The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Smallholding => Techniques and skills => Topic started by: suziequeue on September 13, 2010, 08:57:15 pm
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Oh dear. Whilst spending the summer focussing on veg, the chickens and the pigs - we have rather ignored the grass and let it grow in the fields. It is now a big tangled mess - especially the top field which is quite steep.
It's too long and overgrown even for the sheep. I have started cutting it with my scythe. It's going to take a while but I'll get there!!
Has anybody got any suggestions as to how I dispose of or manage the cut grass once it's done? There's too much to just leave in the field and it's not hay quality - quite apart from the fact that it's been raining every day here for about six weeks!!
Susanna
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How big an area are you going to scythe? As it is long grass I would think it would compost ok, especially if you put a layer of muck, or even soil, every six to twelve inches of grass. Make a long heap about six feet high then when it rots down turn the sides into the middle so it can heat up again.
You will be expert with the scythe at the end of it :D If you know someone with a topper they could whizz round in half an hour.
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is it too high to put in a couple of horses?
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It's about two acres of waist high grass :-(
I am going to load Moby onto my iPod and do an hour with the scythe now.
At least it's great for my figure and core strength!!
;-)
Maybe I should advertise it for some scratch grazing.
Susanna
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A cheap way to clear most weeds is to use a product called Agretox 50 to spray the land with a sprayer on a tractor or to use Grazon 90 if using a back pack sprayer. Well managed grass land can produce much more good grass eating than badly managed land.
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Suziequeue, you playing Moby? Then it's gotta be 'Extreme Ways'......
Best track ever! And sort of apt........?
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I am going slightly off-topic but I think this is still relevant.
If you grow something on land and then remove the resulting plant crop, the fertility of the soil is reduced.
If you use a mulching lawnmower (on your lawn, obviously) the cuttings are returned to the soil and you don't need to add fertilizer to keep the lawn healthy.
If you want a good field of strong weed free grass, cutting and removing the cuttings will take away fertility and while some strains of grass (the shorter tougher varieties) will still grow well, the weeds will die out.
Compost produced from grass cuttings (mixed with straw, leaves, old newspaper) will contain the fertility and will help new plants if used as part of their seed bed or as a mulch.
Grass cuttings on their own usually produce a squelchy smelly compost because they are too green and fertile, hence the need for dry straw-like material added to the mixture.
However, if you want to produce good hay or silage, you will need to fertilize and then (later) lime the field to keep it producing a good hay crop.
Frequent cutting or letting animals keep the grass short produces the best grass. When I was young, I lived near Dunstable Downs and there were lots of bunnies living there. They kept the grass short and it was a wonderful mixture of short springy turf and little hardy wild flowering plants. When the bunnies went (mixxy) the grass became long and rank - little use to anyone or anything. Bear in mind that chalk downland is very low on fertility as the soil is thin and drains very quickly taking any fertilizer away.
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Ideally, weeds need cutting. Although spraying is an option, the best way to get rid of weeds (although what constitutes a 'weed' is another topic) is to cut, either manually or by grazing, however, grazing is selective and sheep, horses, for example, prefer short grass. In this instance I think it better to cut manually.
Any weeds (eg docks, field plantain?) will need regular topping in order to kill the roots.
Put the cuttings on your muckheap if you have one, turn in with your straw etc that goes on there.
Mind you, your posting is dated September, so you've probably done it (for this year!) by now.
::)
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I would happily have grazed a couple of Highland ponies on that for a few weeks for you, but I guess it's gone now - not to mention I've no idea where you are!
In years where I have a field spare I let it grow all year and put ponies on it for the winter, they eat it in stages but it all goes, same as hay but uncut ;) And then sheep behind would clear the rough patches and cross graze any worms, and bob's your uncle.. :)
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After my cattle went to slaughter in the autumn, I let my neighbour put his horses in the field. They have cleared all the tufts and rough patches left by the cattle and the field is dotted with droppings, which the birds like to spread around for me in their search for worms.
Come the spring and the new grass, I imagine I will have a nice green sward. Meantime, if the weather permits, I might bring a couple of loads of seaweed up from the shore and spread it about to put back some of the lost nutrient.
Following advice here from other posters, I took an occasional stroll through the field with a golf club and removed some of the thistles (great fun) and when the mood took me I would pull out any ragworth.
It's a pleasure to look out at that field now and see the horses and the way that field has been brought back to life without using machinery or poisons.
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just the old fashioned way
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i would stick ponies on it, i believe older grass has less value than spring/summer cut hay, but would be perfect for ponies. wouldnt take that lon to eat (and trample and poo on) 2 acres. alot quicker than scything.
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We have a 2.5 acre field, which is sectioned up into so as to move around our four ewes. We only have one other small paddock. We've never added anything to our land over the last 11 years and half of it is used to provide us with hay each year. The last couple of years there's been a noticeable drop in the quantity of hay. There's plenty of clover but we are gaining a few thistles around the edges. A local farmer recommends fertiliser.
What questions should be we asking and what do we need to know?! We have a preference for natural, organic approaches but are willing to be do whatever is nec.....
All advice appreciated - assuming no knowledge will be pitching any advice at about the right level!
Thanks.
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Will be very interested in the replies to this one, I have noticed a few patches of moss appearing in my paddock, I thought about harrowing but not sure if this would just spread the spores.....please help :-\
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Plenty of clover means plenty of nitrogen and so any additional fertiliser will be a waste and possibly polluting the water table. When I first bought my field I was advised by the farmer who previously owned it to spread fertiliser in the spring.
I never did and after a few years I thought of planting forestry. The forestry inspector carried out soil and site tests and concluded that the land was very alkaline from continuous applications of fertilisers. I think many conventional farmers have been codded up to the eyes by the trade papers and the marketing of the fertiliser companies.
Regarding the moss. As I understand it, moss requires damper conditions than grass so you may have a drainage problem. I'd wait till the grass grows and see if the taller growing grass won't shade out the moss - and you never know, we might have a dry summer which will definitley solve the problem.
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Tractor and topper job done ;D
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Thanks Muc, that makes sense.
Is there anything I can do though to help the quantity of grass develop this year?
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Have you had the soil tested for pH and other elements such as phosphate and potassium? We've just had ours done - will get the results next week. The pH test was free - a more comprehensive one was £25.
If the soil has a low pH - below 6.5, then grass doesn't grow as well as it could, so you can apply lime to raise the pH. One tonne to the acre raises pH by 0.3 points, I think.
Our Sheepfold has old grass and other plants, but moss as well. This year, I'll have lime applied if it needs it and it will be harrowed to take out the thatch and let the air in, encouraging the gras to grow. If it needs anything else, I'll take advice from the chap that did the testing. I have told him that I don't want to apply nitrogen as it doesn't fit with how we want to do things here. The hardest bit is getting a contractor to spread lime because we're so small.
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We had our land tested for pH and minerals last year cos we were getting lots of creeping buttercup and the grass was struggling. The pH came out at 5.5 which as Rosemary points out is well beyond the point where the problems start. Recommendation was 10 tonnes of lime per hectare in several instalments so we had the first load put on in the autumn and will see what happens,