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Southern Livestock Pasture Seed Mix
Festuca arundinacea, Lolium perenne, Cynodon dactylon, Medicago sativa, Trifolium repens, Astragalus cicer, Cichorium intybus, Dactylis glomerata, Lotus corniculatus | SKU: PB-SOLS
Planting Aids for your Seed
What Is the Southern Livestock Pasture Mix?
The Southern Livestock Pasture Mix is a 9-species pasture blend built for cattle, horse, sheep, and goat operations from East Texas to the Carolinas and up through the Mid-South. It pairs cool-season workhorses — tall fescue, perennial ryegrass, orchardgrass — with Sahara II bermudagrass, the warm-season backbone that carries your stand through July and August when fescue goes dormant. That combination gives you forage on the ground nearly every month of the year instead of a six-week peak followed by a brown field.
Underneath the grass canopy, four legumes are doing the heavy lifting: alfalfa, Ladino white clover, Lutana cicer milkvetch, and Bruce birdsfoot trefoil. Legumes pull nitrogen out of the air and put it back into your soil, which means less fertilizer cost and more protein in every bite. The legume fraction in this mix runs about 30% by weight — enough to lift crude protein into the 16–22% range during active growth, which is where you want it for finishing steers, lactating cows, and growing lambs.
Southern pasture is hard on stands. You’re dealing with summer heat, humidity, fescue toxicosis risk, droughty Augusts, and acidic clay soils. This blend spreads that risk across nine species so no single failure point takes out the pasture. When the bermuda is rolling in July, the cool-season grasses are resting. When the legumes slow down in a drought, fescue and bermuda hold the soil and keep cattle on grass.
What's in This Mix
The workhorse cool-season grass of the southern transition zone. Deep root system (up to 3 ft) extracts late-season soil moisture that shallower species miss, extending the grazing window into late fall. Endophyte-free variety selected here for cattle and horse palatability and to avoid fescue toxicosis.
Warm-season anchor that covers the summer productivity gap when cool-season grasses go dormant. Sahara II is a certified variety with faster establishment from seed than common bermuda, dense sod-forming habit that crowds out weeds, and heat tolerance rated through USDA Zone 9.
The highest-protein legume in this mix at 18-20% crude protein in dry matter — critical for lactating cows and finishing cattle. Fixes up to 200 lbs of nitrogen per acre annually, reducing fertilizer costs across the whole stand. Deep taproot improves drainage and drought resilience on heavier southern clay soils.
Fastest-germinating grass in this mix — seedlings visible within 5-7 days — providing early ground cover that protects slower legumes during the vulnerable establishment phase. High sugar content makes it one of the most palatable cool-season grasses available; livestock preference studies consistently rank it first.
Large-leafed ladino type selected for maximum yield in southern climates. Fixes nitrogen aggressively (up to 150 lbs/acre/year), directly feeding companion grasses. Highly palatable and digestible with research showing 12-15% average daily gain improvements when white clover comprises 30%+ of pasture dry matter.
Best shade-tolerance among the cool-season grasses in this mix, making it the right choice for paddocks with tree lines and partial canopy. Bunchy upright growth complements prostrate white clover, using vertical space efficiently. Palatability is high before heading; managed under rotational grazing it stays vegetative and productive.
Long-lived perennial legume added for bloat-safe grazing — unlike alfalfa and red clover, cicer milkvetch contains condensed tannins that precipitate proteins in the rumen and eliminate pasture bloat risk. This makes it the safety net legume in the mix for continuous-grazing operations that cannot always monitor cattle closely.
Deep-tap-rooted broadleaf herb that mines calcium, phosphorus, and trace minerals from subsoil layers the grasses cannot reach. Published trials show chicory-containing pastures reduce internal parasite loads in sheep and goats by 20-30%, and the effect carries over to cattle at similar stocking densities.
Non-bloating legume included as insurance diversity on drier paddocks and sandy patches where alfalfa struggles. Summer-dormant growth habit fills niches in the stand that would otherwise produce weeds, and its warm-season flowering provides a late-summer nectar source when other legumes have set seed.
Specifications
Seeding Specs
Establishment Specs
Why Choose This Seed?
Protein You Don't Have to Buy in a Bag
Four legumes — alfalfa, Ladino clover, cicer milkvetch, birdsfoot trefoil — push crude protein well above what a grass-only pasture delivers. That means lower hay bills in winter and less reliance on expensive supplement tubs. Cattle finish faster, cows milk harder, and lambs gain on grass alone.
Forage from March Through November
Cool-season grasses carry you from early spring through May and again from September into early winter. Sahara II bermuda takes the summer slot when everything else slows down. You get a longer grazing season and fewer weeks pulling stored hay out of the barn.
Drought-Tough Across the Calendar
Bermudagrass roots run 6 feet deep and shrug off 100-degree heat. Tall fescue’s deep root system holds through dry spells where ryegrass and clovers fade. Chicory pulls water from below the grass root zone. When one species hits a wall, two others are still producing.
A Thick Stand Crowds Out Weeds
Nine species filling every layer — deep taproots, mat-forming clovers, bunchgrasses, sod-forming bermuda — leaves no bare ground for ragweed, pigweed, or sericea lespedeza to grab. Less spraying, less mowing, less broadleaf herbicide on a pasture that has clovers you don’t want to kill.
Soil That Gets Better Every Year
Legumes fix 100–200 lbs of nitrogen per acre per year — free fertilizer. Chicory’s taproot pulls calcium and trace minerals up to the surface. Bermuda’s sod and fescue’s fibrous roots build organic matter. After three years, you’re working with darker, looser, more productive ground than what you planted into.
Planting and Grazing Guide
Soil Prep and pH
Pull a soil test before you spend a dollar on seed. Target pH 6.0 to 7.0 — legumes won’t fix nitrogen below 6.0 and alfalfa needs 6.5 or higher to thrive. Lime in the fall before a spring planting so it has time to work. Phosphorus and potassium drive legume establishment, so apply P and K to soil-test recommendations. Disk or till to a firm, fine seedbed — your boot print should sink less than half an inch.
Seeding Method and Timing
A no-till drill set at 1/4 inch is the gold standard — better seed-to-soil contact, no erosion, and you can drill into a killed sod. Broadcast seeding works on prepared ground if you cultipack before and after. In the South, fall planting (September 1 through October 15) is the move for the cool-season grasses and legumes. Seed at 25–30 lbs per acre on a clean seedbed, 35–40 lbs per acre when overseeding into thin pasture.
Watering and Establishment
You need consistent moisture for the first 3–4 weeks. In the South, fall rains usually carry you, but plan to irrigate if you hit a dry stretch. Ryegrass will be up in a week, fescue and orchardgrass in 10–14 days, bermuda and the legumes in 2–3 weeks. Keep livestock off for the entire first growing season if you can. If you have to graze early, wait until plants are 8 inches tall, pull animals at 4 inches, and rest 30+ days.
Grazing Management
Rotational grazing makes this mix shine. Aim for 4–6 paddocks at minimum. Move animals when grass hits 4 inches, rest each paddock 21–30 days in the growing season, longer in summer slump. Don’t overgraze the legumes during establishment year — they’re slower to bounce back than the grasses. Bushhog or clip seed heads in late spring to keep fescue and orchardgrass vegetative. In year two and beyond, this pasture will carry 1–1.5 animal units per acre on improved ground with decent rainfall.
Helpful Resources
Lawn Seed Planting Guide
Questions & Answers
This blend works for cattle, horses, sheep, and goats. The bloat-safe legumes (cicer milkvetch and birdsfoot trefoil) make it a strong choice for cattle and sheep running on legume-heavy pasture. Horse owners get the benefit of low-endophyte Fawn fescue, which reduces fescue toxicosis risk for broodmares. Goat producers will see chicory and birdsfoot trefoil get hammered first — both contribute to natural parasite resistance.
Fall is the sweet spot — September 1 through October 15 across most of the Southern region. Fall planting lets the cool-season grasses and legumes establish before winter, then they hit the ground running in spring while the bermuda wakes up. Spring planting (March–April) works but you’ll fight summer weeds and the cool-season species struggle in the heat before they’re established. Avoid summer planting except for pure bermuda renovation.
Plan on a full growing season off the pasture if you can swing it — that gives the slower species (alfalfa, cicer milkvetch, bermuda) time to establish a root system that can take grazing pressure. If you have to graze early, wait until plants reach 8 inches tall, pull animals when they’re grazed down to 4 inches, and rest the paddock at least 30 days. Light flash grazing at 8–10 inches in the establishment year can actually help by encouraging tillering.
Less than a grass-only pasture, but not zero. Apply phosphorus and potassium to soil-test recommendations every 2–3 years — legumes are heavy feeders on P and K. You generally won’t need nitrogen because the legumes are fixing 100–200 lbs N per acre per year, but a spring nitrogen application (40–60 lbs/acre) can boost early grass production if your legume stand is thin. Lime as needed to keep pH at 6.0 or above.
Yes, with caveats. The cool-season grasses and alfalfa cut well for hay, but bermudagrass needs separate management — it peaks for hay in July and August when the cool-season species are dormant. Most producers run this mix as a graze-first pasture and pull a hay cutting off the spring flush (late May) when the cool-season grasses and alfalfa are at peak. Cut at early bloom for the legumes, before grass seed heads emerge. Expect 2–4 tons per acre on a good first cutting.
The mix is built to minimize it — cicer milkvetch and birdsfoot trefoil are non-bloating, and they make up 11% of the blend. Alfalfa and white clover can cause bloat, especially on lush spring pasture and after a frost. Don’t turn hungry cattle onto wet legume pasture first thing in the morning — feed dry hay first or wait until the dew is off. Provide poloxalene blocks during high-risk periods. Rotational grazing helps because cattle aren’t selecting only the legume tops.
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