old tame grass stand

[per]

All the good nitrogen fixing biology is in the aerobic zone. If it is compacted and it most likely is then it need to be flocculated (fancy word for breaking the bond of the clay that keeps it compacted). Water soluble calcium applied to the soil will do this. Aeration mechanically will also help and give a compacted soil a start at being aerobic. Of course in a perfectly well managed healthy aerobic zone soil it is not necessary. That doesn't sound like the case we have here. As far a Cicer goes, I like it better than Alfalfa as a food source. Not much experience in the mineral though and I defer to GFs experience there. If the grass types are acceptable to you I would always try to regenerate rather than reseed especially in a dry area. When reseeding there are outside risks in the seed like weeds you have never heard of and luck of bad timing with rain etc. I am working on a newly seeded stand of Alfalfa that came with hawks beard. No one solution works everywhere. Good luck.

[Reitnorf]

I've had some success with spiking a old stand at 90 degree angles, harrow the sh#t out of it, then roll it. However this is done after a winter of bale grazing. Anything you could do to get a legume in there would also be great, possibly before it was harrowed.