Author Topic: Good grass Bad grass (Read 3184 times)

Sweatyfarmer · « **on:** March 30, 2014, 09:58:17 am »

Hi, I am in the process of buying (or trying to) a property with some land to keep a few sheep. Assuming something decent comes on the market, I could do with understanding if you can - just from visible inspection - conclude that the grass is suitable for grazing. I appreciate there with be grades within this so the question may also be - what type of grass should you avoid !

Any advise appreciated, Keith

Previous link to thread to find a property

http://www.accidentalsmallholder.net/forum/index.php?topic=41550.0

danielh · « **Reply #1 on:** March 30, 2014, 10:09:58 pm »

Hi Keith,

There is no right or wrong answer to this. A lot depends on where you are and the type of land, whether clayey, sandy, or on chalkland it will all be different types of grass. At this time of year difficult to tell as well, better in a month's time when the grass is fully underway. Generally look out for the condition though, how much weed there is present such as nettles, docks etc. A lot of weed is not good but at the same time probably indicates that plants grow well. If it is light land it will likely burn up partially in the summer and so there may be thin patches on the tops of small rises with better grass in the hollows, by contrast heavy land may be holding water in the hollows with better grass on the small rises.

If you get a field and it is poor then it can be plough and resown, which although a cost will give piece of mind for the future and you can get the appropriate grass seed for the ground conditions.

Daniel

shygirl · « **Reply #2 on:** March 30, 2014, 11:33:14 pm »

we were looking at a place online, looked great in the photos then we did a googlemap search which was taken in summer and showed the field completely riddled with ragwort, as were the neighbours

worth a try and very handy.

id be more concerned over any boggy bits as its expensive to fix it you have hire someone. a sign of this are rushes - big clumps of hollow stems which can grow upto 3ft high.

ellied · « **Reply #3 on:** March 31, 2014, 09:00:59 am »

Sheep can manage on pretty rough grazing and ragwort can be sprayed. But you can't do much about flooding areas, rights of way that might bring dogs through the field and lack of water supply so I'd focus primarily on the geography and accessibility more than the current grass tho if it's rashy I'd tend to think twice as that's a fair indicator of boggy ground, tho sheep would probably manage you might find it harder esp if you want to get vehicles in to deliver or work in the field.

For land quality just check its Macaulay grading. That'll tell you most of what you need and you can get a soil test for more info if you need it beyond what you can see (mineral deficiency for instance).

SallyintNorth · « **Reply #4 on:** March 31, 2014, 11:58:16 am »

Quote from: shygirl on March 30, 2014, 11:33:14 pm

id be more concerned over any boggy bits as its expensive to fix it you have hire someone. a sign of this are rushes - big clumps of hollow stems which can grow upto 3ft high.

Depending on where you are searching, all the ground may be reshy. Around us, for instance, where we have 50" rainfall a year, ground which isn't reshy will spend most of the year under water anyway, and/or has had serious drainage put in - and you'd want to be sure that drainage could actually soak away when the conditions are very wet

. (I know some fields that look superb in a dry spell, but are lakes when it's wet, despite huge quantities of drainage work that's been done - there just isn't anywhere for the water to go when the water table is high.)

And the other thing about reshes hereabouts is that they are essential shelter for newborn lambs. You do see incomers blasting all their reshes and then complaining they are losing all their newborn lambs for want of shelter

Sweatyfarmer · « **Reply #5 on:** March 31, 2014, 08:32:41 pm »

Thanks guys, good stuff in here so helpful. I must admit I have concentrated on the areas that may get bogged down but not really considered the summers scorching...should it happen !!! thanks again all, Keith

Anke · « **Reply #6 on:** April 01, 2014, 01:13:47 pm »

You want to make sure you know what grade agricultural land you are buying - it will be reflected in the price too. If you can you want to aim at 3(a) or better.