Improving a pasture without loosing your mind. Possible?

[akhome]

Seems like our place has far more "projects" that have eaten up way more time (and money) than we anticipated...Par for the course right

We've made a lot of headway with junk removal and now we are hoping this year is the year we start getting the pasture in better shape and finish up stringing new fence.

Any suggestions on how to make the improvements we are wanting to do without loosing our minds We have 20 acres (well 19.99 and boy is that a PAIN of a difference with zoning here!!) I would guess that 4-5 of it is wetland marsh and the rest is really weedy with, I think, a mix of broam, orchard grass, and buffalo grass growing under it. Wild Sunflowers grow...well like WILD and have been a pain to get under control. I know I will need to dodge tomatoes on this one but I am totally willing to spray to get the weeds under control! I am hoping that if I get the weeds beat down and the grass built up I shouldn't have to do a whole lot of spraying in the future. I do have a few horses grazing. So other than the occasional neighbor cow who seem to think the grass is greener on my side of the fence and wildlife (mostly ducks and turkey, the deer favor other pastures) that is all I have munching on the pasture.

[geo in mi]

Why do anything but let the horses eat it? Those are all desirable grasses, in my opinion, so maybe you can just clip or mow the excess and let it go at that. If you have marsh grass, then you probably have water underneath it and you would bog down trying to get through it...You may have Jerusalem artichokes instead of wild sunflowers. They come up from underground tubers each year, and if you want to get rid of them and other undesirable broadleaf weeds, then 2, 4, D would probably do well, if you are willing to use a chemical weed killer. I think regular mowing would knock down most of the weeds, though, except the perrenials.


geo

[CIW]

It sounds like you have a mixture of grasses. Keeping it mowed back will give the grass a chance to take back over.
When you build your fence, put up some cross fences to divide it up. Cows and horses will eat down in the marshy areas come fall and early winter. Just don't let the horses clip the field too tight before switching them to another section.
You may also be able to find someone to bale up the more weedy area before it goes to seed. This works well if you are having a wet year as the grass will return faster than many of the weeds.
Cows will eat that weedy hay in the coldest part of the winter. You might even give the hay to the guy who bales it. Especially if it has alot of weed seed in it from baling late.
Keeping the field at about 6 to 8 inches tall will promote the grass and suppress the weeds and small trees. Lightly running a disc harrow over it each spring (during your wet season) will also serve to get rid of the weeds. It also helps to reverse the packing that horses feet do to the ground.
One last thing. You are only going to have as much grass plant above the ground as you have roots below and visa versa. So to maintain a good sod not letting the animals clip it too short before moving them. The horses will have thier favorite spots. Periodic mowing will serve to help freshen the areas that the horses don't want to eat.

[mzgarden]

When we moved to our place 2 years ago, the pastures had been left alone for 8 years at least. We talked to the beef farmer behind us and he agreed to hay our fields for us and he took the hay for his cattle. He said it wasn't great but nothing poisonous so he would take it, until we could do something. Amazing this year to see how green and lush the grasses have come back, after starting as a weedy mess 2 years ago. Maybe the easiest thing is to keep it mowed and you may find out it sorts itself out.

[kickinbull]

You could start with a good fence around outside. Then subdivide into small lots and use the animals to mow and restore the fields.

[SFM in KY]

I don't know where you are, but it seems in most places, weeds are much hardier than grass and with livestock they will graze off the grass and the weeds will be what's left.

Our solution has been to subdivide our pastures, turn horses out on each smaller acreage and as they graze it down, move them to the next, then spray with a broadleaf spray to kill the weeds, then bushhog/mow a week later. This is the best option we've found to keep as much grass growing as possible and control the weeds.

[wogglebug]

Originally Posted by SFM in KY

I don't know where you are, but it seems in most places, weeds are much hardier than grass and with livestock they will graze off the grass and the weeds will be what's left.

Our solution has been to subdivide our pastures, turn horses out on each smaller acreage and as they graze it down, move them to the next, then spray with a broadleaf spray to kill the CLOVER, ALFALFA AND OTHER LEGUMES, AND weeds, then bushhog/mow a week later. This is the best option we've found to keep as much grass growing as possible and control the weeds.

There you are, fixed it for you!

Basically, it's not a bad system - dividing it up into smaller blocks, then keeping the livestock in long enough they have to eat most everything down - cherry-picking they'll always do, but you don't let them just move onto pastures new when they've destroyed their favourite candy, and given the less desirable plants a competitive edge. It's the general spraying that's a problem. If simple grazing management won't do the job, then it would be better to go over it with a herbicide wicking applicator, just wiping the undesirable weeds that are still standing tall.

[Yvonne's hubby]

I gave the organic methods a fair chance to work... twenty years later I got tired of the briars thistle and ironweed that kept coming back year after backbreaking year. Two years ago I broke down and bought a sprayer. My cows love me for finally getting them decent pastures and good quality hay. It took me nearly a week to go over the farm killing the weeds and reseeding but it was well worth the effort. No more digging up thistles or cutting briars and brambles out of the fence rows. Now I sit on the porch watching lush green pasture being grazed by happy cows instead.

[rambler]

1 Find out if you need lime - low soil ph. If it is low, a little lime will be a whole new world for your grasses, and several weeds might be less happy.

2 A couple extra bucks and the soil test will tell you what your P and K levels are, which kinda helps you know where you are. Some pastures are poor because they used to be a livestock yard and are over fertilizer kind, mostly they are under fertilized, but some soil is really really low in P but high in K.... Anyhow, a soil test gives you an idea of you need and what types of fertilizer you could use. Can be organic or not, whichever you prefer, but just is nice to know where you are stating at.

3 Mowing the grasses before any of the board leaves mature enough to set seed will please the grasses and tick off the broadleaf weeds. In a couple years your grasses will be happy and shading out the broadleaf weeds. (If your soil ph is right....) this really works, but you need to mow it all off even and kinda short, not just let the critters graze here and there. Needs a good even mowing perhaps every 30 days or so. You may cut it for hay and bale it off, if the terrain allows, make a couple bucks maybe of course the first year weeds and weak grass won't be worth much I know.

4. Adding in some legumes (clover, alfalfa, birds foot trefoil, etc) by frost seeding them, or very lightly scratching up your pasture so 10% dirt is showing and raking in the seeds works nicely. The legumes will supply nitrogen in small but noticeable amounts to your grasses in 2 years, as well as adding a bit more protein to your grazing. Do this after you get the broad leaves under control, not before.

5. It is pretty easy to knock back broadleaf weeds with several pasture sprays. Some only work the one time you spray; others like Milestone or Tordon will last a couple years and you can't plant in a legume for a few years. Your choice on this, it is a hot topic around here, it is pretty easy to knock down some bad weed patches like Canadian Thistle and such.

6. Rotational grazing will be your friend into the future, make a good strong fence around the outside of the pasture, THRN set up weaker fences breaking it down into 4-10 smaller pastures, you put your critters in one small place for a couple days let thrm eat it all down, then rotate them to the next smaller paddock, and so on. This makes your critters graze a paddock down level, and allows the other paddocks to grow up uniformly and without being disturbed.

This is like mowing the pasture as I described above only letting the animals do the work. Grass loves to be treated like this, mowed down quickly in a few days, then left along for 30 days or so.

And - broadleaf weeds kinda mostly hate being treated that way.

And then the manure and pathogens have time to break down and disappear between grazings as well, which is good for your critters.

So rotational grazing is a win win all the way around. You don't -have- to do all those paddocks right away, but plan your water source and lanes to be able to do so in the future? Make 2 paddocks to start, allowing for them to be easily split in the future?

Yea it takes a little time to get there.

Paul

[bjgarlich]

We have a 20 acre pasture that had been unused for years and had patches of brush, including locust trees. Our neighbor did some brush hogging last spring, ran some cattle on it over the summer, spread chicken litter this winter and seeded with hay this spring. It is lush and beautiful. He gets the hay, we get improved land quality plus brush hogging and clearing on the other 20 acres which is hilly.