planted acres and acres and acres like that. You plant the tops. They would take a sickle cutter and cut the tops. Then you pitch for it or they square bale it to get it to new ground. They would have a disk running in front of us, we would shake it out on top the ground, and they would have a disk and roller behind us.
Might be 20 feet of top soil on itFrom Atlanta north, the soil is red clay. Might be 20 feet of top soil on it, but if you drill down, you will eventually find the red clay. Macon down, you get the sandy loam. If a north Ga plot gets way out of balance ph wise, it take a lot of lime to get it to where you need it, but not too hard to keep it there once you do. Our soil is like having a pond with a cement bottom in it. Down south, it doesn't take as much lime to raise ph, but you gonna have to do it at least once a year. It is like having a pond with a screen wire bottom!
Who are you kidding besides yourself?
Hard to beat Bahia for grazing.
Lots of people around here will sow rye in their bermuda hay fields and pastures. April til the end of September belongs to bermuda. It will take over and choke out any other grass, The rye gives you some green from fall til when the bermuda kicks in. Use liquid amonium nitrate to apply your 24D with in Feb-March, and the rye will really take off!
Interesting thought seeding the WSAG (Warm Season Annual Grass) with the Bermuda. If the intent was for the millet to be a nurse crop to the Bermuda or for adressing a resource concern temporarily such as sheet erosion or wind erosion, possibly. However, using the annual as a means to provide grazable forage on the acres where the Bermuda is newly planted I think is ill advised. You really want to keep the livestock off of the Bermuda until it is well established. The millet isn't going to protect the Bermuda from grazing damage during this sensitive time.
Millet is added to some grass seed to help it broadcast if I remember correctly. I know we added it to B Dahl also and it's another small seed.
I haven't gotten any prices on sprigging. I decided to go with Wrangler because of my location I think it would work best for me.
The one thing you might want to compare is the tonnage per acre. Might be wrong but the Bermuda grass might produce more than the Bahai ? But even then Bermuda is sort of a short season grass depending on your location. I don't know how Bahai holds up
