Best grassland improvement implement

[Kiwi Pete]

I am learning this with the arable side..

Moved from totally plough based to fully scratch till ( although this year has been an exception and I've had to get the plough again ) and the differences in the soil are clear..

Now looking at some companion crop options to try and harness some free N ?

It's all a learning curve!

Definitely, a lot of things carry over.
Example: you wouldn't go and combine wheat at T3 simply because the weather was great and you had time to do it: it just isn't ready yet.
This is what rotational grazing can be... rotational overgrazing, and extremely limiting behaviour.

Similarly, you can easily drill through a living green clover understory without much bother

And, yield often doesn't equate to profit (expensive inputs to produce cheap commodities)

The journey is fun, and most roads out of "conventional practices" are profitable ones

 

[Bury the Trash]

Easy to grow, Cocksfoot is good tool for structure repair, particularly in a ley / arable break.... big long root system, and adds more biomass than pr by a mile.
Would be good on slopes, prone to drying out quickly, thin soils overlying shale etc.
It is difficult to over graze as well , ( note too self)

 

[Kiwi Pete]

Easy to grow, Cocksfoot is good tool for structure repair, particularly in a ley / arable break.... big long root system, and adds more biomass than pr by a mile.
Would be good on slopes, prone to drying out quickly, thin soils overlying shale etc.
It is difficult to over graze as well , ( note too self)

Good call

 

[som farmer]

Easy to grow, Cocksfoot is good tool for structure repair, particularly in a ley / arable break.... big long root system, and adds more biomass than pr by a mile.
Would be good on slopes, prone to drying out quickly, thin soils overlying shale etc.
It is difficult to over graze as well , ( note too self)

we are drought prone, the result of that = overgrazing, and that = f##d leys, cocks foot, as I remember, was always classed as a weed grass, speak about including it in a ley now, all sorts of new 'better' grasses are available, but I would think, massive strides forward with it, it's probably 'ok' now. The drier areas of USA grow a lot of fesques, to combat drought. The other advantage, they both shed a lot of seed, modern grasses are designed to grow leaf, and seed heads are much smaller, basically, the 'old' grasses have the ability to regenerate from shedded seed, newer one's don't, and I am coming to the conclusion, 75% of production, is a lot better than sfa. Work that with improving soil structure, which will increase water retention, fertility etc, Chuck carbon/climate change, into the pot, and it actually answers what the 'enviromentalists' want. food for thought.

 

[cousinjack]

So, what are folks thoughts on ragwort ?

How to prevent / discourage etc..

Unfortunately we are near some large mining areas which harbour untold quantities of the damn stuff, which then seeds and makes its way over to us !

At least it's deep rooting I suppose !

 

[Agrivator]

Pedologists would argue that the first, cheapest and most effective tool in grassland improvement is a spade: to check the soil profile.

 

[ShooTa]

@cousinjack - a flameweeder thing - or cut the heads off just before downy phase... that way the roots are still doing their job on the soil - takes a few years but its better than chucking glyphos on..

 

[cousinjack]

Bit

@cousinjack - a flameweeder thing - or cut the heads off just before downy phase... that way the roots are still doing their job on the soil - takes a few years but its better than chucking glyphos on..

bit of an issue on the silage / hay fields though..

Have been spraying it off, but that also kills clovers etc ..

Considering running around with the quad and spot spraying with glyphosate this year..

Thoughts ??

 

[som farmer]

cleared ragwort from here, ewes nibbled it out, never seen one die after eating it. cousin has a gang in every year to pull it out, on some steep land, they have been coming for years.

 

[cousinjack]

cleared ragwort from here, ewes nibbled it out, never seen one die after eating it. cousin has a gang in every year to pull it out, on some steep land, they have been coming for years.

We usually pull it... but it's a horrible time consuming job.

Any ways to discourage it growing ? I gather it's pretty competitive..

 

[Karliboy]

Most sheep land won’t have ragwort as they eat it off and the plant doesn't like that and they don’t suffer from it unlike cattle. I pulled a fair bit out on my spot for a good few years when it’s big enough to pull the root out but before bit seeds. What I had last year was very small and never got big enough to pull for some strange reason. Normally it grows like stink.
Where I am in the valley is like a wind tunnel and I’m sure the seed blows down the valley from the next big town and stops on my hill that sticks out into the valley as no where in between has any and that includes waste land where it can be rife

 

[Sharpy]

Hi all..

We run a mixed arable and beef farm, with both permanent 'old school' pasture meadows and 3 to 5 year lays in the arable rotation.
Currently we don't do much in the way of grassland maintenance, maybe some occasional rolling but nothing intensive..

I would like to improve the grassland a bit, and have been considering harrowing, slitting etc

What, if any, would be the best machine to start with to give the most noticeable improvement?
All fert indices and kept up, ph is monitored and lime applied where necessary. Not much FYM applied as it tends to head towards the arable rotation!

Chain harrows,
Tine harrows,
Slitters / spikes,
Rolls
Anything else ??

Are any worth bothering with in the long run ?

On reflection its the farmers boot. Not my quote, AG Street or someone of that ilk.

 

[Sharpy]

Most sheep land won’t have ragwort as they eat it off and the plant doesn't like that and they don’t suffer from it unlike cattle. I pulled a fair bit out on my spot for a good few years when it’s big enough to pull the root out but before bit seeds. What I had last year was very small and never got big enough to pull for some strange reason. Normally it grows like stink.
Where I am in the valley is like a wind tunnel and I’m sure the seed blows down the valley from the next big town and stops on my hill that sticks out into the valley as no where in between has any and that includes waste land where it can be rife

First year growth possibly?

 

[twizzel]

Hey @cousinjack maybe you need to diversify some more and get some of those woolly maggot taxis Mine have done our ground the world of good up the road from you (can you tell who I am yet)

 

[cousinjack]

Hey @cousinjack maybe you need to diversify some more and get some of those woolly maggot taxis Mine have done our ground the world of good up the road from you (can you tell who I am yet)

Oh no... a native !!!

No sheep thanks ! My cattle are bad enough... although this mob grazing lark has got me wondering!

 

[twizzel]

Oh no... a native !!!

No sheep thanks ! My cattle are bad enough... although this mob grazing lark has got me wondering!

come over to the dark side... if they escape you just turn them into chops

 

[steveR]

I occasionally use steel corner posts too. Mine are made from a length of angle iron, and two corner insulators attached with bale string.
I only bothered making a few, as string and a steel stake is cheaper & easier.

I started using steel years ago when I used to have a lot of Welsh visitors every winter and the first day or 3 was often a challenge with the *!%* blighters getting out.... A steel corner used to save the whole damn fence travelling across the field.

Switched to using 1cm horse tape for training purposes which helped the blind buggers to see the fence! Still use it 30 years later...

 

[steveR]

Bit

bit of an issue on the silage / hay fields though..

Have been spraying it off, but that also kills clovers etc ..

Considering running around with the quad and spot spraying with glyphosate this year..

Thoughts ??

If you can chase the stuff in grazing land, a weedwiper with Glyphosate or spot treating with 2,4D.

Silage land it's 2,4D at rosette stage. But it's a real PITA if you have a shoddy neighbour as you describe...

 

[cousinjack]

@twizzel .. get your sheep over here, but first train them to only eat ragwort... then leave all the nice grass stuff for my cows

Sorted

Seriously though, you must get ragwort problems too ??

 

[twizzel]

@twizzel .. get your sheep over here, but first train them to only eat ragwort... then leave all the nice grass stuff for my cows

Sorted

Seriously though, you must get ragwort problems too ??

Not really, we pull any we find but not that bad really