Revitalizing winter grazing

[timandsharon21@hotmail.co]

Hi everyone,
We are quite new to Dexter ownership, and this is my first post on the site, so here goes !
We have a small herd of six, one Steer, and five girls ranging from two mums with one year old calves each and our latest Heifer born on Election Day !
We have two fields, for which we can rotate use, but the larger of the two we used for overwintering and has become quitelow on grass with a number of thistle clumps.
Any suggestions as to how may revitalize, perhaps Harrowing and a spread of Nitrogen ? any suggestions would be gratefully recieved,

Tim (East Riding Yorkshire)

[Broomcroft]

Best to get your soil tested. But failing that, if the grass grows well but it's all a bit poached by the cattle, then you need to break up the soil by harrowing or rolling or both possibly a few times, then spread some suitable seed and harrow that in and most importantly roll, roll and roll. The soil-to-seed contact is the critical thing. Done well the poached areas can become the best part of your field.

Choose your seed as you want it. Grass varies terrifically in feed value. We use fairly high sugar grasses and the fields grow well and the animals do as well. You might want to include a bit of white clover in the mix as that will help to fix nitrogen in the soil and will also produce more minerals to the cattle and should have a longer season than the grass by quite a long shot. The soil PH has to be right for clover, over 6.

For the new grass to establish itself, the least competition it has the better of course. If you spread some seed in amongst growing grass, it'll be wasted. Best to seed in spring on a tightly grazed-down field, or you can do it in August I think. But if the patches are really bare, the grass should take any time between as well.

The bare patches may produce weeds along with the grass, you after the grass has established itself, you can use some weed killer if you like but make sure is clover safe if you have clover, or put the clover in separately afterwards or next year.

Cotswolds Seed are good suppliers I am told. Never used them myself yet.



Edited By Broomcroft on 1275388893

[Broomcroft]

PS. People like Cotswold will do mixes, either grazing or cutting or semi-cut-graze, especially for over-seeding, and these mixes will be made up of competitive types of grass/clover. But you can stitch in anything, just may not do as well.

[Broomcroft]

PS2. forgot....I wouldn't put any fertiliser or anything on where you are putting in some new seed because you don't want what's already growing to do well and shade the new seedlings. But you can get seed that is coated with fertiliser. It'll cost more for the same amount of seed but should be worth it as it can establish much more quickly and it ensures the new seeds gets the benefit not the existing grasses.

[Saffy]

If there are very large bare areas you may need to add new seed like Clive has suggested.

However if you are looking to improve what you have and get rid of weeds, if it is a very large field and is covered in weeds and you don't have your own tractor and sprayer, perhaps there is a local farmer that would come in and spray the weeds for you, for a price? Or you can get one to trail behind a lawn tractor. If they are dotted around, or the area isn't too great, a knapsack sprayer will do the job. A good spray to use might be Grazon but if you ask at your local farming supplies they will usually advise.

Maybe a local farmer would put fertilzer on for you if it really needs it but again a small spreader can be bought to go behind a lawn tractor, takes about a 25 kg bag.

Stephanie

[timandsharon21@hotmail.co]

Thanks both for the great advice, i will plough on with harrowing and reseeding, thanks for the hints on Cotswold seeds, especially already fertilised.
thanks again
Tim

[Broomcroft]

Don't know whether Cotswold do fertiliser coated thinking about it Tim. But if they don't, Oliver Seeds and HF Seeds both do I'm fairly certain.

[bjreroberts]

If you still have muck on the field try to harrow after it has rained. The muck on mine was so hard the harrowing has not broken it up.

[Louise Badcock]

Hi
How many acres have you got?
Thistles are a nuisance. I am comparing spraying one lot with SBK and cutting the others several times with the ride on lawn mower.
Harrowing and rolling will be fine but next winter you need to confine the cattle otherwise the land will deteriorate.

Regards Louise

[timandsharon21@hotmail.co]

Thanks Louise

we only have about 5 acres, split 50/50, so cattle are on a good field at present whilst I work on the other that they overwintered on, it has got grass, but not great quality, will try ahrrowing first and reseedin August, but thanks for your valued advice.
Have my calf to Ear Tag tommorrow, so looking for a good breakfast, as mum is still very clingy !!

Tim

[davidw]

I've used Cotswold seeds, order on the internet and very quick delivery. I don't think they do fert coatings though, Oliver seeds do that.
May be worth sub-dividing your pasture with an electric fence to allow one area to grow a little whilst the stock is grazing another area.
I was given a tip for spreading clover seed by a seed specialist. Feed some to the cattle. Make sure its not dressed though with seed dressing first. Most of it will pass straight through them and then when you harrow, it will spread the seed as well.

[Broomcroft]

Went to another company today (Spunhill) and they are offering "clover pellets". They look like little maize coloured pepper corns but each one has a clover seed at it's core surrounded by it's own little starter pack. It makes it easy to seed with a little spinner or anything that would do fertiliser. They don't even need harrowing in, just spread and roll the guy said. White clover only.

[davidw]

Another thought about spraying weeds. Several companies supply small electric powered sprayers to sit on the back of a quad bike. They could equally well be used on a pick-up or a land-rover if you don't have a quad. I got mine on E-Bay, my main equipment supplier!

[timandsharon21@hotmail.co]

Really helpful advice many thanks everyone

Tim