Good source of forage seed???

[grassfarmer]

The cicer milk vetch is my favourite legume Sean. Going to be seeding that as our main legume on the new place. Painfully slow to establish but once you've got it it should be there for ever with a little management. Really suits our type of grazing management.

[greybeard]

Ag Vision seeds in Carrot River SK has about everything you might need.
Smooth Brome / Alfalfa is hard to beat in a new stand for hay.
With the rainfall we have had lately Cicer is looking to be an overlooked legume for pasture.
I think what GF means buy suiting his system is that it really shines for late fall/banked grazing. Stays green and doesn't shed it's leaves like most other legumes. Also seems to be a multiplier if given a chance.
High seed cost is a problem, but it will multiply from very few plants given the right management and climate.

[newguy]

My best luck was buying direct from growers up in your country. Tisdale Naiciam area. Not hard to mix it yourself.

[grassfarmer]

Staying green in the fall is part of it greybeard but what also makes it work in our situation is the long rest periods. We average 1.5 passes per year, if you were doing 2 or 2.5 passes every year I don't think it would suit the cicer. Seems to need more recovery to really thrive and spread.

Saw a field of cicer once that just blew my mind. Was seeded as part of a mix but fairly heavy with cicer (albs or so) I drove past the field about 3 years after it was seeded and had to do a double take - it was like a field of peas - just a solid mat right across a quarter section. Never seen an establishment success like that anywhere else.

[greybeard]

My only field with Cicer gets used for calving in April/may. I try not to use it again till late oct when it is well podded.
Mine was kind of an accidental seeding as I thought I was seeding 2# of white dutch but had the bags mixed up.
I don't know where the White Dutch went but I'm glad I got the Cicer in that field.
I think I may bale it next Oct and feed it on some other fields over the winter.

[grassfarmer]

Don't expect too dramatic results despite all these seed pods greybeard. I have twice gathered seed from it and germination tested it with only about a 7% result. In nature some of that may have germinated in year 2 or year 5 but it certainly isn't instant. It has a lot of hard seed and the seed you buy is all scarified because of that. It definitely spreads on farm through seed movement as we have it now on pastures that were never seeded but only in small quantities. I think the birds can seed it too as we have it in areas stock are excluded from.

[Klause]

Free wheat a 50/50 split of timothy and alike makes for an amazing hay crop that can sit in water for 6 weeks.

Trawin seeds Brett Young (we used to grow contract for them) Pickseed Northstar Gagnon Seed Service.... All good sources.