[raygezer]

Hi this is a question about marsh grass not sure of the correct name it grows in wet area's is there a breed of sheep that would thrive on it being overun by it

[Backinwellies]

Think you may mean rushes ... need a picture

[SallyintNorth]

Or you may mean moorland, of which there are many types. 

So yes, pictures and location would be helpful.

[raygezer]

Hi i have been trying to download some pics but no luck.so i will try to decribe the grass !its about  24inches tall about as thick as straw it has a flower about 2/3rds up the stem and its mainly in clumps i hope this helps

[SallyintNorth]

That sounds like reshes or rushes (or seaves or theaves depending on where you live.

Sheep don't eat reshes, but the shelter they afford to newborn lambs (and their mums too when the weather is really vile) can be very important.

Generally, if you are able to get on to top the reshes and there is grass (as opposed to just peat and water) underneath / around them, then you can run sheep on the ground.  If you can't top and/or you can't see grass between resh plants, then there's nothing for the sheep to eat.

[Backinwellies]

some cattle and some ponies will eat it but generally only the new growth after topping ... so topping is the key.  Google  controlling rushes for more info.

[Kimbo]

We have a some rushes on the wetter parts of our fields. All our horses eat/have eaten rushes with relish but we have a neighbour's Texels on one of our fields at the moment and they aren't touching them.

[Fleecewife]

There are a few rashes (sorry, another spelling) in our tup field, and they do eat them - primitives of course.

If you have loads you can apparently dry them like hay for bedding.

From past 'wild camping' experience, rashes hide ticks - we don't have ticks here  but that could be a consideration when deciding whether to cut them down, leave them growing or make bedding from them.

Massive field draining would help, but I think that would be hugely expensive.

[SallyintNorth]

If you have loads you can apparently dry them like hay for bedding.

We tried this and do not recommend it.  It makes something softer to lie on than cement, but is not at all absorbent, and the stock won't eat it when freshly spread either.  So no use for fodder nor for keeping them dry.  And doesn't compost like hay or straw either (presumeably partly because it isn't absorbent), so if you deep litter it gets quite horrible.

When we have a 'reshy bale' of silage, BH tries to use it outside, so that the cattle pick out the grassy stuff that they like, and leave the reshy parts that they don't, which then spread and blow around, rather than have the rejected fodder indoors, needing scraping up and putting on the muck heap.

We did think about using small bale reshes for shelter for lambs, but they don't hang together well so the strings come off, don't weigh enough so blow about - altogether, we couldn't find a way of using them.  Except on muddy ground - precisely because reshes are not absorbent and don't rot properly, I've used them in front of the pig ark to keep it a little less knee-deep.  They might also be useful for scattering in chicken runs for the same purpose.

[Marches Farmer]

We have some around our farm pond, which is grazed off twice a year, and the Badger Face will eat it.

[Foobar]

My BWM will eat off the young shoots, but not enough to keep on top of them - so it still needs to be mowed to keep it under control.

[nutterly_uts]

There was an article in this month's Country Smallholding mag with someone in Yorkshire (I think) with Shetlands who found using rushy hay outside in feeders meant the rushes dropped down as they ate and kept the areas around the hay feeders less poached.

[waterbuffalofarmer]

The wildlife trust used them for thatching I think.