M C Ramsay | The Importance of Overseeding Your Paddock

Keeping your paddock well maintained is one of the key factors to keep your horses fit and healthy. While there are many ways to ensure that your horses remain healthy, the grass and plants that you provide your livestock with can make a great difference to their health and nutrition – often saving you money on costly supplements.

The pasture should provide horses with a dense and nutritious sward for grazing, and overseeding your paddock is one of the most economical and effective ways to ensure healthy fields are available to them. Overseeding is more advantageous than ploughing your paddock as its quick, low-risk, and allows for existing grass to be retained.

Overseeding improves pasture production and forage quality, and can ensure that the ground has good cover for the following year, without undertaking pasture renovations such as ploughing and reseeding. Overseeding adds diversity to your paddock, increasing soil fertility and the nutritional value of your graze.

The process of overseeding is whereby you plant seeds in a field which has existing grass, covering in patches which are bare – having been worn down or damaged. Although, you are able to seed the entire pasture if you wish.

It is recommended that you overseed your pasture in the months between March and September when temperatures are above 7°C. The soil should have sufficient moisture through the summer and should be sown into open swards. In May and June, competitive swards should be left as excessive grass growth can smother new seedlings.

Not all grasses are suitable for the overseeding process, with the best results coming from the large seeded family and tetraploid ryegrasses. White clover is best for fixing the nitrogen in the soil; chicory contains tannins which can repel internal parasites, while sainfoin and birdsfoot trefoil are known for their anthelmintic properties.

Grass and clover can be sown into recently grazed or cut pastures. However, if it’s being broadcast into open swards, then some tilth should be obtained with a comb harrow – which is more vigorous and can open up matted swards.

The seed should be placed in around ¼ to ½ inches into the soil to ensure that it has good seed-to-soil contact.

A no-till drill can be used to keep the seed at the correct depth, or the surface can then be flat rolled or consolidated using a ring, as well as trodden in by other livestock to ensure that the seed has made soil contact.

If you are using a herbicide, then care should be taken to check the recommended waiting period before you begin overseeding – often around six to eight weeks after spraying. While controlling weeds is essential when overseeding, spraying can hamper grass seedlings. Mow or ensure your pastures are grazed before you begin seeding, this reduces the chances that the existing paddock will become ‘shaded out’. Following seeding you should wait around two months before spraying once more – ideally, grasses should be between four to five inches tall.

To manage your paddock after you have undertaken the overseeding process, it is far better to graze rather than cut the sward, as silage or hay can smother new seedlings. Around six to eight months on from sowing, normal grazing can be resumed – albeit lightly. Graze too close, and the seedlings will be damaged. Although they are able to tolerate some light grazing. If removing your horses from the paddock for such a long period is not possible, then you could fence of part of your pasture and rotate between seeding and grazing.

Best practice advice includes applying lime and fertiliser as required. Conducting a soil test prior to seeding will indicate the plants nutritional needs. If nitrogen is low (30-40lbs per acre), then seeding is likely to be more successful.

A high-quality seed is also recommended, as well as using a variety to encourage seed diversity. Enough seed should be planted during overseeding – this is determined by the grass mixture to be planted. Immature seedlings should be allowed to become established also.

Overseeding is not only cost-effective, but is a simple method to improve your pasture without ploughing or reseeding your paddock.