Pasture management

4 posts
Sat, 04/26/2014 - 20:55 #1

Member for

10 years 7 months
abbey
Last seen: 03/08/2018 - 21:05
Joined: 04/26/2014 - 20:36

Pasture management

We have 19 acres and I have 4 horses & 2 goats.  The property has 2 large paddocks which have been used for farming sometime ago and they have furrows through them.  I have a great property manager behind us who looks after 400 acres.  He cut our hay when we moved in and will be spraying, rotary hoeing, flattening and seeding our pastures so they are flat and can be used properly.  We will only be doing 1 paddock this autumn due to his time constraints.  His rates are great but I want more info on pasture management so I understand what to do long term. 

I will put a equine seed mix in but would have loved native pasture but it is just too costly.  The paddock he is doing this year is not bad for weeds at all.  The other paddock is full of cape weed, about 9 acres.  It was sprayed before we moved in about 9mths ago but it is coming back.  I will spray it soon and then it will be completely sprayed, flattened and re-seeded next year (autumn) most likely.  But should I be fertailising this cape weed infested paddock to try and reduce the likley hood of it florrishing?  How do I know what to fertilise with and when to do it? 

I would prefer to not use herbicides long term.  

 

Thanks Angela. 

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Sun, 04/27/2014 - 20:38 #2
barb
Last seen: 09/17/2019 - 18:07
Joined: 11/23/2011 - 09:38

Hi Angela,

I will leave the question regarding pasture planting to the experts, but would like to comment on the Capeweed problem. The plant can take a while to eradicate from pastures because when it flowers it produces a lot of seeds that can be viable for several years. You probably have a large seed bank of it in your soil from previous years flowering.

*It can be controlled by spraying with Glyphosate 360 at a rate of 400 ml per hectare. If this is done during flowering, it can reduce the number of plants in your pasture by 90% the following year*. It may take several years before the seed bank in the soil is finally eradicated.

Do not let your stock graze in the paddock if you have used 24D as this timber/woody weed control chemical can cause the plant to accumulate Nitrites.

High concentrations of nitrites in feed, can cause death if symptoms of poisoning are not treated rapidly. You will need a vet to do it as treatment is I.V. Methylene Blue at a rate of 6-10 ml of 1% M. Blue for sheep and 100- 200ml of 1% M.Blue for cattle. I don't know what the rate is for horses.

1.Symptoms of poisoning:Chocolate coloured blood with poor clotting, depression, no appetite, pale gums,salivation,gasping,muscle tremors,staggering,coma and death as soon as an hour from beginning of symptoms.

I hope this info. is useful to you.

cheers,

Barb

1.Source: Farming Meat Goats. Barbara Vincent

*source: Herbiguide

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Tue, 04/29/2014 - 21:47 #3
charlie
Last seen: 12/26/2018 - 09:21
Joined: 05/31/2011 - 09:44

Hi Angela,

Great question. Capital fertiliser (lifting soil nutrients to target levels) can be applied at anytime, however if you are only going to be growing weeds I would tend to wait until either leading up to or close to sowing your pasture. As Barb mentioned, the capeweed should not be allowed to set seed. The best medicine to combat weeds is competition, weeds only tend to grow where they have the space and room to do so.

Soil tests are best taken leading up to the crop or pasture being sown, January to April is a good time. You could soil test now in preparation for next year as this will give you time to fix any under lying issues such as acidity, slaking or crusting. We offer a comprehensive DIY soil test which tests for both soil nutrients and trace elements. The soil sample is analysed and results are provided along with a fertilser recommendation. 

http://farmstyle.com.au/book/soil-test-interpretation-results-fertiliser-recommendation-pastures-crops-and-horticulture-0

I have written an article on soil testing which you may find useful. 

http://farmstyle.com.au/news/guide-soil-testing-small-farms

Be sure to check back in and let us know how you went with the soil test and the results of your new pasture.

Regards,

Charlie

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Mon, 05/05/2014 - 18:06 #4
Taylorspruill2014
Last seen: 03/08/2018 - 21:05
Joined: 05/02/2014 - 12:30

Thanks a lot charlie for your advice..

It could helps me a lot..

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