PASTURE: WEEDS & FENCE-LINE MANAGEMENT

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laceyforward
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Joined: Thu 30-Dec-2021, 23:41

I have been doing a no till garden for many years and love it. I’m now wondering if you can offer some insight into creating and maintaining healthy pastures for my animals?

1. I have recently completed some major work on my largest pasture and am needing to reseed now. (We put in a pond to help with drainage so the field is pretty ripped up) I however have about an acre that is heavily covered in the tuber type weed and I need it GONE. (I’m pretty sure the soil in that area has quite a bit of peat) How do I rid of this and keep it from coming back? I really want to have nice lush pastures for my cattle.

2. Keeping the fence lines managed is a huge drain on our time. We have farm fence (not barbed wire) so the grass likes to tangle itself in the wire. Any tips for keeping the fence lines managed?

3. Any tips on prepping the soil before seeding?
Danoost
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First of all, I highly recommend that you read the book, "Dirt to Soil", by Gabe Brown. He explains in depth how he uses cows to restore land and build fertility.

Cows are the answer to your questions. Use sheep if the pasture his steep and hilly because they have less impact on land.

The key with using cows to regenerate land is that paddocks are kept small so the animals only spend a few days on each area. Most farmers using rotational grazing strategies, choose to fence off the outer boundary of their pastures with permanent fencing and will use electric wire to break up interior pastures.

We keep our fences raised above the ground by around 6". A cows tongue can reach all areas of the pasture including the fence line. Even in areas that would be hard to reach, I'd be able to run a weed eater along to prevent grass from climbing up the fence and shorting out our shock wire.

Weeds are automatically kept in check when using bovines to keep the pasture clipped and clean. Cows will eventually eat or trample the weeds before they're permitted to move on.

Never overgraze. You'll know when it's time to move the cows by watching them. Allow your intuition to take over here. Cows will speak to you in ways you haven't imagined. They become restless when they're done with an area. Their heads will be up and they'll challenge boundaries. Talk to them, be with them and they will speak to you.

One way to seed a new pasture is by feeding the cows with a weedy hay. Provided it's not too muddy, cows can be put on the pasture even if there is little grass. Give them hay in different areas every day. Keep them on a small area for a short time. After moving them to the new area, level the old. Throw in some of your own seed if you think there isn't enough seed available in the soil. Do not let cows back onto the new area until grass is almost fully headed out (ready to seed). Then introduce cows.
laceyforward
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Joined: Thu 30-Dec-2021, 23:41

Thank you for this reply Dan. Super helpful! I forgot to clarify that cows are what we have. The challenge I have is that the fencing is only 8 years old but was set up close to the ground with farm fence for sheep so that’s the challenge unfortunately.

We have a large area that has that tuber type weed growing and the cows won’t eat it. How do I rid of it? I’ll send you a pic of it on your Instagram as I can’t seem to be able to upload it here.
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Damien
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Hello Lacey,

I've resized and uploaded the photos you emailed. For future reference, you might like to refer to my welcome post here under heading "Adding files & photos to posts".

The embedded photos below can be viewed in higher resolution at https://localharvestgardening.com/forumimgs/fencelines-a.jpg and https://localharvestgardening.com/forumimgs/fencelines-b.jpg

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Thanks,

Damien
 
PeasIntheRain
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Hi Lacey,

Do you know what type of rush it is? This BC guide has some info on bog rush Juncus effusus that might help: https://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/envir ... oweeds.pdf. That one is actually an aggressive native species; the trouble starts when the land is disturbed and/or when people are trying to convert wetlands to pasture. There may be some options to really capitalize on the wetland that you have, even if it is now converted to a pond area. (And you're keeping cattle away from the waterway, correct? As someone who grew up unable to drink the town water because of a guy who refused to keep his cows in an appropriate location, I have to ask...)

Longer dead grass is important habitat for many small native species. Is there a reason that you are concerned about some longer grass right at the fenceline? (I fully sympathise with the problem of judgemental neighbours unaware of ecology, if that's the issue, but it's worth pointing out that you have some solidarity in a community who values undisturbed spaces even if they don't look like manicured gardens. Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation has some wonderful guides, like this one, and even recommends installing a 'pollinator habitat' sign so that people know that the situation is intentional: https://www.xerces.org/sites/default/fi ... 18-014.pdf

Best of luck!
Danoost
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Keeping fence lines clean is quite important. First, it can ground out shock wire used to pasture animals. Second, aggressive weeds like morning glory and blackberries (my region) seem to take over in these areas when they're left alone.

Can you detach the wire and raise the fence? It's worth it so that you can zip along with a weed eater.

Thanks for identifying those rushes, PeasIntheRain.
laceyforward
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Joined: Thu 30-Dec-2021, 23:41

The fencing was done this way so we can have smaller animals like goats and sheep as well :( there has to be a better solution than round up 😭
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