The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Smallholding => Land Management => Topic started by: harry on December 30, 2013, 04:41:06 pm
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i have an acre of rough grazing...now thinking of improving it a lot from docks nettles and other tall stuff????? sprayed a lot last year but bad stuff returns......... whats my best statagy from now to end up with a good grassy plot.......... i thought a good industrial type spray for broadleaves then a good seeding might do it..... is there an alternative to grass for grazing geese...ie fast growing to smother weeds etc
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If it's any consolation we've got an identical situation with our one acre paddock which the previous owners had let go 'to encourage wildlife and look natural' (!@~#!!) (expletives are mine) and when we arrived last June was a shoulder high mess of overgrown cocksfoot, buttercups, nettles etc. I hacked the lot down with a brushcutter and that left it looking a good deal better and it started to green up more evenly quite quickly. Our farmer neighbour let me pick his brains shortly after and he recommended getting a large number of sheep (30 - 40) in there it graze it down hard to get the cocksfoot under control, give the other shorter grasses a chance to grow through and become stronger, and also to manure it. His view was that a few seasons of that treatment would get the grass back in shape and improve the grazing no end. I've since read John Seymour's advice on this and he states the same tactics. As yet our fences are in poor shape and not stockproof so the short term view is to get in there with a topper fairly frequently and take it down that way, and at least control the more vigorous cocksfoot etc, get our fences sorted and then sheep in to follow on. We've got a bit of a moss problem in one area but as moss likes acid conditions lime dressing might help reduce that and we can then re-seed as needed.