Author Topic: Pasture care/ fertiliser (Read 2866 times)

Chugbi · « **on:** February 22, 2017, 06:44:09 pm »

We recently had a break in on our field by some hungry horses who ended up scalping the place since it's only about 1 acre. They replaced our 3 inches of grass with large amounts of horse poo so I'm really hoping they don't have worms although we won't be putting sheep up there for at least 6 weeks due to lambing 1100 ewes at work and we haven't quite finished the fencing yet

The land is near the South Downs so it's very chalky soil, my question is does anyone know of or recommend any fertilisers to whack on to help it grow back as it needs a fair amount of tlc

farmershort · « **Reply #1 on:** February 22, 2017, 06:46:55 pm »

Without knowing your soil chemistry, I wouldn't be running to the fertiliser just yet. How do you know it won't grow back healthily on its own?

Chugbi · « **Reply #2 on:** February 22, 2017, 07:02:55 pm »

Thats a fair point
I am really jugding it by other similar fields in the area which still look rather ropey even after growth, plus it apparently hasn't been used for grazing for a few years however there was very little grass when we aquired it last year

Backinwellies · « **Reply #3 on:** February 22, 2017, 07:09:11 pm »

You need a proper soil test .... get ph right first, then P and K. If horses really trashed it, it may need reseeding to really improve it?

Marches Farmer · « **Reply #4 on:** February 23, 2017, 08:43:56 am »

I'd be inclined to chain harrow the field as soon as practical, to distribute the muck (or spread by hand), then see what emerges once the weather warms up. Southdown sheep were traditionally used to graze the hilltops of the Downs during the day and folded back on the flatter fields around the farmhouse at night, thus bringing the fertility of the short chalkland grasses back to the arable and haymaking fields. (They had shepherds with them all day, which is one of the reasons they're so docile.)

farmershort · « **Reply #5 on:** February 23, 2017, 09:27:46 am »

I'd have to agree with MF. Without going down the testing route, a simple chain Harrow (possibly followed by rolling) would tidy it up and ready distribute things... as well as spreading roots and removing vetch

landroverroy · « **Reply #6 on:** February 23, 2017, 10:10:30 am »

Chugbi - look on the bright side. Horse worms don't affect sheep, nor sheep worms horses. So by scalping your field the horses will have helped clean up the pasture from a sheep worm point of view.
It is pointless and uneconomic getting a one acre field soil tested, as you may have concluded. There's nothing you can do about the pH anyway as you say it's chalky soil so is obviously alkaline.
It is also pointless putting fertiliser onto a bare field - you need sufficient grass there to take advantage of it.
As suggested, it is worth lightly harrowing to spread the horse manure and give the grass a chance to grow through. And it will grow through in a few weeks.
When you've got about an inch of grass spread about 2 or 3 bags of a 20-10-10 or 25-5-5 fertiliser on which will bring it on amazingly ready for lambing. Straight nitrogen will also bring it on a lot but I never use that for sheep pasture as it tends to make the grass too lush and cause them to scour excessively.

Marches Farmer · « **Reply #7 on:** February 23, 2017, 11:36:56 am »

Quote from: landroverroy on February 23, 2017, 10:10:30 am

When you've got about an inch of grass spread about 2 or 3 bags of a 20-10-10 or 25-5-5 fertiliser on which will bring it on amazingly ready for lambing. Straight nitrogen will also bring it on a lot but I never use that for sheep pasture as it tends to make the grass too lush and cause them to scour excessively.

Around here, if the grass is lush at turnout, it can lead to grass staggers, due to low uptake of magnesium from the soil. I always turnout onto a field that was grazed hard until the end of September then left to grow slowly over Winter.

landroverroy · « **Reply #8 on:** February 23, 2017, 03:42:35 pm »

As you say MF - staggers is a magnesium deficiency; but it commonly is caused by an application of too much potassium in spring. Potassium and magnesium are antagonistic, meaning that too much of one can cause a deficiency in the other. So you would normally ensure that any spring application of potassium to grazing land is less than 60 units/ acre. That's why I recommended what I did, which at the highest rate of 3 bags of 20-10-10 to a one acre field still only adds 30 units of K (potassium) which is well within the safety margin.

Chugbi · « **Reply #9 on:** February 23, 2017, 07:05:01 pm »

Thanks everyone

Yes, I also didn't want to do soil tests since it's only one acre. we had already decided to chain harrow it on Saturday anyway so I will wait and see what emerges after that!

Marches Farmer · « **Reply #10 on:** February 23, 2017, 09:44:09 pm »

Quote from: landroverroy on February 23, 2017, 03:42:35 pm

As you say MF - staggers is a magnesium deficiency; but it commonly is caused by an application of too much potassium in spring. Potassium and magnesium are antagonistic, meaning that too much of one can cause a deficiency in the other. So you would normally ensure that any spring application of potassium to grazing land is less than 60 units/ acre. That's why I recommended what I did, which at the highest rate of 3 bags of 20-10-10 to a one acre field still only adds 30 units of K (potassium) which is well within the safety margin.

In the Marches we generally just spread FYM. Our neighbour used to see a few cases of staggers when he used lush young grazing at turnout, but now shuts up the field in the Autumn, as we do.