Getting rid of thistles

My cattle pasture is being overrun with thistles and was wondering if anyone had any thing that works to get rid of them?

MY SON WAS TELLING ME YESTERDAY THAT HE LOVES A PRODUCT CALLED PASTURE PRO FOR THISTLES AND FOR RED ROOT PIGWEED .

i HAVE ALWAYS USED TRIMEC.

We use 2 4-D, kills the heck out of em. If you gettem early and the come back later to kill the stragglers, next year won't be so bad. Only problem is talking the nieghbor into doing the same thistle management program as you are.

mridgecattleco,
Is there any waiting period before the cattle can graze again after apply the herbicide.

deerhunter":1vo5yw1f said:

mridgecattleco,
Is there any waiting period before the cattle can graze again after apply the herbicide.

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Depends on the herbicide, 2,4-d there isn;t any but you will find that a copule of days after spraying with it that the cows will really chow down on the wilty weeds
This is the most recent I've been able to find:

http://appliedweeds.cfans.umn.edu/weedb ... ns2009.pdf

We spray it on with the cattle in the same pasture.
never has hurt anything.

You can't. You are doomed! Your only hope is to dig them up one by one, by the roots. Start a bonfire and burn them

HOSS":r44yxsre said:

You can't. You are doomed! Your only hope is to dig them up one by one, by the roots. Start a bonfire and burn them

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:nod: but the Bon fire needs to be off your place or they will be covering the Bon fire sight next year.

We've got an old funky shallow pond that's never more or less then a foot deep. I just throw the cut plants into the pond and the rot down in a day or 2

We have bull thistles and the cheapest kill is 2-4,d in the fall. They are on the ground in a rosette stage and a pint of 2,4-d in 20 gal/acre water will kill them dead. These are the thistles that make the pretty purple flowers. About 3-5 feet tall when they make a flower stalk. I have had good luck with this.

Thanks a lot i was searching for this for very long time, actually i recently join this forum and i hope got lot of such useful information in future.

An herbicide called milestone will kill thistles. You can spot spray or use a pull behind sprayer. Thistles are broadleafs so any herbicide labeled for broadleafs will kill them.

You can get herbicides that are fine to spray on pasture that is being eaten, but it usually needs to dry before the cattle come over it.

Where do you live? THe best thing you can do is call your county extension service. They can tell you the best way to control thistle in your area and sometimes will even come out and go through your pastures and give you the best recommendation.

I have several types of thistle both noxious and native. I spray them and I also go through and cut off active flowers/buds or whatever you want to call them. This might sound like a lot of work but they will take over if you don't first.

get a donkey. They will paw up the thistles and eat bulb and all. My grandfather bought one and he had a 50 acre pasture completely clean in two years.

coach4christ":34fqdi0x said:

get a donkey. They will paw up the thistles and eat bulb and all. My grandfather bought one and he had a 50 acre pasture completely clean in two years.

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Well people are turning donkeys out on the highways down here now so that should be easy enough. I think the last time I sprayed I used Weedmaster. Did a very good job.

If you are not in the market for a donkey then you may want to think about goats. They love to eat thistle and all kind of other weeds leaving the good pasture for the bovine.

Always heard that expesive hobby. But why would any animal eat thistle over lets say clover or other good feeds in the same field? Know some folks who graze a few goats behind their cattle and they indeed do get the weeds then that the cows won't eat.

Use Grazon or Grazon Next it is King. It is not a contact killer like 2-4D

gravy":3blt7vt4 said:

Use Grazon or Grazon Next it is King. It is not a contact killer like 2-4D

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Grazon IS 2,4-d but with a residual affect chemical included.

hillbillycwo":2y8iamdv said:

Always heard that expesive hobby. But why would any animal eat thistle over lets say clover or other good feeds in the same field? Know some folks who graze a few goats behind their cattle and they indeed do get the weeds then that the cows won't eat.

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I think it may be that they've found out that it actually tastes good, once they past the prickles. And it's not just goats that will eat it. Cattle will eat it too, as will horses, especially if they're "trained" to eat thistles. I've heard that cows that have been trained to eat thistle that, once they have learned that thistle tastes good, they will go for the thistles first before going for clover, alfalfa, grass or any other forage, and keep eating them until there's nothing left, then they have to eat the grass.

Besides herbicide, we've just back-bladed the thistles with the front-end loader on the tractor. That seemed to help get rid of them, because the next year there aren't as many or no thistles growing where they've been back-bladed.

deerhunter":23g5dmy5 said:

My cattle pasture is being overrun with thistles and was wondering if anyone had any thing that works to get rid of them?

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It depends on what kind of thistle you've got. Some varieties of thistle you can eliminate by simply digging them up, others require a dedicated spraying program. Some can be killed with 2-4D and others require Round-up. Some, such as Canadian Thistle, you will not get of for a very long time. It would be helpful if you were able to identify the particular type of thistle you're trying to get rid of, and let us know.