Lawnsweeper

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Farmhand

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I just got a wonderful Mothers Day gift this weekend! Husband and kids got me a Ranch King lawnsweeper. Have a large lawn (2 days to mow) and have always wanted a way to pick up the clippings. I use an industrial mower with a front deck but they don't have baggers. Love the lawn but hated all the wasted forage for my calves. Toyed with enlarging the pasture but didn't want to give up windbreaks, fruit trees, or flower beds either. Tried this gift yesterday. Hooked the lawnsweeper to our golf cart and boy did it work great. Lawnsweep has a rope trip to empty it. Now my calves come a running just seeing the golf cart! Really seemed to enjoy the fresh cut grass. Don't know what's so different about it than the grass their standing on though. Other than they didn't have to cut it off - just pick it up and chew :D . Sorry about rambling on here about this. Just excited and can't tell my city friends. They think a gift for working is horrible ( a form of abuse :lol: ). They just don't understand.
 
Be careful giving them grass clippings. If your giving them a bunch of lush green grown at a time they can have problems.
 
We have one also and do the same thing, although my cows don't seem to care for the lawn clippings. They pretty much ignore them.
 
Bama - could you please tell me what problems? The only one I can think of is loose stools. Do you need to worry too much if they had been on pasture for awhile before giving them the clippings. Would appreciate the advice. Hate it when I do something stupid. Thanks.

Sidney - haven't tried giving any to the cows yet. Wonder what mine would think. May wait to try it til Bama has a chance to answer though.
 
Tried giving them a few clippings here. I thought why waste free feed? They smelled it and pushed around in the stuff with their nose and walked away. Not one of them would eat it. It was good clean grass too. Maybe Farmhand has a better tasting yard than I do. :lol:
 
If you give them heaping amounts of lush green grass. And they stay in one spot for a while it "can" ( not always) founder them ar give them stomac problems. A neighbor had that happen a few years ago. The vet said that beings they were eating a lot and not moving around much is what contributed to the problem. Grazin they tend to move around thus elimating the problem. The lush grass is not like forage. The other thing was if the grass had any chemicals applied to it.
 
Don't feed the clippings to horses either. They get big mouthfulls and the saliva and the loose clippings get caught in the back of the mouth and they choke.

Congrats on the gift. I got a dishwasher. :)
 
I should have added the grass that the neighbor fed was lawn fescue. It had been fertilized a lot. That may have contributed to his problems.
 
Bama - thanks! Didn't stop to think about founder ... and I know better too. Hate it when I have a brain fart. My lawn never gets fertilizer or chemicals. Once in a great while hubby hits it with 2-4d if weeds are too bad but usually mother nature gets her way with the lawn. I'm not too sure if I gave them too much. I didn't give them everything I mowed but a considerable amount of it. They cleaned up everything I gave them. Any insight on what would be too much? Was thinking about putting it in a ring or something like you would hay but not as much as hay. Thinking it would mold. Maybe not a good idea. Opinion?

Chuck - you made me laugh. Don't know about the taste of my lawn but your welcome to come try it if you want. :lol:

certherfbeef - congrats on your dishwasher. Aren't they nice?! Betting you get the same kind of gifts I do - ones to make the work easier but they're still for workin'.

Springer Farms and icandoit - you're right about the chickens. Grew up with them too.

Does anyone have any other ideas of what I can do with lawn clippings? Want to have some more "fun" with my lawnsweeper.
 
The neighbor I was refering to had way to many cows on his pasture. It was overgrazed in the worst way. He had about a acre yard and bought one of those sweepers to go behind the mower. He put all of the clipping out there.
 
Farmhand":jcxp8n48 said:
Does anyone have any other ideas of what I can do with lawn clippings? Want to have some more "fun" with my lawnsweeper.
Click to expand...

Compost for your flowers next year???
 
certherfbeef":3m4jv3gg said:
Farmhand":3m4jv3gg said:
Does anyone have any other ideas of what I can do with lawn clippings? Want to have some more "fun" with my lawnsweeper.
Click to expand...

Compost for your flowers next year???
Click to expand...

Geese would love them also keep your lawn mowed for you.
 
Salicylic - had geese at one time too. Your right. Got rid of them when they started going after my young children. Wasn't as fond of them as I was about the ducks and quineas anyway. :D
 
Bama - showed this thread to my husband as soon as I could 'cuz I got scared that I really messed up. He told me I was ok. He thought the fertilizer and the limited space for those cows was a big contributing problem to that guys founder. REALLY appreciate the help. Thanks!
 
Sorry, I didn't mean to scare Ya. Chances are you could do it everweek with no problems. Its just if all the conditions are right ( or wrong as it may be ) would it be a problem.
 
My dad always fed the grass clippings to the cows. Or I should say I did it at his instructions. I have now done it for years with no problems.

But never never fertilize a lawn. That just means you will have to mow it more often. I am wondering if a low dose of roundup would slow it down without killing it.

Dave
 
Dave said:
My dad always fed the grass clippings to the cows. Or I should say I did it at his instructions. I have now done it for years with no problems.

But never never fertilize a lawn. That just means you will have to mow it more often. I am wondering if a low dose of roundup would slow it down without killing it.

Dave
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LOL at Dave. I usually put 120 lb of nitrogen on my yard each year. Actually leaving the clippings make your grass grow better unless the thatch builds up.
 
Dave":1l2ntjyy said:
My dad always fed the grass clippings to the cows. Or I should say I did it at his instructions. I have now done it for years with no problems.

But never never fertilize a lawn. That just means you will have to mow it more often. I am wondering if a low dose of roundup would slow it down without killing it.

Dave
Click to expand...

Dave

Pretty good observation/idea. Since the "invention" of Roundup, folks have been trying to get it to perform as a plant growth regulator. In fact, there are several patents on the books which cover using low doses of glyphosate to inhibit plant growth without total kill. There was some work that came out of Australia several years ago where they were using Roundup to manage pasture grass. Low doses seemed to keep the grass from going to seed as quickly, if my memory serves me correctly. I always thought that it would be a great thing for the fescue here in Missouri, but I just don't have the sphericals to try it....yet.

Lee
 

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