Agri Vehicles Insurance from Greenlands

Author Topic: Braken..help!  (Read 8604 times)

kate7590

  • Joined Jun 2014
  • Powys
Braken..help!
« on: December 19, 2014, 09:27:10 pm »
Part of one of our fields has a fair bit of bracken in it. Of course at the moment its dead/ flat, but I know it will spring back in spring!
We want to put our sheep on it next year and have friends who say its fine, but me being a bit of a worrier wants to find out a good way of getting rid of it so I can rest easy knowing I won't hurt my sheep by letting them on that land.

We have a quad bike so could maybe look into some machine that could be used with it? Although its on quite steep land so could be dangerous if its big machinery…..

Any words of wisdom?
Living the 'Good Life' in our little Chapel in the rural welsh countryside.
Proud owner of 3 Border Collies, Giant Rabbits, Guinea Pigs, Chickens, Runner Ducks, 3 'pet sheep' &  Jacob Sheep.
Loving life :)

stufe35

  • Joined Jan 2013
Re: Braken..help!
« Reply #1 on: December 19, 2014, 09:53:31 pm »
It won't hurt your sheep. Look at moorland everywhere with sheep grazing on it.

mab

  • Joined Mar 2009
  • carmarthenshire
Re: Braken..help!
« Reply #2 on: December 19, 2014, 10:35:10 pm »
the sheep won't eat the bracken so don't worry about them. I'm told bracken used to be harvested for livestock bedding.


You could get/make a bracken roller for your quad (am planning on making one myself for next year - basically a roller with ridges to crush the stems) although I'm not entirely sold on their effectiveness yet, almost anything that knocks the bracken down should help.

bigchicken

  • Joined Nov 2008
  • Fife Scotland
Re: Braken..help!
« Reply #3 on: December 19, 2014, 10:58:18 pm »
Yes braken was used as animal beding, saw it used in cumbria a few years ago. Braken when harvested for compost makes a great alternative to peat, maybe you have a cash crop.
« Last Edit: December 20, 2014, 08:07:12 am by bigchicken »
Shetland sheep, Castlemilk Moorits sheep, Hebridean sheep, Scots Grey Bantams, Scots Dumpy Bantams. Shetland Ducks.

SallyintNorth

  • Joined Feb 2011
  • Cornwall
  • Rarely short of an opinion but I mean well
    • Trelay Cohousing Community
Re: Braken..help!
« Reply #4 on: December 20, 2014, 05:31:43 am »
Bracken is now known to be carcinogenic so I don't think I'd be in a rush to use it for bedding.  Do some googling (and report back what you find out, please!  :D) because my recollection is that there's one time of year when it's at its most dangerous, which I think is when it is carrying spores.  Whether it is less or even not carcinogenic after it's died back naturally I am not sure.

Yes sheep graze in amongst bracken in many places - because they have no choice!  Bracken harbours ticks, so if you have sheep in contact with bracken, you need to be de-ticking your sheep.

If the bracken that you have is removable then personally I would try to get it removed now, because if you leave it, it will just become more and more established and harder and harder to remove.

Again, do some googling (and report back please :D), but I'm pretty sure it's one of those plants that needs to be damaged in order to die; just cutting it won't kill it off as it is so very deep-rooted.  So bracken-mashing devices don't break the stems completely, just ravage them.  It'll take several / many seasons to get it killed off.  I think I read that there's a poison that'll do for it (but I think takes several applications.)  Whether the take-up of the poison would be best after mashing and/or at some particular stage of growth I can't recall.

Sorry this is mostly hearsay / recollected readings so don't take any of it as fact!  (Except the bits about ticks and about it becoming more established if not dealt with; those are from personal experience.)

Oh, and the other approach to bracken control is to reintroduce dinosaurs, I think?   :D  :-J
Don't listen to the money men - they know the price of everything and the value of nothing

Live in a cohousing community with small farm for our own use.  Dairy cows (rearing their own calves for beef), pigs, sheep for meat and fleece, ducks and hens for eggs, veg and fruit growing

oor wullie

  • Joined Jun 2012
  • Strathnairn
Re: Braken..help!
« Reply #5 on: December 20, 2014, 07:47:53 am »
There is only 1 chemical that is properly effective against bracken (Asulam).  Unfortunately farmers were using it (contrary to its approvals) on horticultural crops resulting in a very nasty chemical getting into the human food chain.  As a result the EU understandibly banned it however it is still available for a limited period each year.

More information here   http://www.brackencontrol.co.uk/


pgkevet

  • Joined Jul 2011
Re: Braken..help!
« Reply #6 on: December 20, 2014, 03:39:30 pm »
I read about bracken crishers and started looking to make one .but further reading suggests that cutting is just as (probbaly more)  effective as crushing - its all a matter of timing and access. Since I have the topper and hire of a brave driver happy to do the hillsides we'll be topping just as they start to uncurl and then twice more during the season.

I've been practicing my welding so may knock up a crusher for the quadbike on the really dodgy slope.

waterbuffalofarmer

  • Joined Apr 2014
  • Mid Wales
  • Owner of 61 Mediterranean water buffaloes
Re: Braken..help!
« Reply #7 on: December 20, 2014, 05:57:29 pm »
the most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss and have found their way out of the depths. These persons have an appreciation, a sensitivity and an understanding of life that fills them with compassion, gentleness, loving concern.

regen

  • Joined Jan 2013
Re: Braken..help!
« Reply #8 on: December 22, 2014, 08:04:21 am »
Whilst it would seem logical that cutting would be better than crushing I was told by a large fern grower/producer that simply bending each stem/frond until it irreversibly kinks will weaken and kill the plant more quickly than cutting. Apparantly proven by the number of plants which die due to wind damage when kinked stems are left rather than being cut back.

On this basis repeated heavy rolling would be the way forward.

Regen

Foobar

  • Joined Mar 2012
  • South Wales
Re: Braken..help!
« Reply #9 on: December 22, 2014, 03:41:54 pm »
If you don't have a roller or mower just run over it regularly with your quad wheels- as often as you see sufficient growth for it to be worth while.  And if you don't have time to do it all, focus on the outer edges first to stop it spreading any further.

pgkevet

  • Joined Jul 2011
Re: Braken..help!
« Reply #10 on: December 22, 2014, 03:46:10 pm »
Whilst it would seem logical that cutting would be better than crushing I was told by a large fern grower/producer that simply bending each stem/frond until it irreversibly kinks will weaken and kill the plant more quickly than cutting. Apparantly proven by the number of plants which die due to wind damage when kinked stems are left rather than being cut back.

On this basis repeated heavy rolling would be the way forward.

Regen

That was/is the general commentary seen but I did delve into assorted literature via google..I can't remember prof whoever's name who has been doing the research at liverpool uni?.. his papers suggest spraying is best (when it was legal) and cutting or crushing are much the same. It's more to do with repetitiion 2-3 times a year to prevent further spread.. more still for several years to get rid of established stuff.

bazzais

  • Joined Jan 2010
    • Allt Y Coed Farm and Campsite
Re: Braken..help!
« Reply #11 on: December 26, 2014, 07:01:32 pm »
The national parks crush it up here with a crusher machine - I just run over it year after year with the quad - I know it takes a long time, but doing a ring of the field everyday to check sheep and fences - you'll be surprised how easy it crush a few acres in a month.

I also find inviting friends round with a few beers and lumping them on a quad on a friday evening does wonders for crushing.  Think it takes about 5 years to get it to start shrinking. - Ours has been done now for 6 and its starting to receed.

Its all about doing it at the right time appaently - you dont want to snap the stem - you want to bend it so there is no real growth but the plant still tries to put all its energy into repairing something that irrepairable and it weakens its root structure cos it cant grow on top.

cloddopper

  • Joined Jun 2013
  • South Wales .Carmarthenshire. SA18
Re: Braken..help!
« Reply #12 on: December 27, 2014, 12:00:39 am »
Look in the rhododendron thread by young rasher 24 Dec 2014

In the link about removing the plants .. I think there is something about putting pigs on  bracken for complete removal of it in a year or so.
« Last Edit: December 27, 2014, 12:02:36 am by cloddopper »
Strong belief , triggers the mind to find the way ... Dyslexia just makes it that bit more amusing & interesting

Treud na Mara

  • Joined Mar 2014
  • East Clyh, Caithness
  • Living the dream in Caithness
Re: Braken..help!
« Reply #13 on: December 27, 2014, 07:28:47 pm »
Pigs are good but wild boar are even better at it - Trees for Life ran a trial a few years back and they completely removed the bracken in their area in a couple of years. They actually eat the roots. However the fencing needed to contain them mean it's a fairly specialised undertaking. They produce excellent meat for sausage making after they have finished their work.
With 1 Angora and now 6 pygmy goats, Jacob & Icelandic sheep, chooks, a cat and my very own Duracell bunny aka BH !

landroverroy

  • Joined Oct 2010
Re: Braken..help!
« Reply #14 on: December 29, 2014, 03:40:52 pm »
Bracken is at its most poisonous in spring when the young fronds come up. That is also the time when, apparently, they are most attractive to stock, but fortunately there's also likely to be plenty of grass available, which will be eaten in preference. As mentioned, bracken is carcinogenic, but normally only eaten in dangerous amounts if there's no alternative, ie all the grass around has been eaten right down.
We recently purchased 9 acres of bracken land. We considered spraying with Asulox but it's very expensive. Roundup is also effective but needs doing tortuously by hand, or with a weed wiper  unless you want to kill all the grass as well and then reseed, which again is expensive and you've lost the grazing till the new seeds get established.
So the first year we grazed the grass with sheep and took them off before they started on the bracken, then we cut the bracken and baled it in round bales which we removed. It rots down to make  excellent compost. After that we wintered cattle on it  and their trampling knocked it back a lot, so that by the following spring it was greatly reduced. Spreading manure on it also prevents regrowth, as does rolling and driving on it.
We're now on our 4th year and it's very sparce. We've certainly never had it thick enough again to make it worth cutting and carting off, and we've got away without needing to spray. I think the single biggest factor is putting the cattle on and their trampling action.
Rules are made:
  for the guidance of wise men
  and the obedience of fools.

 

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