Hay field seeding

Hello all

Has anyone had experience of using a centrifugal fertiliser spreader for broadcast seeding a hay field?

Does it work?

Hello,
Yes is does work, BUT, you need to be able to calibrate the spreader very precisely. We've had some good results using that method. Don't put all your seed in at once though in case you've set it wrong, or the spreader slips.

Hi

Thanks, it's good to hear that this does work.

How do you calibrate your machine, and how do you make sure that you don't ..er.. miss any of the field?

Do you harrow the seeds in after spreading, and if so, how?

Lots of questions, sorry...

Thanks again

J-P

With surface seeding you have to be carefull in dry weather.
also birds may eat lots of seed when it's harrowed in, instead of dragged 5 cm into the soil with a seeder coulter...

Hi

I was thinking to use my spring tyne harrow, with the tynes set a long way up, ie to give a harrowing depth of 10cm or so - then compact with a heavy roller. Does that sound reasonable?

Last year we got excellent results with a proper seed drill - or rather our contractor friend did. This year we need to re-make another field of about the same size, but the budget is tighter and we can't afford to have a contractor seed it.

Regards

J-P

Tume and Elho pneumatic fertilisers are best for seeding hay fields. Actually those are feeding seeds with same principle as seeding machine does. Centrifucal fertiliser isnt as good, but it works. You must maybe have more seeds than otherwice. Offcourse only for sure

By the way, have you allready bought your seeds? There is no good seed at spring anymore Last summer was horrible and seeds did get ruined last summer here! Keep busy and buy those seeds now.......

Hi Markku

No, I haven't bought seeds yet - no money at the moment. We need fertiliser too and I haven't bought that either

We may get some income from 'ympristtuen kansallinen lisosa' soon but I think that will all have to go to MELA.

MELA have decided that I am a farmer (everyone who has more than 5ha own or rented is a farmer) even though our farming is just a hobby. We don't make a profit - in fact our farming costs us money as all our fields need re-making, and we don't have our own hay equipment.

Now it looks as though I will have to pay to MELA as well, I really don't know how I will manage this year.

Sounds quite a bad situation ??? You must get some extra incomes... Did you have horses? You must begin to do forestry contracting with them. It seemes to be in fashion nowdays! Cities and towns want horses to their forest and parks to pull woods out from forest! It might be good business.

Those taxes are much higher what we get if we do the same work with agricultural tractor..

I regrass about 100 ac a year... ( 40 Ha ) and use a mixture of roller / drill and spinner type fert spreader ( generally just behind my 4 wheeler )

As for calibration - I find that it is not too fast through a smallish hole - say, if I was trying to spread urea at 40Kh / ha, but, I drive about 1.5 tractor widths apart.. So say the tractor is 2.5 meters wide, I would drive 3.75 meters apart. This gives excelent results.

To harrow it in, I use chain harrows, upside down - as mine have spikes that are about 5cm long on them, and this seams to do a great job. The clover and rye really thrive. I think that a flexi - tyne harrow would do a great job also if you have a crumbler / roller to keep them operating fairly shallow.

I found that the donkeys dick spreaders to be not so well suited, as they dont throw the seed far enough.

I use this method a lot on the steeper or less smooth areas, on the flat land I tend to use a drill, as its much more precise. I am, however, not sure that it actually is better, as the broadcast seeded paddocks have a lovely smooth look to them, and I feel that after a couple of years, the grass has tillered out better and produces more.

Some guys here in NZ will do a single pass with a drill at 1/2 the rate, and broadcast the other 1/2 of the seed on with their fert spreader, and then harrow it in lightly. Gives a good result, and, maybe, it gives the best of both worlds without the worst of either?

Best of luck!

Hi Kiwifarmer

Yes, our harrow has basket rollers at the back, also it has adjustable skids at the sides so it is possible to set the depth very shallow.

From the encouraging responses I've had here, it looks as though this is the way we will do our seeding this year. Now I need to start hunting for a used spreader! Plenty of time though as we won't be seeding until mid / late summer.

Markku, yes we have three horses and a pony here. The horse that belongs to us is only three - a bit young for forest work but she's in occasional light driving training already! Forest work is a very good idea for the future!

Best regards

J-P

mostly the extra amount of grass seed needed to achieve the same stool, costs more than the extra cost of seeding by a contractor with professional machinery

mostly the extra amount of grass seed needed to achieve the same stool, costs more than the extra cost of seeding by a contractor with professional machinery

Click to expand...

Well, the seeding of the other field last year was 220 euros, and the cost of the seed was 240 euros.

The field we are reseeding this year is more or less the same size (3ha), so.. if we allow (say) 40% more seed we are still saving 124 euros.

BUT I have to remember also that the field is at the moment growing quite strong grass (the problem is that there are also weeds growing there, and the EU inspectors didn't like it, although the horses really like the hay ). Now, if I plough as soon as I can get the tractor in there without sinking, and harrow a couple of times before seeding, some of the existing grass in the field will survive. So, maybe I don't need to allow so much extra seed? ???

hmm i dont know what the usual seeding rate is, but having a custom worker do the job is cheaper most of the time.

It is better to have the weeds sprayed with roundup. That gives better ploughing and a more even seedbed

Why not try reseeding with a more mixed seed the EU is giving good grants for reseeding hay meadows with wild flower seeds incorperated and its good for wildlife. Any fertalizer though will be death to the wildflowers, they like a low nutrient soil so putting fertaliszer on kills em which is why we have so little farmland left thats wildlife friendly. Dave

Hi David

That sounds like a very good idea, but I'm not sure that it works here. Ironically, I am reseeding the hay field because the EU inspector that visited my fields last year told me to. There were too many wild species growing in there ???

Our horses seem to prefer hay with a variety of species in it, but unfortunately horses don't get recruited as EU inspectors 69)

I have to admit though I would have had to do something in there before long - the surface of the field was getting too uneven to take machinery in there.

So far the spring has been so very wet here that I am a bit "behind" with this project. I managed to get one hectare or so ploughed last week. It's hammering down again this morning, too

Tume and Elho pneumatic fertilisers are best for seeding hay fields. Actually those are feeding seeds with same principle as seeding machine does. Centrifucal fertiliser isnt as good, but it works. You must maybe have more seeds than otherwice. Offcourse only for sure

By the way, have you allready bought your seeds? There is no good seed at spring anymore Last summer was horrible and seeds did get ruined last summer here! Keep busy and buy those seeds now.......

Click to expand...

Hi

Well, I've just obtained a used Yl Pneumatic fertiliser spreader.. needs some fixing (usual story ) but some of the metalwork has already been replaced with stainless.

Any idea what settings to try when seeding? How does spreading seed compare with spreading fertiliser??

Thanks!

Hi ya's
just haveing a read on this ..i have used a spinner and know of a lot of ground planted out in this way ..most bigger spreaders it's to set with your seed mixed in with lime or another binding type fert (helps keep the seed in the mix bally type ferts the seed can work it's way out of the mix ) next thing is the spread pattern ya get try throwing a stone and a bit of down ...seed is not that great at flying ...also watch with coated seed some will get cracked i will not plant alfalfa though a spinner as at about 100 euro a Ha it's cost is too high ... tines work ok for bigger seed chain harrows and rolled afterwords is a lot better if you have a roller roll first then a light harrow /roll will be ok ..i note you are saying about weeds ,check to see what they are and why they grow why i say that is if acid loveing plants ya may have probs with getting newer and better grasses growing ..you do bring up cost maybe you are better controling the weeds and then looking at regrassing as to get ya new feilds up and going to there fullest is not cheep
catch ya
JD Kid

my ole man has been doing it for a few years with a atv and spreader, sows lucerne etc,

he gets it set to within a ball park, 5kg?.......halves the rate and travels the paddocks twice........works for him..........he spins it on as fast as he can drive!

then pulls a harrow made out of manuka branches (native tree too NZ which grows all over his farm) and drags it round the paddock with that and roller hooked to a small tractor at speed too......lol

it works, no gaps........hes had plenty of practise.........and has a pretty good gut feeling

also uses the atv and spreader in the steep stuff.....stuff we can't climb with the atv, we just drive of the top, open the shout and ride it out.....then pull a light set of chain harrows with the atv over what we can afterwards.......works well......some times good hay and a herd of cows is used in the real steep stuff

we are also known for throwing it in with fert, and applying it to steep areas with a hellicopter and monsoon bucket

that works........lil more expensive.......but not too bad......helicopters are widely used in ag work round him

WHEN WE RE-SEED A FIELD I ALWAYS PUT OATS IN IT SO THE FIELD DOESN'T GO TO WASTE FOR MONTHS WHILE THE GRASS DECIDES WHEN TO GROW. I PLOUGH THE FIELD LET IT DRY FOR A WEEK THEN ROLL IT DOWN HARROW IT ONCE, THEN I FILL THE FERTILIZER SPREADER WITH OATS AND I PUT ONE BAG OF GRASS SEED IN WITH THE OATS AND MIX IT TOGETHER THIS WAY YOU DONT NEED TO CALIBRATE THE SPREADER THIS IS ENOUGH FOR 1 ACRE OF LAND SO I NEED TO DO THIS 15 TIMES!!! THEN I HAROW IT AGAIN 2 TIMES TO BURY THE SEED AND THEN ROLL IT 2 TIMES THE GRASS WON'T GROW LONG UNTIL THE OATS HAVE BEEN CUT SO BY 1 MONTH THE FIELD IS FULL OF GRASS!!!!!!