I have recently purchased 40 acres in Wise county that is old pasture land and plan to build a house and barn. The land has mostly weeds, native grass, and some bermuda but the overall stand is poor. (It has been grazed by a neighbor to retain the ag exemption). The dirt is a black clay soil and I have run a soil test from TAMU. I would like to give this field a new planting so it can make some hay. I’m not interested in a high production field, just one cutting of hay would be fine with me so I can retain ag exemption. Since I only want one cutting (of anything) I am considering NK37 or giant bermuda so I can plant from seed and do everything myself. I would like some input on my overall plan – am I on the right track? Also, what is the best technique for preparing the soil? Should I scalp the existing grass, then chisel, then disk to prepare the soil? Or, should I just disk the field? Or, should I moldboard plow then disk? Thanks in advance for your thoughts and comments. Mike

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TILLING THIS WINTER WOULD HELP KILL OUT THE OLD GRASS AND WEEDS A PTO TILLER DOES A GOOD JOB OF THIS. THEN PLANT THE NK37 THIS SPRING AND PRAY FOR RAIN. THE REASON I SAY TILING IS THAT IT DOES NOT LEAVE THE CLODS THAT U WOULD HAVE TO DISK TO GET RID OF. THIS IS WAHT I AM DOING BUT THE EXTENSION ADGENT SAID I WAS ON THE RIGHT TRACK.

Our county extension agent said the same thing when we were looking to seed Vaquero (a mix of Bermudas). He said that instead of all the xtra prep with disc'ing to just till the field a couple times with a break in-between, drag a harrow after the second tilling, broadcast our seed, then run a roller over it once.