Missouri Department of Conservation

Forage, Hay and Pasture Seeding Guide for Cool-Season Grasses

Grasses and legumes that are sown in combination should be similar in palatability, maturity patterns and growing vigor. The seeding rates listed are designed to serve as guides for the proper amount of seed to plant per acre to obtain forage stands with a proper balance between grasses and legumes. Soil and climate conditions may dictate some adjustments in seeding rates from one area to another.

Mixtures for Hay, Pasture and Silage

Seeding rate = pounds per acre

Fertile Soil with good soil structure and drainage

•  Alfalfa (10)
•  Orchardgrass (8)

This mixture should be first choice for high yields. Use only one of the suggested grasses or:

• Bromegrass (8)

Bromegrass is not well adapted to all of Missouri. It is much better adapted to northern Missouri than southern Missouri although there are isolated areas throughout the state where it produces well. Bromegrass requires higher soil fertility than the other grasses. Mixtures containing alfalfa are better suited for hay than for pasture. Usually alfalfa will only survive for a few years under grazing conditions.

Low pH Soils With Restricted Drainage

•  Medium Red Clover (10) and
• Orchardgrass (8) or
• Timothy - 3 (fall), followed by 5 (spring)

Red clover will grow on less productive soils and where low pH, restricted soil drainage and heaving may reduce stands and growth of alfalfa. Medium red clover is usually treated as a biennial and after the second year there may be little clover remaining.

The forage should be fertilized as a pure stand of grass. However, liberal use of potash on red clover tends to prolong its life and to encourage the growth and development of volunteer plants if grazing management will permit the red clover to produce seed.

• Alsike Clover(2) and
• Timothy (2) or
• Orchardgrass (2)
• Kentucky Bluegrass (1)

Considered as a "permanent pasture", this mixture will last for many years in areas where it is adapted.

Low Fertility Soils

• Orchardgrass (8)
• Lespedeza (Korean or Slender) (15)
• Ladino Clover (1/2)

This mixture is best adapted to areas where fertility limits the use of alfalfa and red clover. Lespedeza is an annual and must produce seed each year for it to remain in the stand. In recent years lespedeza production has been limited by leaf disease and insects.

Wet Areas

• Virginia Wild Rye (15)
• Ladino Clover (1)
• Alsike Clover (2)

Droughty Upland Soils with higher pH and moderate fertility

• Smooth Brome (8)
• Alfalfa (10) or

• Red Clover (10)

Droughty Soils with very low pH and low fertility

• Redtop (5)
• Korean Lespedeza (15)

This mixture is not as productive as the others listed and should only be used on extremely acid, droughty and unfertile soils.

Special Purpose Forages

Summer Annual Pasture

• Sudangrass, Sorghum-Sudangrass or Pearl Millet (25-30)

Sow during May or early June on a prepared seedbed and fertilize as for corn.

Note: Prepared in part by: H.N. Wheaton, M.U. Extension Agronomist. For more detailed information, referrals should be made to either the local M.U. Extension Agronomist or the District Conservationist, Natural Resources Conservation Service.

Some Important Factors in Selecting Forage Crops

1. Wheat is a good nurse crop and provides pasture, feed grain, hay or a cash grain crop.
2. Oats provide a good companion crop for lespedeza; grain or hay for livestock feeding, and may be used for pasture in an emergency.
3. Rye will grow on land owner in fertility than either wheat of barley; will furnish earlier spring pasture than either wheat or barley; but will pasture out earlier.
4. Winter Barley is a fertile land crop and isn't sufficiently winter hardy for growing more than one or two counties north of the Missouri River. Where adapted, it will give more fall pasture than any other grain crop, is an excellent nurse crop, and is superior to wheat or rye as a feed grain crop.
5. Bromegrass is a high altitude, dry climate grass; requires fertile soil; and should be seeded with a legume, such as alfalfa or ladino clover. Missouri is approaching the southern limits of its adaptation.
6. Orchardgrass is adapted to most soils of fair drainage and medium to better soil fertility and associates well with lespedeza and ladino clover.
7. Timothy, under proper management, makes an excellent combination with lespedeza for pasture or seed; can be used on land a little too low in fertility for good orchardgrass; and, because of cheapness of seed, ease of securing stand and productivity, it is one of our best grasses. An excellent grass for seeding in pasture mixtures with other grasses.
8. Redtop will grow on almost any soil type; grows well on many poorly drained low fertility soils; and associates well with lespedeza.

Most farms need to grow a variety of Legumes. The ones finally chosen will depend upon the use, the kind of soil, and the preference of the operator:

• Lespedeza is the best legume for summer pasture; makes good hay; is easy to grow; and is a good green manure.
• Alfalfa is the finest legume hay crop known where it will grow. It makes a good pasture but it requires a fertile soil or extensive soil treatments; requires a soil of good structure and drainage; does not fit well into rotations and is somewhat difficult to grow.
• Ladino Clover is the most dependable permanent type legume for use in permanent pasture mixtures providing its fertility requirements are met. Grows only when moisture supplies are adequate, but maintains stands well through ordinary drought periods. Provides pasturage both early and late but should not be depended upon during hot, dry weather. Supplies an abundance of nitrogen to companion grasses. Because of the tendency of pure strands to cause bloat, it should be seeded in a mixture with grasses unless it is to be grazed exclusively by hogs and poultry.
• Red Clover makes good hay; is a fair pasture crop, a good soil builder; but is not dependable on much of the land in Missouri and should be used alone only where stands can be secured with certainty.
• Dixie Crimson Clover is a that winter annual shows promise as a pasture and green manure crop for the south half of Missouri. Stands are easier to get than with the common crimson clover. It reseeds itself. But more experience is necessary before its place in our cropping systems can be definitely established.

For warm-season grass forages see: Native Grasses - Native Grasses and Wildlife Native Grasses for the Stockmen - Establishing Native Grasses.