Want Better Pastures Without Expensive Fertilizers? Try Lime

Spending more money doesn’t always result in a better outcome. Starting with the non-commercial fertilizer and least expensive product to reap longer term results for our pastures.

what we started with

Last summer, before haying our biggest fescue pasture, we drove around on the side-by-side and took a good hard look at the standing forage. What we found was thin fescue, patchy spreads of legumes, and a lot more briars and woody weeds than were desirable. It’s a 30-acre field and has been neglected for years. Hay was harvested from it but little to no soil improvements or overseeding has been done in anyone’s recent memory, and it showed.

testing the soil

We knew the first thing to do was to test the soil, so we knew exactly what it was lacking. After borrowing a soil test probe, we took around 25 samples, 4-5 inches deep, throughout the entire pasture, working north to south in a ‘Z’ pattern. We boxed the samples up and mailed them to the University of Missouri soils lab. I would imagine any large state school with an ag dept. would offer the same service, and your county extension office is a great place to start.

soil test results & decisions

We received our results in a couple of weeks. Unsurprisingly, the ground was extremely deficient in phosphorus, nitrogen, and potassium. We considered applying commercial fertilizer, but prices have skyrocketed over the past few years. Our county Farm Service Agency (FSA) office advised that we start with applying agricultural lime, to try and shift the pH balance towards being more neutral. Native grasses and fescue value a less acidic environment to thrive, while legumes, like the patchy clover we hoped to kickstart, appreciate soil that is slightly more acidic. We determined that a pH level of 6.5 would be ideal.

applying lime

We waited until January to apply our lime, since we obviously wanted the hay to be harvested first. Winter is a good time to apply, since the ground is frozen hard resulting in fewer ruts, and if it snows on top of your lime, it will eventually work into the ground very well as the snow melts. However, sooner always tends to be better, as lime really needs at least 6 months to begin to neutralize the soil.

choosing lime vs commercial fertilizer

We hired a neighbor with a litter truck to spread ours. We had it brought in from the quarry in a couple of dump truck loads. 3-4 tons an acre is a common amount spread on pasture ground, but your soil tests may recommend a different application level. We paid $13/ton for the lime, and $8/acre for the spreader truck to apply the lime. At 3 tons per acre for our 30-acre field, that resulted in $1410. Not cheap, but let’s compare that to what a commercial fertilizer application would have cost. The University of Missouri estimates an average pasture fertilizer cost of $85, with another $8/acre for a spreader truck or sprayer. For our 30-acre field, that would be a total of $2790. So, our lime application was roughly half of a fertilizer application, and we will have longer term results from the soil pH changes.

our lime results

After baling that same field last week, we are really pleased with the difference lime has made. With last year being a drought, I don’t think it’s fair to look solely at bale numbers as the deciding factor. After all, we had a wet spring so numbers should be up. However, it is obvious when comparing some of the lower places that the spreader truck couldn’t get to, with the bulk of the pasture that received lime, that it was much better fescue growth with fewer weeds.

There is a time and place for applying commercial fertilizer for sure, but in my opinion, it’s a good gamble to spend a season seeing what applying lime will do. It’s a far cheaper option, and maybe more importantly, may offer a longer term, sustainable solution for your operation.