{"id":3149,"date":"2014-05-08T14:04:52","date_gmt":"2014-05-08T18:04:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/livestock\/?page_id=3149"},"modified":"2025-02-19T15:34:54","modified_gmt":"2025-02-19T20:34:54","slug":"what-kind-of-mixtures","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/livestock\/pasture-course\/lesson-2\/what-kind-of-mixtures\/","title":{"rendered":"What Kind of Mixtures?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em><strong>(Lesson 2. Plant Species Selection continued)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>Mixtures should be kept simple. Keep in mind that you are trying to match forage species with the soil characteristics of a particular field. Persistent species are often not as competitive during the seedling stage as less persistent species. Excessive competition of complex mixtures (more then 4 species) can result in the persistent and desirable species not surviving during the establishment period.<\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: left\" align=\"center\">Advantages of Mixtures<\/h3>\n<p>Mixtures will provide more uniform seasonal production and are higher yielding than pure stands. The desirable traits of grasses and legumes are combined in mixtures:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Legumes provide nitrogen for grasses in a mixture.<\/li>\n<li>Legumes improve forage quality and reduce the potential for nitrate poisoning.<\/li>\n<li>The fibrous root system of grasses helps in stabilizing slopes and reducing erosion<\/li>\n<li>The stand life of forages is lengthened with grasses.<\/li>\n<li>Grasses reduce bloat potential when included with legumes<\/li>\n<li>Grasses compete better with weeds then legumes.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Seeding Rates<\/h3>\n<p>Table 1 gives recommendations for seeding rates of legumes, grass and grass-legume mixtures for pastures in Maine.<\/p>\n<p>For sod seeding into grass pasture:<\/p>\n<table border=\"1\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"3\">\n<caption>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center\">Table 1. Seeding rates for pasture in Maine<\/h3>\n<\/caption>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<th scope=\"col\" align=\"center\" valign=\"top\"><b>Species<\/b><\/th>\n<th scope=\"col\" align=\"center\" valign=\"top\"><b>l<\/b><b>bs.\/ac<\/b><\/th>\n<th scope=\"col\" align=\"center\" valign=\"top\"><b>Species<\/b><\/th>\n<th scope=\"col\" align=\"center\" valign=\"top\"><b>lbs.\/ac<\/b><\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Ladino\/White Clover<\/td>\n<td align=\"center\">4<\/td>\n<td>Red Clover<\/td>\n<td align=\"center\">5<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>&#8211; with smooth bromegrass<\/td>\n<td align=\"center\">10<\/td>\n<td>&#8211; with smooth bromegrass<\/td>\n<td align=\"center\">10<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>&#8211; with orchardgrass<\/td>\n<td align=\"center\">4<\/td>\n<td>&#8211; with orchardgrass<\/td>\n<td align=\"center\">4<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>&#8211; with timothy<\/td>\n<td align=\"center\">3<\/td>\n<td>&#8211; with timothy<\/td>\n<td align=\"center\">3<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>&#8211; with perennial ryegrass<\/td>\n<td align=\"center\">4<\/td>\n<td>&#8211; with perennial ryegrass<\/td>\n<td align=\"center\">4<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>&#8211; with smooth bromegrass &amp;<br \/>\n&#8211; orchardgrass<\/td>\n<td align=\"center\">6<br \/>\n3<\/td>\n<td>&#8211; with smooth bromegrass &amp;<br \/>\n&#8211; orchardgrass<\/td>\n<td align=\"center\">6<br \/>\n3<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Birdsfoot trefoil, pure<sup>1<\/sup><\/td>\n<td align=\"center\">10-14<\/td>\n<td>Smooth bromegrass<\/td>\n<td align=\"center\">10<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><\/td>\n<td align=\"center\"><\/td>\n<td>Smooth bromegrassh<br \/>\nwith orchardgrass<\/td>\n<td align=\"center\">10<br \/>\n3<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p><em><sup>1<\/sup>Best results with a clear seeding of birdsfoot trefoil<\/em><\/p>\n<p>See <a href=\"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/livestock\/pasture-course\/lesson-2\/appendix-b\/\">Appendix B; Frost Seeding: Low-Tech Wonder or Wishful Thinking?<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/livestock\/home\/pasture-course\/lesson-2\/what-kind-of-mixtures\/forage-yield-trial-information\/\"><strong>Forage Yield Trial Information<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<h4>Click on the links below to finish Lesson 2:<\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/livestock\/pasture-course\/lesson-2\/resources-and-reading\/\">Resources and Reading<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/livestock\/pasture-course\/lesson-2\/quiz\/\">Lesson 2 Quiz<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>(Lesson 2. Plant Species Selection continued) Mixtures should be kept simple. Keep in mind that you are trying to match forage species with the soil characteristics of a particular field. Persistent species are often not as competitive during the seedling stage as less persistent species. Excessive competition of complex mixtures (more then 4 species) can [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":70,"featured_media":0,"parent":3117,"menu_order":3,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"templates\/page-withsidebar.php","meta":{"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-3149","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>What Kind of Mixtures? - Cooperative Extension: Livestock - University of Maine Cooperative Extension<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/livestock\/pasture-course\/lesson-2\/what-kind-of-mixtures\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What Kind of Mixtures? - Cooperative Extension: Livestock - University of Maine Cooperative Extension\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"(Lesson 2. 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