[Fieldfare]

Can sheep be successfully used as the only land management tool? Will OK pasture degrade in quality (i.e. become thistly without some form of topping?). If one has a thistly patch what would be the best way to manage it without sprays? I'm thinking that by hard strip grazing sheep on it I can increase the density of the sward, fertilise and thus make it a bit tougher for the thistles? (when best to do that- winter?) . Or as I do have a patch I am almost bound to have to top them (don't wanna use pesticides or artificial fertiliser).
cheers

[robert waddell]

depends how bad the thistles are
if you apply lime if needed   phosphate  and potash   you will make the sward more palatable and sweeter to the sheep   spring and summer is best    a little often rather than a whole lot at once
cut the thistles before they seed and with repetitive cutting they will diminish

[mab]

my sheep eat goose grass and green Ivy but not thistles - but the shetland pony does eat the thistles..

so far no-one's volunteered to eat the nettles unless they're cut first.

m

[daddymatty82]

cut the thistles and the sheep should eat them do a small amount at a time our shetlands eat thistles when cut down but not when alive my pony is the same

[lachlanandmarcus]

My big horse and my pony adore thistles but only the flower stalks!

Sheep will leave nettles and thistles unless very hungry! Tight strip grazing might encourage them!

[Fleecewife]

I tried to reply to this yesterday but it vanished 

Are these creeping thistle?  We have tried grazing out creeping thistle but found the only successful way to get rid of them without weedkiller is to top them frequently throughout the growing season.  Before we had a topper we used the lawn mower  which had the advantage that we could remove the cut thistles but took ages.

A potential problem with grazing thistles is that the orf virus can get in through all the little wounds around the mouth left by thistle spikes.

If they are spear thistle then you have to dig them out by hand at the point when the flower spike has grown but the flower hasn't opened.  If you top spear thistle you will make it develop lots of small heads which seed just as much as a single flower, so next year your whole pasture will be full of the things.   Sheep seem to prefer spear thistles to the creeping type - it makes me cringe to see them munching contentedly on the huge long spikes, but they seem to get them all arranged to go down spike last and of course they get lots of minerals from them.

[suziequeue]

Last year we pulled ALOT of thistle up from the roots by hand.

I'll keep doing it for another two or three years or so and see if it makes a difference.

It is VERY satisfying pulling them up but it's a fine line between waiting until they are big enough but not going to seed so the timeline can be quite exacting

[Muc]

I've tried stabbing them at an angle with a sharp long-handled spade. This severs them underground and kills them but, after a lot of work,  I can't honestly say that they have diminished.

[Penninehillbilly]

When I was younger I helped on a dairy farm, while bringing the cows in we also watched for thistles and 'heeled' them out, (using heel to kick them out backwards at the base?) that definitely killed them, it damages them so rot gets in. We didn't see many thistles 
But I have to admit, where I am now neighbours don't keep on top of them, One year the seeds were like snow in the top field, so I resorted to using glyphosate on the rosettes in spring, not what I want to do but too many to do manually.

[Surrey Dodger]

Repeated topping through the year will eventually reduce your thistle population, though it'd be a bit of luck to get rid of them completely. Topping will also help reduce seed heads on your grass which can promulgate healthier swards.

[Remy]

I've got more thistles than I dig up, I have to top repeatedly to prevent more spreading and it does seem to thin them out a bit - provided it's done before they seed.

[Sylvia]

My poor, long-suffering OH uses a strimmer throughout the growing season. They are steadily diminishing

[BadgerFace]

"Cut thistles in May, they'll grow in a day.
Cut them in June, that is too soon.
Cut them in July, then they will die."


My sheep will eat the tips out and the flowers, the horses only eat them cut and dried, and the goats love them however they come!

[Fowgill Farm]

"Cut thistles in May, they'll grow in a day.
Cut them in June, that is too soon.
Cut them in July, then they will die."

nearly same rhyme as us
Cut 'em in may and they will stay, cut 'em in June and its too soon, wait till July and wave bye bye. Which is what i do cut with a topper, the sheep/cows do eat some of them cut, on really bad patches we make a temporary pig pen and let the pigs root 'em out.
Mandy