The Accidental Smallholder Forum

Smallholding => Land Management => Topic started by: borg on September 18, 2014, 07:23:52 pm

Title: Advice on getting meadow back in order
Post by: borg on September 18, 2014, 07:23:52 pm

Hello all
In need of some advice please with regards getting our land back into shape, we have about 8 acres in France  that is now very overgrown, It has not  been cut for a few years, we have just bought an old international 454 tractor and just wonder what people would recommend the best attachment would be to cut the very long grass, we also seem to have a large number of ant hills and are a little worried about breaking the attachments. 

thanks

Title: Re: Advice on getting meadow back in order
Post by: shep53 on September 18, 2014, 07:42:00 pm

If you could hire a flail mower it would chop everything including the ant hills  or you could buy a 5/6 ft wide swipe with  chains or  heavy duty blade

Title: Re: Advice on getting meadow back in order
Post by: henchard on September 18, 2014, 08:49:07 pm

Personally I'd get a contractor in with a flail mower to top it hard the first time then use your own tractor with a topper each year after that.

Title: Re: Advice on getting meadow back in order
Post by: Zebedee on September 18, 2014, 09:32:55 pm

What are your wishes for the meadow? Raising animals? Wildflowers and conservation? If the latter, the last thing you'd do would be to destroy anthills.

Title: Re: Advice on getting meadow back in order
Post by: borg on September 19, 2014, 03:03:03 pm

Thanks you all for you replies
We will be keeping goats and sheep on the land once we have finished building the house.
From your replies it look like I need to start looking at the prices of a used fail mower
Thanks again for you advice 

Title: Re: Advice on getting meadow back in order
Post by: Stereo on September 22, 2014, 09:28:20 am

Can't you get some animals on there now? Goats will sort it out.

Title: Re: Advice on getting meadow back in order
Post by: goosepimple on September 22, 2014, 09:36:55 am

You'd have to get the right breed of goats, they don't all eat the rubbish and you'd have to look at what is in there, you might kill them pretty fast.

Title: Re: Advice on getting meadow back in order
Post by: borg on September 22, 2014, 11:09:25 am

we would love to get some animails now to help keep the land in order, but we both still have to work in the UK so can only get out to France for holidays, we hope to move out early 2017 and cant wait  :wave: 
 
thanks again for all your replys