Best way to establish pasture?

[Sheepwheat]

Hey animal folks. With a growing flock, and always seeming to be a step behind that growth in terms of fences and pasture availability, I have a question and an idea to try out.

Can a person seed the grass/legume mix with barley, and graze the barley a couple or three times, say six weeks after seeding and not damage the grass? From what I have seen so far with my hay establishment is that the grass is barely visible in the fall of the establishment year, and the following spring is when it really takes off. I need to establish the grass but still be able to have the sheep out there next summer, because we lack space to eliminate that paddock.

Is this a decent idea?

[Old Cowzilla]

I would leave livestock off the first year , cut barley early and let grass grow. Seed way too pricey and getting good establishment means everything to a good long lasting grass stand. Our crop ins. would not cover us if we did anything other than that.

[Blaithin]

I wouldn’t say hard no to the idea but you’d want to really watch it and probably only graze it once, maybe twice. If the sheep start diving through the barley to get at any little grass shoots underneath you’ll know the answer fast.

Or underseed for a Greenfeed purpose if that works better. Early greenfeed, after dormancy graze the regrowth?

[GDR]

I would leave livestock off the first year , cut barley early and let grass grow. Seed way too pricey and getting good establishment means everything to a good long lasting grass stand. Our crop ins. would not cover us if we did anything other than that.

Even year no 2 if you can, hay it in the summer and wait till late in the year to turn out the sheep. Soft spring ground without a mature root base gets torn up and or compacted pretty fast.

[burnt]

I'd be concerned about the livestock pulling out seedlings by the roots if grazed before roots are sufficiently established.

We usually establish new seeding by under-seeding triple mix - oats, peas and barley which is cut for green feed baleage before the heads form too much. Like late boot to early head emergence stage.

it's very surprising how fast palatability drops once the head is fully emerged and the lignin content rockets up, making the feed quality not much better than straw for small or young livestock.

Our method in our climate - seed early as possible, roll those rocks down, cut at late boot and we will usually get a second cut of pretty nice, fine-stemmed new seeding later that year.

[Road Apples]

I would agree with others on not grazing it in year 1 especially with sheep.
They have the ability to bite plants off at the ground, and this would most likely impact the long term productivity of the stand. Cattle would be different but the land impact would be greater. I've put cattle on a field seeded to green feed when dry and cut it later in the fall. Yield is a bit less, but generally more if you account for grazing days. This wouldn't have anything under seeded though.

Ideally green feed and let the forage grow through fall, but I have also taken the crop through harvest and baled off the straw without much or any difference on the long term impact on the stand. A lot depends on rain. Like anything else you can get away with a lot more things around grazing with good moisture.