Here is the overview i had done for a write up on the blog, sorry for copy/paste but no reason to write it all out again

We are coming into our 5th year of frost seeding to improve our pastures, and we can’t speak highly enough of this process. A little background on our pastures, the call names are, Big Pasture, Little Pasture, Corner Pasture, and the Correl an the stripe. When we moved to the farm, the Big and Little Pasture were being rented out to farmer R, who had put them into hay for dairy, so the last time they were tilled and seeded was in 2004, Farmer R believes in a provinding all the helping hands he can get and on our first year, we took off just under 700 square bales at 80 pds per bale. However, Back Corner, correl and at least half of little pasture and about 1/6th of big pasture was in “native”, I had Farmer R cut it all down and used it for bedding to get it under control.

We have used our animals for grazing and pasture control along with hand digging and hand cutting, we spread well done compost over the pasture from the barn..

We went to our local seed place and explained what we had in terms of soil, and critters and he mixed us a tailored seed mix for our small mixed farm, taking into account what will do well naturally in our area etc.

We tend to frost seed out 25% of the overall pasture area, however the corner and the correl were done different, they were eaten down to nibs, and then were frost seeded all over, then closed off and have very controlled grazing thoughtout the season them, the hay pasture is the same, the area’s that are frost seeded are fenced off and or only have limited grazing on them until the grasses are at least six to eight inches high before the first graze.

We have seen the results of this program in terms of milk yield and also in a increase growth and weight yield for our lambs, as they are grass pasture raised. We often see in many gardening books that they talk about no till or cover crops in the garden area, very important indeed but give you are going to have grazing critters, please consider putting into a yearly plan for pasture improvement. Your land, Your Pasture and Your Critters will thank you for it..

“Frost seeding is an economical method of improving pasture and hay fields by broadcasting the seed on frozen ground. As the ground freezes and thaws, it opens and closes allowing the seed to be incorporated into the soil. This keeps the seed from germinating until there is a good moisture supply early in the spring. Legumes are the most successful for this system as they tend to be rounded, dense and most importantly, they -germinate at lower temperatures so will begin growth early in the spring. Grasses have not been as successful as they are lighter coloured, less dense thus they sit on top of the ground and wait for warmer temperatures to begin growth. This often coincides with drier weather as well.

The ideal candidate for frost seeding is a pasture field that is “run out”. If you walk across the field and can see bare soil the size of a loonie, then these spots will be good frost seeding sites. A field can be made ready for frost seeding by overgrazing in the fall to weaken the existing plant growth in the spring. This is not necessary but can be helpful in allowing the seeds to make good soil contact.

The addition of legumes to a pasture or hayfield benefits the forage in many ways. The legume is higher in protein and energy at all stages of growth than the existing grasses, so the addition improves the quality of the forage. Legumes are also able to “fix nitrogen” from the air. As their roots rot back naturally they “share” this nitrogen with the surrounding grasses. Nutrient requirements of a legume grass stand are much lower than for a pure grass stand because of this “free” nitrogen.

As we work pasture fields harder, using rotational grazing to keep them vegetative, we are finding that legumes such as trefoil are not Iong lived perennials but rather live 3 – 4 years and reseed easily. If we do not allow them to go to seed, they will thin out of the pasture. It is more economical to frost seed every 3 – 4 years than to set aside a portion of the pasture to allow it to go to seed unless land costs are extremely low. Frost seeding can help to limit the density of legumes such as clovers if they are frost seeded rather than seeded with the original mix. This along with good grazing management will help with bloat control.

Alfalfa will frost seed as well as any other legume, but alfalfa has an autotoxicity which will not allow new alfalfa seed to grow in the presence of a mature alfalfa plant. You will only have one chance to get a successful stand if you are frost seeding into a pure grass stand. For this reason, alfalfa is usually seeded conventionally or no-tilled to produce more consistent results.

You have the choices of conventional reseeding no-tilling, fertilizing or frost seeding forage fields to improve their production. Your goals for the field and the condition of the stand will determine which is best. In hay fields, we generally want an alfalfa grass stand so conventional reseeding or no-tilling, after killing the original stand, are the most effective. Alfalfa stands can be patched by frost seeding red clover into the stand to get one more production year, but this is usually done in the spring when winterkill reduces hay supplies. Fertilizing, can double or triple the production from an existing stand, but keep in mind that it could also do this with a more productive species that you have introduced. If you have an adequate grass stand in a pasture field, then adding a legume by frost seeding will not only add a high quality plant to the stand but will also help to provide nitrogen to the grasses, improving their growth as well.

Frost seeding requires very little equipment. It is often done using an all terrain vehicle (ATV), snowmobile, tractor and spreader or with a hand-held broadcaster. Many custom operators provide these services. Cost per acre is low. This makes it a very attractive alternative for someone who wants to improve a pasture with very low input costs. It also has the added advantage that the pasture will be useable the summer following as there is no need to remove the livestock completely.

The ideal time to frost seed is in the very early spring. The ground should freeze and thaw 2 – 3 times after the seed is broadcast. Another good time is December, after all the growth has stopped for the year. This is an excellent time for areas which normally receive good snow cover and do not experience prolonged January thaws when the seeds could germinate. Too many times fields go from snowbanks to mud in the spring so there is no time to frost seed. Do consider December seeding,. A light skiff of snow will help to show where you have seeded. Tractors with a spinner spreader can often be used at this time, making the job faster and a smoother ride.

Bird’s foot trefoil is Generally used for frost seeding as it is a non-bloating legume that established relatively well. A seeding rate of 5 kg/ha is adequate. The clovers are more aggressive in establishment but do introduce a bloat concern. If you manage your grasses to keep them young and vegetative, this can be reduced. Seeding rates of 1-2 kg/ha are adequate for clovers as they have many seeds per kilogram. There has been some success with perennial ryegrass and orchardgrass but this should be considered more as a last resort. Legumes are about 50-60% effective in establishment and grasses about 20-30% effective when frost seeded. This really means one year of excellent catches, one year of no results, and two years somewhere in between. You will need patience and perseverance when frost seeding. The cost is 25-30% of conventional or no-till seeding so you can afford to frost seed 2 – 3 times to get an acceptable stand. If you do not find this wait acceptable, then you should consider other alternatives. Weather in the spring will determine how successful the frost seeding will be.

Phosphorus does favour new seedling but in a frost seeding situation, where there is so much existing, competition, fertilizing the field will give the advantage to the existing plants. A late summer application of phosphorus and potash would strengthen the root systems of the legumes for the winter.

An early summer grazing can help reduce the competition from existing grasses. If a rotational system is being used, limit the time that the livestock have access to the frost seeded area. Often, in continuous -grazing situations, livestock have overgrazed the area and killed the legume. Watch their habits to see if this is the problem and try to alter their behavior. A minimum of four paddocks will help you to control grazing patterns, which will allow rebuilding of root reserves between grazing periods. The legumes can then establish and be more productive.

Frost seeding is a popular method of improving long term pastures or patching hayfields for one more year of production. It is a cheap but high risk option. Many people will frost seed 25% of their acreage each year so that they are spreading their risk over different years. It takes about two years to see the improvements from trefoil applications so these should be made a year before the existing plants die out. This will continuously maintain a good pasture rather than allowing it to lower its production. Frost seeding is one of the most economical and easy improvements that can be made to a pasture.

Original written by Harry Harricharan and Joan McKinlay.”

http://www.omafra.gov.on.ca/english/crops/facts/98-071.htm

I aso use the snow cover to measure manure spread, so easy to then see what is done or not, this bedding, was deep pack, but has been pig rooted soft for spreading, i like to do this two years after the frost seeding, or the year before depending on the soil and the condition of it

I also found this thread on another board helpful in deciding to frost seed for pasture renovation. http://www.draftanimalpower.com/showthread.php?529-Pasture-renovation

I am doing it right now. The hay fields and pastures took a hit with last years drought. Did some pastures 2 years ago as well. I seeded a pizza mix in them. Tree-foil, alfalfa, white and red clovers, timothy, forbes along with annual and perennial rye. The rye is a cold weather grass since spring is coming earlier and winter later, it extends the grazing season quite well. I also like to seed oats in the pastures in late summer for some early fall grazing. Since I am seeding into established fields, I seed at 6 lbs per acre. 35 lbs is for a bare field. You can always seed thin, let it go to seed and build your fields over a few years.

Normally, with the hay fields I like to let one section go to seed every year. Although the quality of the hay is not so good doing that, its free reseeding and keeps a thick stand going and what likes to grow there does. Don't waste time and money seeding stuff that doesn't like the conditions. As a result, I can be cutting hay in a single field and get quite a variety of hay. I know by looking at the bales which part of the fields they came from. Feed the poorer hay (what was allowed to go to seed) in the late fall when the temps are still somewhat warm and the calves are weaned.

I like to frost seed with a bit of snow on the ground. You can see what you are spreading and where you have been. I don't seed hills because the seed will just wash away with the snow melt. We just had a rain which melted off the hills and now it will be freezing in the next few days, so I will get the hills done. What I would really like to do is run a subsoiler through the fields this fall to get better use of rain we get.

I have about 8 acres of hayfield that has not had much of anything down to it for years - maybe as much as 15-20 years -except have the hay taken off - usually twice but the last few years only once. There are some spots that need some love! We baled about 6 acres last year - and got 320 small square bales. It is all we needed for our critters for the winter so we didn't cut again as the farmer who does the work said we'd get about half the amount as the first cut and we didn't think it was worth it - nor did we need it.

The farmer guy is gung-ho to spray pesticides, make grooves, plant soybeans and then re-seed for hay. In his mind it's the only way. WELL No pesticides are going on that field!!!!!! That's why we want to frost seed. Even if we could do part of the acreage and make some kind of improvement it would be worth it.

We don't have equipment so I would be walking the field with a hand held spreader at this point - am I crazy?? 🙂

Depends on the terrain. Skip the hand spreader if you can, and push a lawn fertilizer spreader. It will spread farther, wider and hold a lot more seed. Just make sure the feeder slot is set to not waste your seed. It doesn't have to look super thick on the ground. Do not mix large seed with fine seed or all the fine seed will be used up in the first 10 feet. Better to go over it twice if you have to. Not cutting the second crop was a good move. It will die down and add thatch to the field and will have re seeded as well. You may have less noticable success with surface seeding if you have a thick thatch already but I wouldn't worry about it. Its a trade off. If you have a weed problem, see if there is a window to mow it down after the good stuff has gone to seed but before the weeds have. When mowing, mow at the highest setting possible. Leave some plant behind to get the growth started quickly and shade the ground. I do this in my hay fields as well, and constantly have traditional farmers telling me I am wasting too much potential hay, but my fields recover quickly from the first cut and my second cut is better then many simply by not stressing the plants. This applies to lawns as well. Butching them down just makes them susceptible to problems and drought.

I don't worry about weeds. Forbes are basically weeds with a nicer name. Many are high in protein and animals will learn to eat them if they have no other choice. Last year all I had in the pastures was a forest of thistle. I would bush hog a round every day and the cows and horses would go around and eat them after they were chopped up. I was actually thankful I hadn't got them under control yet.

A couple of side benefits of walking the fields to seed them is the exercise and sunshine you get along with not compacting the soil with heavy machinery. You will be able to buy more seed with the money you save by not hiring someone with a tractor to do it. 8 acres is very doable. Ignore the guy with the soybean idea. He just wants to make money at the expense of your land.

I have a push spreader so that could work. We still have a lot of snow cover - should I wait or get right to it???

Depends on how deep your snow is. Wait until you can push it fully loaded without wanting to come and wrap your hands around my neck. Since you are using bi-pedal power, you can do it while the fields are wet and not cause any damage to them like a tractor would. The second you can get out and start pushing; do it. Try to get it done in before the end of march. Not more then a few inches of snow or frozen ground is easiest and seed won't wash away with excessive snow melt. Also, don't seed just before a massive down pour. A gentle rain is good. You get the idea.

I should also add, read Farmgal's post carefully it has lots of good info. Also look at your field and decide which bits tend to be wet, which ones tend to be dry. Timothy and rye will do pretty good generally, treefoil likes wet, alfalpha dry, clover likes the middle ground. So if you have boggy land, leave out the alfalfa.

Anita, Oddduck

Awesome back an forth flow on info, hope that countryboy finds it just as useful!

Well I certainly have!! Thanks so much Oddduck! I hope the wild turkeys don't figure out what I'm doing 🙂

sure is helpful, i didnt relize it was so popular, thanks for all the info keep it coming in i'm just absorbing it all 🙂

thanks oddduck about the 6 lbs/acre i did read that but i was at information overload at that point, then when i was talking to my feed guy he said they seed company recomended 35/acre, but your right thats for a bare field im glad i didn't buy seed that day, thanks agine. after some more looking,reading and talking to some other area farmers i've got a good direction to head in. where my feilds haven't had anything done to them for a while we're going to spread all the manure we have piled up ( it's well well composted) with the spreader i saved from the scrap yard (thats another story), then give them a light harrow and seed between 12-15 lbs per acre. then next winter/spring do some frost seeding where its needed. hopefully that should help, oh and i still want to get some soil samples done to. keep the good ideas coming in 🙂

Glad you were able to get some useful info from the topic, I can't remember but I will ask, do you have dairy animals?

If so, you might want to consider saving yourself some money and putting it to use on your fields, this is one of the hottest topics on the milking boards that I am on with folks that do pasture, pasture improvement and increasing soil fertility..

I have not done this before, this will be my first year, so I am still in the reading stage on this one, but last year, I did the same basic process with water/mix with molasses and I could certain see that it did a good job in increasing different levels for me..

http://www.greenpasture.org/fermented-cod-liver-oil-butter-oil-vitamin-d-vitamin-a/update-on-raw-milk-as-fertilizer/

http://thebovine.wordpress.com/2010/04/23/finally-a-non-controversial-use-for-raw-milk-as-fertilizer-for-crops/

http://homeguides.sfgate.com/fertilize-milk-22681.html