[terrym]

Hi all, it would be great to see what advice I can get on this question.
I am about to purchase a property that comes with two acres. In the short term I will not have time to devote to the pasture/paddock area, but in the future might look to use it for grazing, recreation or a crop. (It was originally an equestrian property)
In the meantime, I wondered what is the minimum I can do through the year but still maintain the 2 acres. There will be plenty of farmers in the area if I want to contract to top or harrow etc.
Obviously doing nothing is an option, but am conscious that the longer it is fully unmanaged the more work thats involved later as more problems creep in.
Any suggestions or advice, I would be most grateful. Thank you.

[SallyintNorth]

It can be tough to get farmers to come and work 2 acres, they will usually be busy with bigger jobs.   

If it's fenced, one option is to see if any of your local farmers would like to graze it for you.  Lots of people will  now give you warnings about all the risks of so doing....    

[arobwk]

[member=212452]terrym[/member] - Noting SiN's comment, I would also say that it depends on where you are. (You don't say - if helps a lot actually to know where TAS members are !)  Around my little patch, land is best suited to grazing and/or to haylage/sileage cropping and fields are generally quite small - mostly below 5 acres I would say.  Many of my local "farmer" neighbours are part-timers bringing on some bullocks on a few owned or rented acres:  they are all keen to get their hands on some pastures for cutting (even the very smallest of fields - often very much less than 2 acres).  You just need to ask around I guess.

[Fleecewife]

Do you have to do something agricultural with it?  In the short term you could just leave it and enjoy the wonderful waving sea of grasses you will have in the summer, perhaps with some wild flowers. Were you to leave it long term then trees and more wild flowers would gradually spring up.  If you are worried about appearances, then mowing paths in your prairie would demonstrate that it's meant to look like that, and would allow you to walk amongst the grasses and appreciate the flying insects and other wildlife that will appear.

[Possum]

Why don't you join the local smallholder group/association? There are likely to be some members who would like some additional grazing.

[doganjo]

Do you have to do something agricultural with it?  In the short term you could just leave it and enjoy the wonderful waving sea of grasses you will have in the summer, perhaps with some wild flowers

umm - I've done that and believe me you don't get various types of pretty grasses - you get field grasses, of various varieties, but not necessarily pretty, and no wild flowers either 
I want my grass long, with tracks mowed through it, so my dogs have somewhere to play and train. But I also want it functional, so although it's only a fifth of an acre, I've planted 8 fruit trees (apples, plums, cherries), some rasps, gooseberries, blackcurrants, and a few perennials, such as geums, heuchera, crocosmia, lady's mantle etc, to break up the green a bit.  I also took advice from a wildflower company and grew some wildflowers and rattle from seed to plant out as soon as they were big enough.

So hopefully I will have a wildflower orchard/meadow in a year or two

[chrismahon]

We have done exactly as Fleecewife suggests with our two acres- left it and cut paths around and through so that we can see the wild flowers, particularly the numerous orchids that grow here. Problem is afterwards, when it should be cut otherwise it turns quickly into an oak and bramble filled jungle. Previously we strimmed and scythed it, then tried to mow it (unsuccessfully and broke the mower) and now have a small robust self-propelled French machine which will cut it down from up to half a metre high (post to follow sometime).

[Fleecewife]

It sounds lovely Doganjo     The grasses you get when you just leave a pasture field to grow, will of course depend on what was there before. Ours might have been reseeded 35 years ago when it was converted from potato fields to grass but since then lots of other types of grass and wild flowers must have come in because the areas we have left have been absolutely beautiful with a whole variety of non garden species of grasses and some basic flowers, but also orchids.  We are adding loads of wildflowers bought as plugs, although that is harder work than we expected and very hard on the knees 
I guess you just won't know what you've got in your ground until you let it grow.


cross posted with chrismahon.


I'm glad you got orchids too Chris     Yes we have ended up with getting a modern version of an Allen scythe for the end of season mow.  We have larger equipment but as we've planted trees as well they can't be used, so the scythe thingy is good. We have a hand scythe too but I can no longer wield it and Mr F doesn't have the time.

[chrismahon]

I've just looked up Allen scythe Fleecewife. They have something similar here from years gone by which is a tiny tractor with a 1 metre cutter bar from the side of it. Problem in this region is anthills that would quickly blunt that type of cutter and we don't need the hay so need to cut it fine and spread it. We can see the trees we have planted because they have cages around to stop the roe deer stripping the bark.


The Orchid display is even better this year, particularly the purple/crimson pyramid. We've even turned a lawn into a meadow which is now full of lizard and bee orchids and giant daisies.