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Livestock
Livestock & Forage
Managing pasture by cutting and leaving long grass?
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<blockquote data-quote="Longlowdog" data-source="post: 8215622" data-attributes="member: 395"><p>If you mow with what most of us consider a mower i.e something that leaves whole stems cut an inch or two above the ground it will rot in the rows and be visible this time next year. </p><p>I would flail mow it. I flail a couple of small fields that the sheep don't really like with a little 16hp Kubota tractor with a 4' mower and they recover very quickly.</p><p> I do think you have fallen into the trap of believing everything on a smallholding has value as it does on a larger scale. Someone may have offered to buy hay from a small field when it was a nice rectangle but surely you've seen the size of the kit used to make hay...no-one wants to play dodge the trees in a small field with a 9' mower or a big baler. When your hay is fit to make so is the hay on the all the neighbouring 40 acre fields. Someone might nip out a wee field on the way home from a big one if it's easy but not the moment they have to fanny about.</p><p> As someone above said the trees dotted around are liabilities to all further work in there. Plant hedges with standard trees in. Arbori-pasture doesn't work well for anyone on a tiny scale. They are a faff to establish the trees, they are awkward to mow, especially if you have planted wriggly lines and when a bit older they shed branches in high wind for the mowers to find.</p><p> It is probably time to take stock of what your objective is. Is it a field, a set aside to develop in its own time with perhaps a bit of human intervention to hasten the process or do you want a wood to grow there? </p><p> Sorry to sound negative but I've been there with all the grand ideas about creating nirvana in my own back yard and learned that without the benefits of scale some things really just make life harder, cost more than the basic projections would lead you to budget for and often actually just look half 4rsed. </p><p> Double fence, plant very diverse hedges with standards and some fruit trees and this time of year the scent will be intoxicating and there will be fruit for wildlife in autumn and trees doing there thang without rendering the whole unusable.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Longlowdog, post: 8215622, member: 395"] If you mow with what most of us consider a mower i.e something that leaves whole stems cut an inch or two above the ground it will rot in the rows and be visible this time next year. I would flail mow it. I flail a couple of small fields that the sheep don't really like with a little 16hp Kubota tractor with a 4' mower and they recover very quickly. I do think you have fallen into the trap of believing everything on a smallholding has value as it does on a larger scale. Someone may have offered to buy hay from a small field when it was a nice rectangle but surely you've seen the size of the kit used to make hay...no-one wants to play dodge the trees in a small field with a 9' mower or a big baler. When your hay is fit to make so is the hay on the all the neighbouring 40 acre fields. Someone might nip out a wee field on the way home from a big one if it's easy but not the moment they have to fanny about. As someone above said the trees dotted around are liabilities to all further work in there. Plant hedges with standard trees in. Arbori-pasture doesn't work well for anyone on a tiny scale. They are a faff to establish the trees, they are awkward to mow, especially if you have planted wriggly lines and when a bit older they shed branches in high wind for the mowers to find. It is probably time to take stock of what your objective is. Is it a field, a set aside to develop in its own time with perhaps a bit of human intervention to hasten the process or do you want a wood to grow there? Sorry to sound negative but I've been there with all the grand ideas about creating nirvana in my own back yard and learned that without the benefits of scale some things really just make life harder, cost more than the basic projections would lead you to budget for and often actually just look half 4rsed. Double fence, plant very diverse hedges with standards and some fruit trees and this time of year the scent will be intoxicating and there will be fruit for wildlife in autumn and trees doing there thang without rendering the whole unusable. [/QUOTE]
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Managing pasture by cutting and leaving long grass?
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