How to sweeten up an old field

[Greythundercloudys]

Iv an old field lv been trying to improve, sprayed it for rush last year got a great kill, so lv topped it of a few weeks ago its about 20 acre, but the sheep only eat the kinda better bits and leave the older bit on the brae face, how could l sweeten that area, l was going to put some 20,10,10 on it in the spring. What else could work.

 

[milkloss]

Have you soil tested?

 

[Greythundercloudys]

It will be acidic, ground around here all is,

 

[Nithsdale]

Lime

 

[davidroberts30]

2 ton of lime then to start with

 

[deere 6600]

Old boys used to say slag sweetens the grass ?

 

[neilo]

Old boys used to say slag sweetens the grass ?

Don't start 'him' off again. Today's Slag isn't what those 'old boys' used to put on.

 

[neilo]

Iv an old field lv been trying to improve, sprayed it for rush last year got a great kill, so lv topped it of a few weeks ago its about 20 acre, but the sheep only eat the kinda better bits and leave the older bit on the brae face, how could l sweeten that area, l was going to put some 20,10,10 on it in the spring. What else could work.

As above, soil test before you spend any money at all on anything else. If pH is low, then apply lime as required.

If you are one of those fellas that always uses 20:10:10 come what may, be aware that high potash can make the grass bitter and unpalatable. f you've been applying K in excess of need for any length of time, it can have built up too much. Again, a basic soil test will show you.

 

[DrWazzock]

Salt (sodium) required. It makes the grass more tasty.
we often apply Korn Kali here for potash but it also contains a nice amount of sodium, sulphur and magnesium. Transformed our grass.The sheep love it.

 

[Greythundercloudys]

Where do you get that, do you spread on with a spinner?

 

[Nithsdale]

Where do you get that, do you spread on with a spinner?

Kornkali – Origin Fertilisers

 

[neilo]

Salt (sodium) required. It makes the grass more tasty.
we often apply Korn Kali here for potash but it also contains a nice amount of sodium, sulphur and magnesium. Transformed our grass.The sheep love it.

I was going to mention Sodium but, seeing as the OP doesn’t seem that keen on regular soil testing, I thought I’d better not. It requires a more detailed (costly) analysis to test for trace elements, but worth doing a cross section of fields/forage once in a while imo.

After last winter, I can’t imagine sodium levels would be particularly high anywhere, but it can be easily rectified by lobbing some lumps of rock salt about, or by spreading Ag Salt through a fert spreader, or by using something like KornKali as your potash & sulphur source.
It is very high in K though, so I’d be wary of using it without a soil test, particularly if 20:10:10 has been applied forever.

 

[Treecreeper]

I took on a field a few years ago which had not been ploughed in my time, it had light grazing and no inputs for years. At the same time the old yard had had a fym pit that had not been emptied for years and was pure compost. I gave the field the heaviest coating I could followed by calcified sea weed. The cows will now eat that field into the ground.

 

[JD-Kid]

lime and maybe N to lift protein levels in grasses might get better grazing
might be some other factors as to why not grazing even low in Ph may have some higher levels of some elements that. could make grass bitter

 

[Bury the Trash]

What sort of grass it , Yorkshire fog they wont touch but they will trample it into the ground in winter
Ditto crested dugstail wen it's gone to a stem...

Thers probably others......

 

[Moors Lad]

by calcified sea weed. The cows will now eat that field into the ground.

Pity you can`t get calcified seaweed now - I remember it made some average fields of ours far more productive with sheep.

 

[Pistonbroke]

Ball of Madley supply rock salt and I saw their advert in a mag for ground up salt for spreading but no mention of it on their website yet. A ton on a pallet would do a lot

 

[An Gof]

If you were in Cornwall just apply Sea-sand

 

[neilo]

Ball of Madley supply rock salt and I saw their advert in a mag for ground up salt for spreading but no mention of it on their website yet. A ton on a pallet would do a lot

You can buy Ag Salt in 600kg bags from most fertiliser suppliers. The last I had (for beet ground in the Spring) was around £120/t. At a cwt/ac or so, a ton goes a fair way.

 

[Guiggs]

So, much like a " what is wrong with my sheep thread ?" The answer is just as simple...
You need to try some of everything, you have to make sure you don't give to much of some things and for god sake don't give any of a few things!!

Get the ground tested and work from there!