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Junior Member
 
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Last Login: 3/12/2010 7:32:46 PM
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| I have about an acre of land next to my house that I would like to plant in some type of grass or legume. The area is fenced in welded wire fencing and I would like to raise turkeys there, seperated from my chickens. This area is shaded most of the time by a mature oak-hickory forest typical of NE Missouri. Currently there is no ground cover of any type. the previous owners did not take care of their property. The area is muddy when it rains. I want my turkeys to live in a grass-covered pen, not an unhealthy mud hole. Does anyone have any suggestions on what grass or legume would grow well in an environment that is mostly shaded?
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Senior Member
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| In October I buy P2 several lb of oxalic (clover wide leaf with white flower some may be a pink flower). He and his dog take a trip into the woods to through it out. It seems to tolerate the shade of the pine trees. Is it to late to try some rye grass, wheat or may be some millet next year? Oh! But we live south of you in LA.
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Senior Member
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That's a tough situation. It would depend on the population of the turkeys of course, but Turkeys scratch at the ground A LOT, so I would think anything you grow there would be subjected to turkeys foraging for their natural food....especially under a canopy of mature trees. I mean this is a turkeys natural environment...they will scratch for sure.
I would also think it would preclude adding turkeys to the area for a year or so in order to get the grass truly established. A few years would be even better to allow the grass to fill in before the turkeys started their damage.
I am racking my feeble mind to think of a grass or legume that would grow well in that situation, but I am really not sure. I would probably go to your local soil and water conservation district for ideas. I know ours has a special mix of grass seed designed for our soils, ph levels and weather. I've used it a lot and had great results with it.
I do caution you on using clover however. Clover is a great legume, BUT it can take two years for the seed to really take. I have planted fields with mixtures in the 80% range and nearly tilled them under and started over when they failed to come up. MY father suggested I wait another year because "clover takes two years to emerge", and so I did. Was he ever right...the second year it came up and now its one of our highest yielding fields. But in your case...two years to establish itself??? You want turkeys sooner then 3-4 years I assume?
And thus I would also preclude any nitrogen fixation types of legumes from the area, especially alfalfa. If you get frost at all, the turkeys could die due to bloat. That might not occur as fast in poultry then other ruminant livestock, but if they gorge themselves on the protein rich legume??? But my greatest fear with a nitrogen fixating legume like alfalfa would be overloading the soil with nitrogen. You are getting plenty of that since its under the canopy of trees. The leaves, needles and decomposing branches that fall have no doubt given the soil plenty of nitrogen already, plus any past agricultural practices would add to the level. And considering the highly nitrate concentrations of poultry (ammonia levels) you would be only adding to the nitrogen levels.
Decomposing forest litter
Past agricultural practices (manure of any kind)
Turkey manure
And using nitrogen fixating legumes...
That is a recipe for nitrate pollution. Anything downhill of the location could potentially be polluted. Of course a lot of factors that influences that however, including ph levels, terrain, topography, soil depth and type, etc. You may want to pull a soil sample though and have it tested then make a decision based on that. Personally I see a thick mat of warm and cool season grass mixture as your best bet.
I love vegetarians...slice them real thin, dip them in ranch dressing and they compliment lamb quite well! :-)
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