The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Smallholding => Techniques and skills => Topic started by: Frieslandfilly on September 04, 2010, 07:01:26 pm
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Due to having to take in a couple of ponies in an emercency we have a badly overgrazed paddock that is now pretty much all dandelions!
What would be the best way of brining this paddock back, would it be a total plough, weed and reseed job, or is there another way?? Any ideas welcome.
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Roundup?
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stick some pigs on it?? they'll love you for it!!and you'll have some great pork in return.......then you can reseed afterwards in the spring for best growing time?? its an idea and your not sat with unproductive land over winter?? :pig: :)
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I would have to disagree, the best time to reseed is the autumn in my opinion. If you reseed in the spring you will have no useful crop until July. Get your seeds on before the end of September and you will have a useful bite of grass by early spring.
I would suggest roundup and then harrow a very shallow tilth on the surface. Broadcast your seed, harrow and roll - then roll again! If you dont like using roundup, then ploughing (making sure the trash is well buried) is your best bet.
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The type of weed flourishing in a particular field is often an indication of what the field has an excess of or what it is in need of, so it might be worth doing some research on dandelions.
I tend to leave things to try and balance themselves naturally, though of course with some human intervention. My first fields were completely overgrown with thistles and docks to such an extent I could never even see let alone find my Jersey cow!!
I topped when I could and took hay crops, spread calcified seaweed (used to be available in those days, in fact it was so rarely used it was difficult to come by and expensive) Mixed grazed it with sheep and cattle and it is lovely mixed meadow now. Probably too many buttercups, and I am sure I could easily increase the fertility by a bit of muck, but I like the old wildflower meadow look
never sprayed it, seeded it artificially fertilized it and I have sorrel, wild white clover, large red clover, many variety of grass, nettles round the edges, still some thistles and docks when it is not topped regularly or not grazed hard enough. Plus loads of butterflies, moths, grasshoppers, grass snakes, newts, frogs toads, and masses more including bats, and seven nests of swallows that regularly produce at least 2 to 3 broods per year.
My take is that steak and chips is very nutritious and filling but I wouldn't want to eat that every day for the rest of my life. So rye grasses might be the most productive, but may not give you the healthiest animals, and certainly wont give a varied fauna, never mind outcompeting the flora
But it depends on which direction you are looking to go, and commercial farming needs to be done to feed the world to the standards we require, so I am not saying my way would be for everyone.
All the best,
Sue :)
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Thanks for the thought provoking replies, given me a few things to research and think about.
Dawn
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if you could borrow a few sheep for a a few months that would be ideal. They will nibble down the baddies and gently fertilise the grass, but not mega richly. They have been doing marvels at our place. And they will help break any horse worm life cycles so will clean the ground that way.
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i agree with the above, ours was over horse grazed...allowed to grow, topped a couple of times, then calves on it, then topped, then have had sheep on it over the summer. it now looks lush and green, much improved!
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We have 6 sheep we could graze on it although the paddock only has post and rail, not stock fencing, could be a disater putting them in there! Had enough disaters today, dog got out and killed 6 full grown laying geese :(
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Could you go round and fill the gaps between the rails with a line or two of elecric tape/wire ???
Poor geese and naughty dog :( :bouquet:
Danielle
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Ouch sorry to hear about the geese. Just wanted to add my noise about re-seeding. I do agree if you want to reseed, put some seed down now, then it has made a start and when (fingers crossed) spring comes in March/April it will get off to a much better start. After building our goat shed we were left with two patches of bare earth, one of which we put grass seed onto in late September, the other we left til March. I was very glad I seeded the little paddock in September, as the lawn which was the other bit didn't have a good covering until as old ploughman said July.
Beth