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Author Topic: Pasture help needed please?!  (Read 18252 times)

loosey

  • Joined May 2010
  • Cornwall
Pasture help needed please?!
« on: May 12, 2011, 04:15:24 pm »
Hi all

I could really do with some help and would appreciate any suggestions. My top field has come out in thousands of buttercups this year. I'd like them sprayed. The field is due to be cut for hay in July (depending on various factors). Do I need a conntractor or can we do it?

I also have a dock problem forming in another field which I need to put a stop to asap. Again, they weren't present last year but a huge thick patch has come up and there are far too many to dig. Will I need a different type of spray for these and does anyone please know how long I will need to keep them free of livestock for?

We moved here last year so are still getting things sorted, but we really need to toally overhaul is ... Lime it, fertilise it etc. They have been harrowed this year but that's as far as it's goe so far.

All of my pasture management knowledge seems to have escaped me, so if anyone can give me some straight forward advice I would be very grateful! :) :bouquet:

Glentarki

  • Joined Feb 2011
  • Perth/Fife Border
Re: Pasture help needed please?!
« Reply #1 on: May 12, 2011, 05:40:41 pm »
Hi Loosey realy the product you need is Grazon 90 a broad leaved weed killer....If you look under the gardening section there is a thread somewhere on Killing nettles many good posts.

Grazon 90 used at the rate of 60mls per 10 litres of water will do both the docks and creeping buttercup using a sprayer (nap sack)......For docks just make sure they have fully formed leaves to obsorb the spray......Creeping buttercup is the pain of my life. Personally I think its worse than docks as its creeping habit just acts like a carpet chocking the grass out. The trick with buttercup is getting just prior to flowering and during flowering so just about now onwards...... I did all my docks a few weeks ago they are now dead and gone, however the creeping buttercup wasn't affected due to its stage in growth but in another week or so I will sap them.
First year is always hardest and you will have seed growth over future years (Docks) keeping on top of it little by little over the years is the answear, we had 30 acres in our last place and managed to keep it tip top without breaking our backs.

You will need to keep livestock off for 7 days. Your local farm supplies will stock grazon.
Hope this helps good luck
Dave

robert waddell

  • Guest
Re: Pasture help needed please?!
« Reply #2 on: May 12, 2011, 05:48:50 pm »
you could also get the soil tested for lime deficiency buttercups thrive in lime free soil
if you are using a knapsack sprayer use a colouring agent (so you know what you have sprayed) :farmer:

Glentarki

  • Joined Feb 2011
  • Perth/Fife Border
Re: Pasture help needed please?!
« Reply #3 on: May 12, 2011, 09:54:13 pm »
Robert could you tell me what colouring agent and where I can get it……What a brilliant idea :)…… When I use a Knapsack sprayer or the wee sprayer that we tow behind a small sit on mower I go off track often and end up spraying areas twice or missing other areas altogether ???

Cheers
Dave


robert waddell

  • Guest
Re: Pasture help needed please?!
« Reply #4 on: May 12, 2011, 10:01:08 pm »
red food coulouring dye   just google food dye and take it from there :farmer:

Glentarki

  • Joined Feb 2011
  • Perth/Fife Border
Re: Pasture help needed please?!
« Reply #5 on: May 12, 2011, 10:06:38 pm »
Cheers for that great tip :)

Dave

Rosemary

  • Joined Oct 2007
  • Barry, Angus, Scotland
    • The Accidental Smallholder
Re: Pasture help needed please?!
« Reply #6 on: May 13, 2011, 08:40:06 am »
red food coulouring dye   just google food dye and take it from there :farmer:

What a good idea  ;D

loosey

  • Joined May 2010
  • Cornwall
Re: Pasture help needed please?!
« Reply #7 on: May 13, 2011, 10:17:32 am »
Thank you very much everyone!

We do need to lime our fields ... we were due to split the costs with our neighbour who has has 8 acres but he decided to use sand which is not safe for the horses to graze on so we have had to rearrange!

Will the dye just wash off in the rain Robert? What a clever idea! :)

robert waddell

  • Guest
Re: Pasture help needed please?!
« Reply #8 on: May 13, 2011, 10:25:13 am »
yes it just washes of in the rain
sand  what is the purpose of spreading sand      other than to possibly break up clay (which is very fine particles) :farmer:

loosey

  • Joined May 2010
  • Cornwall
Re: Pasture help needed please?!
« Reply #9 on: May 13, 2011, 10:49:21 am »
I'm not sure, he said he was using it rather than Lime  ???

Is there a best time of year to lime you ground? I can't remember what our PH level was but I know that we need to do it!

TheGirlsMum

  • Joined Sep 2010
Re: Pasture help needed please?!
« Reply #10 on: May 13, 2011, 12:59:43 pm »
The farmers down here have used sand for the fields for years, some have rights to move it from the beaches but this practise has made the soil very deficient in Magnesium

There is a local (Bodmin) supplier of calcified seaweed its very good for slow release and raises your pH slightly.

loosey

  • Joined May 2010
  • Cornwall
Re: Pasture help needed please?!
« Reply #11 on: May 13, 2011, 01:53:51 pm »
Thanks TGM. I'll double check the results of our soil test when I get back home but I'm pretty sure it's depressingly low right now  >:(!! :horse:

Coley

  • Joined Apr 2011
Re: Pasture help needed please?!
« Reply #12 on: May 14, 2011, 10:00:12 am »


You will need to keep livestock off for 7 days. Your local farm supplies will stock grazon.
Hope this helps good luck
Dave
[/quote]
Do you need a licence for this product? we used pastor for years only to be told we now needed a licence to buy it ???

sabrina

  • Joined Nov 2008
Re: Pasture help needed please?!
« Reply #13 on: May 14, 2011, 10:36:56 am »
You do need a licence now , have to do a spraying coarse. We get our local farmer to do ours now.

Glentarki

  • Joined Feb 2011
  • Perth/Fife Border
Re: Pasture help needed please?!
« Reply #14 on: May 15, 2011, 10:35:27 am »
Coley I'm unsure about licence requirements for Grazon 90 despite using it for years and it being readily sold over the counter, everyone I know with land uses it purely because stock only needs to be withheld for 7 days….. Sabrina has mentioned that you do require a licence and this may just be the case.

Next week when I'm in my local farm suppliers I'm going to enquire as I'm now puzzled :-\, and wouldn't like to feel Ive misinformed in my posting. Thanks for pointing it out!

Dave

 
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