[Draygor]

Hi there, firstly apologies if this topic has cropped up further into this forum.

My wife and I moved to the mid Wales countryside in March of last year to a small cottage with an acre paddock attached to it. When I leased this, it was in a terrible neglected condition. I spent weeks and week mowing it, aerating it, rolling it etc and got it in really good condition (I think).

Then in July of last year we became the proud owners of 3 badger faced sheep which became the lawnmowers. The hedges were in terrible overgrown conditions, so we were given 2 rescue Saanen goats who did a terrific job of eating anything and everything in site (nettles, thistles, brambles - the lot).

I have been told the sheep are slightly over weight, which must mean the grass and clover was good for them. They are not in lamb for 2013.

I have now taken over 1 more acre nearby, which is equally as bad, but that's another story.

My question is, now the goats and sheep have been on the land for nearly 12 months, I want to bring it back lush for them. Is there any fertilizer I can use on the grass while they still graze it? Or what would be the minimum time I would have to keep them off the grass.

Please excuse my lack of knowledge, as this is all new to me. Please note also, I have no large tractors and huge equipment, I have a garden tractor and some attachments.

Any help would be gratefully received.

Thanks

Tim

[Rosemary]

Hi and welcome I think managing grassland is very taxing.

Before adding anything, I suggest you test the soil for pH at least, and probably for potassium (P) and phosphate (K). If the pH is around 6, that's fine. Higher, it's alkaline but the animals grazing and pooing will bring it down over time; lower than this, it's acid and the grass will benefit from the addition of lime.

If th soil is deficient in P and K, you can add this without adding nitrogen, and this will help grass growth without having a negative impact on clover. If you have a lot of clover, it will add nitrogen to the soil.

Actually. if you click on the "Smallholding" button above, then choose "Grassland Management", most of this is in there. 

[pgkevet]

lowland or hill? Worth a word with local 'real' farmers to see if there are any local deficiencies such as selenium to affect the sheep.

If you bought in winter feed then likely the products coming out of the back end of your animals is more than making up for anything they ate  and chainig it over i the spring is probably enough.

It's also likely too early to know what is already seeded in there that the animals have pawed up to germinate this year.

A garden tractor is more than capable of dealing with 2 acres.. just take a a bit of time. I dont take my tractor on the 2.5acres of lawn and chew it up..that gets done with a simple ride-on but it is time consuming. And it's been so wet that the tractor hasn't been able to get out for field work anyway

[Draygor]

Thanks for the replies, I'm going to do a soil test first, then have a chat with the local farmers to ask their advice too.