Turning cattle pasture into hay meadow...Help

Texas

I’m new here and looking forward to learning from everyone’s experience.

So a little history, I have an 80 acre place in NE Texas. My father and I ran cattle on it until he passed away about 12 years ago. Since then I have leased the pasture to others. The place has not been taken care and I did not renew the lease at the end of last year.  It has had cattle on the place and it has not been cut / mowed / shredded in probably 10 years. Lots of weeds, but use to have nothing but good grass. The place is so rough you can't go faster than idle speed in a truck. I want to turn it into a smooth hay pasture.

 

I grew up working cattle and horses, not farming, so I am getting a little out of my comfort zone. My uncle is a rancher and farmer and I have got a lot of good advice from him, and he is very familiar with the land, but wanted to reach out to this forum as well. My uncle said I needed to wait until winter to shred the place and then come back and disk it in both directions while dragging a hire. I asked about seeding or spraying and he said the place had and probably still does have good grass. Need to cut the weeds and growth down so the grass can grow and disk it to smooth out and aerate the land. He said to let it go a year and then determine if we need to spray or seed it.

 

So I was able to shred most of the place in late January.  The place is divided into three meadows.  I disked and then cross disked one meadow in early April.  I was fortunate and got a lot of rain the following week.  This is a weekend thing for me and I am only able to get out there about every third weekend, so I realize this may take a long time to get it where I want it.  

 

So now my first of probably many questions.  I feel like I have lost my window to disc the rest of he pasture until fall.  If I understand correctly, you want to disc when the grass is dormant.  If I disc while the grass is growing in the spring and summer I may kill more grass than help it.  Is this correct or can I disc any time of year and not harm the grass?

 

I am grateful for any input form everyone's experience.  

 

Thanks

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Turning cattle pasture into hay meadow...Help