When to put out fescue??

When is the correct time to put out fescue seed? We are talking about seeding our pastures and need to know when the best time is to put out seed for good spring ground cover.

Sorry if this is in the wrong forum.

I just want to post a warning about fescue grass and pregnant mares. Depending upon what zones tall fescue is planted in, it can may become infected with endophyte and when this occurs, fescue should not be grazed by pregnant mares for 60-90 days before foaling. Endophyte infected fescue can result in prolonged gestation and difficult births, thickened placentas, infection, foundering and difficult rebreeding, little or no milk may be produced and colostrums levels may be decreased.
Warning over Now is the best time to plant for our area. If your daytime temps are in the 60-70 range than its a good time for you too.

Thanks. We aren't going to be breeding our mares, so that's not a concern. Also, it will be kept mowed so tall fescue won't be a danger. We only have to seed two of our three pastures as we rotate the horses to give the fields a chance to replenish. We just didn't have any rain this summer to keep the grass growing in the two smaller fields.

Any other suggestions would be welcome......

I've also heard fescue can founder geldings, but don't know it to be so. Why are you planting fescue when there's better grasses out there?

What do you suggest???

I'm not familiar with the grasses up there.. being in the South I do Bermuda. I'll have to ask a friend of mine up your way what they use. Fescue is just scarey

The first picture is the begging of summer. The second was taken last week. Do to lack of rain through June and July, 2 of the 3 fields have little to no grass. (The grass has turned into a little red wagon and feed bowl--LMAO)

There are endophyte free frescues, I think one is called Max Q. Get in touch with your local Natural Resources Conservation district service. It should be listed with the USDA. Ours was a tremendous help when we were starting our pastures. They will do a fairly cheap soil test, and ours even has a grass drill planter that they rent out.


I want to add that I was told that a pasure should be like a salad bowl, and just one type of lettuce makes a bad salad. Its best to combine warm and cool season grasses, that way you will have grass for a longer period of time.

If you go to your local farm store then most will sell a 'horse pasture mix' which is a mixture of different grasses that are
1. Good for your area,
2. Safe for horses,
3. Cheaper then a pure mix,
4. Has good nutritional value for your horse,
5. And like Vidaloco said you will have grass over a longer time period.

Our sells one that has red and white clover, timothy, bluegrass and some others that I can not think of right now, but no fescue. He has also made us a custom mix for our shadier pastures (I think he just eliminates one or two and increases the percentage on the ones that do better in the shade). These mixes usually cost around $2 a pound and we do about 20 pounds an acre.

The fescue you are sowing is called "Tall Fescue". It has nothing to do with whether or not you mow it or let it go to seed. It is differentiated from "creeping fescue" a type of lawn grass.