Grass mowing/Fertilizer

[denoginnizer]

How often do you cut the pasture grass? The grass is just starting to get up but I have many leftover weeds, briars and bushes from last year. Should I cut now or wait until the grass gets high so I can cut both the weed and the grass?
When do you like to fertilize?

 

[TheBullLady]

If you've got left over dried grasses from winter, it's not too soon to mow.

We usually fertilize for the first time in March or April. It will probably be May before it's dry enough to get fertilizer out this year.

 

[Bama]

The best way I know to mow weeds is from a jug. I spray outlaw, grazon or 2-4-d in the early growing stages of weeds. This will kill em at the root. Mowing will help but it just clips the top. The roots will put up more growth for you to deal with later. As far as fertilizer it depends on the grass crop. Cool season grass I fertilize in the fall, warm season grass in the spring.

 

[denoginnizer]

The best way I know to mow weeds is from a jug. I spray outlaw, grazon or 2-4-d in the early growing stages of weeds. This will kill em at the root. Mowing will help but it just clips the top. The roots will put up more growth for you to deal with later. As far as fertilizer it depends on the grass crop. Cool season grass I fertilize in the fall, warm season grass in the spring.

Although I would like to spray Grazon I only have the pasture rented for 2 more years and cant hardly justify the cost of spraying. I asked the owner if he would help share the cost but had no luck. I just want to keep the pasture in the same condition it was when I got it. Have you ever noticed that when you fix rented land up the rent tends to go up?

 

[BC]

Although I would like to spray Grazon I only have the pasture rented for 2 more years and cant hardly justify the cost of spraying. I asked the owner if he would help share the cost but had no luck. I just want to keep the pasture in the same condition it was when I got it. Have you ever noticed that when you fix rented land up the rent tends to go up?

Spraying is more cost effective than mowing. Mowing is revenge killing because the weeds have sapped nutrients and moisture that could be growing grass. From some of the work that Dr. David Bade did at Texas A&M, it only takes controlling 800 lbs. of weeds per acre to pay for the cost of the herbicide. His work showed that for every pound of weed you control, you would grow one to two pounds of grass

 

[dun]

If we are going to fertilize we generally do it in the early spring as soon as the pastures are dry enough to drive on without rutting/compacting them. I have no idea when that will be this year. If the grass has already gotten 3-4 inches of growth I'ld be leery of putting to much fertilizer on. It also depends on your forage base and misc. components. With some forages particularly if cut for hay and dependant on the soil type you may have to fertilize after each cutting.
As in everything else in this business, there is no "one size fits all" solution

dun

 

[denoginnizer]

Although I would like to spray Grazon I only have the pasture rented for 2 more years and cant hardly justify the cost of spraying. I asked the owner if he would help share the cost but had no luck. I just want to keep the pasture in the same condition it was when I got it. Have you ever noticed that when you fix rented land up the rent tends to go up?

Spraying is more cost effective than mowing. Mowing is revenge killing because the weeds have sapped nutrients and moisture that could be growing grass. From some of the work that Dr. David Bade did at Texas A&M, it only takes controlling 800 lbs. of weeds per acre to pay for the cost of the herbicide. His work showed that for every pound of weed you control, you would grow one to two pounds of grass

I am figuring this would assume you had enough cattle to eat all the extra grass?

 

[John Mc.]

I have a related question. I have a burmuda pasture that I'm trying to get back in shape but it has cool season grasses that come up early and shades the burmuda. Would it be best to fertilize once the burmuda starts greening up? Cut the cool season grass and fertilize? Bale hay once on the cool season forage and then fertilize?

I've always been confused as to how to reclaim this burmuda. I've been told at one time it was heavy burmuda but now it is thin.

Thanks,

 

[BC]

I have a related question. I have a burmuda pasture that I'm trying to get back in shape but it has cool season grasses that come up early and shades the burmuda. Would it be best to fertilize once the burmuda starts greening up? Cut the cool season grass and fertilize? Bale hay once on the cool season forage and then fertilize?

I've always been confused as to how to reclaim this burmuda. I've been told at one time it was heavy burmuda but now it is thin.

Thanks,

We have a problem here in East Texas with ryegrass that can shade out bermuda. Several years ago, I saw a 40 acre filed that had to be re-sprigged because the ryegrass was allowed to shade out the summer grass. My suggestion would be to cut the cool season grass for hay as soon as you can get it to cure. Then fertilize. You may need to get a soil test done. It sounds as if the potassium levels have dropped and your bermuda stand has thinned. In my area, we need as much potassium as we do nitrogen to make hay.

 

[Bama]

If your concerned with cost you can use strait 2-4-d. Its cheap compaired to the others. It will not kill out all weeds, but it will get the most of them. You do not have to have a license to buy it either. If your concerned about it paying for itself. You can spray with a thirty foot boom and not use nearly as much fuel as you would bushhoging. You could probally ship one mowing and just do one in the fall. This would be more grass and less fuel. It would also improve things for next year. As far as the burmuda. The best way to get a pure bermuda pasture is to spray it while it is dormant with roundup or the gerneric cornerstone, or killzall. This will kill everthing except bermuda. Don't wait until it turns green or it will kill it also. I have fescue and bermuda pastures. I fertilize the fescue in the fall. It depends on which grass you wan't to maintain at peak performance. I graze the fescue pretty low until the temps hit a consistant 50 deg. After this I take them off for a short period. This gives the bermuda a chance to start growing. If you fertilize at this point it will make the bermuda grow but it will also make the fescue start growing again. This ifs fine if you have plenty of rain, but a drought will put a hurt on your next years fescue. The cheapest thing to do as far as fertilizing is to get the soil at the correct ph. I'm from north Al. Agound here we have to add limeto get back to around a PH of 6 -7. A proper PH will allow better use of the fertilizer you do use. Lime take about 6 months to work into tha soil so you may want to forgo this if you only have the pasture for 2 years. I take soil samples. If I did everthing to get to the perfect pasture I would not make much on the herd. You have to balance out what you need to do and still be able to make a profit. I don't have the problem of a 2 year rent hanging over my decisions. Its easier to justify things for the longterm. Most land that is rented around here is by 5 year terms. You make want to take to the landowner to see if he can extent your rent. It would make your decisions easier.

 

[denoginnizer]

Thanks for the advice. The landowner is 92 years old and his mind is slipping a little. I suspect after he dies his children will make the pasture into a new subdivision.

 

[jerry27150]

some guys here are already fertilizing, others will wait til grass is 6 inches or so tall. i use 2 4 d as a spot spray, doesn't kill many legumes that way

 

[Bama]

Yea, I should have mentioned ANY of the above will kill out clover if sprayed from a boom. Mixed at the lower rate they will not completely kill clover but it will still knock it back.

 

[carla]

What would you do if your pastures are mostly red clover and weeds. Last year may have just been a good clover year in this area, but I had way more clover that I did fescue. My weed situation is from overgrazing. I lost a lease place right after I had bought some more cattle and didn't want to loose my //// on re-selling them so soon. What would you do? Kill the weeds or the clover. It seemed like ragweed was the worst problem. Alot of it went to seed before I could get it mowed.

 

[dun]

If you're going to be keeping the land, no-till in fescue and orchard grass. When the weeds get to a high enough level and before seeding clip it all short. It won;t help much this year, but it help next year. Also once the fescue is 6-8 inches high and before the clipping, strip graze it if possible. That will help control the weeds. First insure your soil is up to snuff.

dun

 

[jerry27150]

carla, usually if you put on something like triple 17 it will stimulate the grass to crowd out some of the ragweed. also if you garze early, cattle will eat most weeds & weeds don't like frequent mowing either

 

[Bama]

Another option is to use a wickbar. After the weeds get taller than the clover fill a wickbar with roundup, cornerstone, killzall or other nonselective weed killer. Run the wickbar over the field and it will kill everthing it touches.