Weed/plant recognition - Goats eat it

["SPIKE"]

Does anyone recognize this plant. Like a lot of others, the drought took its toll on my pasture. There is little grass of any kind in some areas and I did not have a big pasture area to start with. When this weed statred growing and I noticed the goats eating it, I thought that was great. Now I am not sure.

Here is a picture of two young plants. The 2 tall single shoots.



Here is a picture of an area that has been taken over by this plant. As the goats ate tender ends, the weed turned into a small bush like plant. It has shaded the ground so completely, that it has finished off any grass that struggled to survive waiting for rain.



Two weeds after pulling some that were around them. To show how they spead into bush form. The tape measure is extended to about 3 1/2 feet.



A single weed showing the woody "trunk".



SPIKE

["SPIKE"]

Here is a picture of a pulled weed showing the root structure. It pulls relatively easily.



Here is the sad picture after the weeds are pulled in an area.



It is starting to flower, so I need to eliminate this weed before it starts seeding. When cut, it just grows back bushier. I may just spend the time to pull up most of it. The worst area will have to be tilled and I guess I will plant rye to get through the winter.

I would like to know what I am fighting if anyone can recognize this weed/plant.

Thanks,
SPIKE

[FrogTacos]

Good question! They are popping up all over my yard too!

[CaliannG]

Okay, I don't know what kind of plant that is, but I know that, during a drought, you should not despair over any weed that shades your ground! Without rain, your grass is going to die off anyway. Without shade, the surface ground temps can reach up to 130-150 degrees. With shade, the grass rhizomes will survive, and once it rains again, will sprout up. Without it, the heat kills off even the rhizomes and you have to re-seed everything.

Young shoots of most plants, even stuff that would generally made them sick if they ate the mature parts, seem to do fine with goats. During our drought (and still, as my pasture hasn't recovered completely and it is summer), the ragweed, wooly weed, and threadleaf took over. The goats will nip the very tops off, and young buds. The new growth hasn't had time to build up alkali yet.

At any rate, be grateful that you have something that is shading your ground from the full brutality of the sun. It is also keeping your grass rhizomes and seeds alive and viable, so that they can grow once the rain comes back.

[CaliannG]

Although, if what you want to do is STERILIZE your pasture, pulling up the weeds would be a good way to do this. EVERYTHING will die, rhizomes, seeds, EVERYTHING. (Look up "solar sterilization of soil".) So if you have the money to buy diversified seed, you might wish to do that. Once the rains return, you can have a pasture that ONLY has what you planted in it.

Don't till until you get rain, though, else your topsoil will blow away.

["SPIKE"]

There probably was some of this in the pasture last year, but no area was over taken by it like this year. My main concern at this time is, if all these plants produce seed how bad will it be next year! LOL
I planted a little rye, to help through the winter and into spring, last year.
Last year, I just overseeded some areas. I may put a temporary fence around this area, pull the unwanted weed before it seeds, till, then seed it.
Pulling does not sound real productive use of time, but it will at least be gone, for the most part. Solar sterilizing would not hurt with that plan. The area is not too big to sprinkle. Rain just does not seem to fit my schedule lately!

SPIKE

[CaliannG]

Out West, what we have that takes over during dry, dusty, nothing-else-will-grow, times is wooly weed.It had a woody stem like your stuff there, but completely different leaves and flowers.

The thing about it is that it does NOT grow during wet summers. It need the dry areas to germinate. It also does not compete well with grasses, so it if it wet enough for the grasses and legumes to grow, it chokes out the wooly weed.

We have about an acre where we mowed down all of the wooly weed, and started irrigating there. The wooly weed has NOT grown back in that area, although it is flourishing on other parts of the property where we haven't mowed and irrigated. Grass and hairy vetch are growing in the irrigated areas.

The reason for this is two fold: Broadleafs don't recover if you mow them down below their leaves. So once they get to flowering, you can get rid of them by just mowing them at three inches. End of problem. The second reason is that wooly weed seed doesn't like to germinate in the wet, so new seedlings do not come up. (Although seeds WILL stay in the topsoil for many years, waiting for that hot, dry summer to sprout.)

I am wondering if your plant up there fills the same ecological niche as our wooly weed. If so, just mow the stuff down (even if it WILL germinate in the wet, mowing will kill off the plants you have shown) and irrigate the area.

If you are going to irrigate, you might as well till it up and plant it. It will turn over all of the old roots and, since you are irrigating, your topsoil won't blow away.

~smiles~ Now I am off to the great, hot outdoors. DH just came in...seems he has a CREW helping him build the new shed, but they are disorganized and lacking in leadership, so he needs me out there to set them straight. Goats ALWAYS love to help!

[Clovers_Clan]

We have this in Georgia. The goats eat it and it doesn't seem to bother them. I have noticed in grows best in very dry marginal land and is perennial. The good news is that it doesn't seem to spread to good soil. It may be an indication your soil is poor and compacted and needing some help. Cereal rye is a great cover to improve soil tilth and it is aleopathic(prevents germination of other seeds).

The only weeds I pull these days are the very few that the goats don't touch. There are a lot of plants people consider to be weeds that actually make excellent goat forage. One more reason to love goats!

[ani's ark]

Interesting thread. Hopefully someone can tell you what that is Spike, sorry I cant help, like nothing growing here in NZ.When you mentioned ragweed Cali-anne, is that the same plant as ragwort? Ragwort is a real problem in NZ pastures, although I've only ever come across one plant at our place and Salma ate it while I inspected it, wondering what it was. She had no ill effects luckily. It is quite toxic to stock, including goats apparently. Someone said this is due to copper toxicity, but since goats need so much copper, wouldnt it be good for them? Does anyone know about that?