Pasture maintenance

[cjean]

How many of you mow your pastures if the grass gets tall and goes to seed?
We cut down on our animals this year, and the ones that are left are wading through the tall stuff, and don't eat it, of course.

Is it a good idea to mow it for the health of the grass and the animals? I'm wondering about parasites, nutrition, etc. Kind of clueless on this, since we've never had this issue before...

[mygoat]

If you can, bale it.

It seems like cutting mature grass back would make it start regrowing, and that new growth would be lower in indigestible fiber (better feed).

[cjean]

We only have about 1.5 acres in grass, not enough to justify baling equipment costs...darn! But yes, I was wondering if mowing it would increase the food value...

[mygoat]

The only problem I see is that if you don't get enough rain to support growth, it won't support goats eating it as the growth generally slows as the season progresses and *generally* get less rain. I guess it depends on your area, how many animals you're trying to feed etc. Another problem with short grass is parasites - they are less of a problem if the grass is not short.

[Clovers_Clan]

It partly depends on the animals you have and the forage you hope to establish.

Grasses depend on the natural cycle of grazing to stay healthy. Grazing clears out spent stalks and dead material allowing more light and ventilation. If the majority of your animals are grazers - cows, sheep, horses - the pasture would benefit from bush hogging or mowing.

If your animals are mostly browsers - goats - the pasture could increase its diversity of forbs from a little fallow time. That would allow smaller shrubs and trees to emerge. But also noxious weeds, so you'd have to spot treat or manually remove trouble areas. You could still mow in areas where you'd like grass to be the dominant species.

[Rustaholic]

Originally Posted by cjean

We only have about 1.5 acres in grass, not enough to justify baling equipment costs...darn! But yes, I was wondering if mowing it would increase the food value...

You can cut it with a scythe and easily make a hand baler.
Do a search for pine straw hand balers.
Okay I did it for you. Only from there I found someone baling hay with one.

YouTube

Actually the guy baling Pine Straw gives more details about how it all works.
Go to YouTube and do a search for --------------- In Action: Hand Baling Pine Straw

I have a 1968/69 Allis Chalmers Garden Tractor that I bought about 20 years ago. It was made by Simplicity and about four years ago I got the very same tractor as a Simplicity. Only the first one came with a 52" sickle bar mower.
That would be very handy on a small patch like that. This stuff is out there.
I need mine. Happy hunting.

[Alice In TX/MO]

Mow it, but mow it high. Not less than 4 inches. 6 is better. The parasite larvae climb up dew damp leaves to be ingested by the goats.

[marusempai]

Originally Posted by cjean

We only have about 1.5 acres in grass, not enough to justify baling equipment costs...darn! But yes, I was wondering if mowing it would increase the food value...

Do you have any neighbors that make hay? We couldn't afford baling equipment if we wanted it, but had a neighbor who was willing to make hay on our pastures, and we got one bale in three. It was a great deal for everybody, and I can see across my pastures again.

[secuono]

Yes, mow it and keep it mowed.
Snakes, possibly venomous ones, will hide in it.
There's less edible grass when it's over grown, since animals are picky and prefer young and short stuff over any of the tall and stemmy/hard stuff.
Weeds, good and bad can grow in and be a pain to get rid of if you don't stay on top of em.

[wintrrwolf]

hmm oops I let my front and side area grow up over 12 inches and expanded the fencing for the goats they have been having a hay day in there. Yes some of the grass is stemmy but mine seem to prefer that over the shorter stuff, also my goats are eating the seeds and depositing them back on the ground for me granted my front and side yard doesn't look perfectly manicured but my moving yard art is gorgeous!!

[cjean]

I really appreciate all of the input here...exactly the sort of info that I'm looking for.

We don't have any venomous snakes here, thank God, and I love the garters and rubber boas, so I'm glad to give them a place to hide

We have just a few goats, and 3 katahdins left, and they are all picky eaters. They do prefer to eat the shorter grass, and I was worried about the parasite question (thanks Alice and Dona, you answered that!).

[Frosted Mini's]

My pasture has grass up to my waste! LOL! I wish we could get baling equipment in, but the fencing and irrigation pipes are in the way, would be a pain in the patooty. I guess we could do something by hand like the video shows (I'm guessing, my sound doesn't work so I didn't play it, lol). We'd have to hand scythe it though...don't have any brush mowers that work here. :/