southernultrablack
Well-known member
Kids have been out of school due to Covid. Found a nice little job for them to do, cutting thistle out of this hay patch.
Manual Thistle control!
- Thread starter southernultrablack
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Silver
Well-known member
You need to get them to teach the cows to eat those thistles!
Dirt Farmer
Well-known member
I did the same when I was a kid. I try to bribe my son to do it but he finds a way to not do anything he realizes is productive....til you take his phone
Silver said:
I read an article on this just last week. How in the heck do you train a cow to eat thistle?
sstterry said:
Convince her to self identify as a goat.
Silver
Well-known member
sstterry said:
From what I remember about the article I read, you take some cows (younger is better I think), get them coming to grain or something they like, then switching to various treats that they like. I guess when they get looking forward to new treats you surprise them with thistle. Once they get onto it you turn them out and the other animals learn from them. At least that's how I remember the article. I'll see if I can find it again. It wasn't something I was interested in doing. But there are people in my area that have got government grants to do just this.
Nesikep
Well-known member
starving them works good to train them!
I know a place where they eat the canada thistles, quite carefully!.. yes, they have been trained to eat knapweed too.
We don't have a thistle here, and it's because I do take a hoe and weed the hard way.
I know a place where they eat the canada thistles, quite carefully!.. yes, they have been trained to eat knapweed too.
We don't have a thistle here, and it's because I do take a hoe and weed the hard way.
Stickney94
Well-known member
When I was a kid my father had us carry an old feed sack along and we first had to de-head all the flowers and put them in the sack to burn.
Despite my preference for a nice solid black herd, I keep two Jersey cows (former 4H calves of my kids) mostly because they eat Canada thistles (they may be part goat). As far as I know they have not taught my other cows to eat them.
Despite my preference for a nice solid black herd, I keep two Jersey cows (former 4H calves of my kids) mostly because they eat Canada thistles (they may be part goat). As far as I know they have not taught my other cows to eat them.
76 Bar
Well-known member
Silver
Well-known member
76 Bar said:
That's exactly the article I was thinking of. Thanks for sharing it.
callmefence
Keyboard cowboy
TennesseeTuxedo said:
Maybe you should pull some thistles ...lol
76 Bar
Well-known member
Glad to oblige Silver. Not too many people train livestock to eat weeds! I've been fascinated by her work since she commenced her research.
callmefence said:
You've clearly cut a bunch because you're quite the character.
Silver said:
That is the one I read too. My question is, I only get 3 articles a month because I am a cheapskate. Is it worth paying for?
76 Bar
Well-known member
I don't go there regularly but I've always enjoyed the site. Just saw that they're going to subscription mode. Riding the fence pardon the expression on wether to join or not. Before the Corvid deal & the cattle market implosion I wouldn't have hesitated. Pinching pennies now.
greggy
Well-known member
I had a Angus/Jersey who would eat thistles, but also ate anything else & ring barked a few trees too & any bit of wire, fence, or anything that fit in her mouth, I learnt quickly to never leave my quad or a tractor anywhere she could get to it if I was not there....
There was some matting to hold back a bank, and she was getting that up, and some other heifers started to join in, since moving her the others no longer do silly things, also found grouping bottle calves works well if you have a few that eat whatever, the others soon join in, then you can feed them whatever and they take to it & clean it all up.
There was some matting to hold back a bank, and she was getting that up, and some other heifers started to join in, since moving her the others no longer do silly things, also found grouping bottle calves works well if you have a few that eat whatever, the others soon join in, then you can feed them whatever and they take to it & clean it all up.
I usually just take a machete to any thistles in my pastures, sometime in mid June/early July when they are starting to bolt, but pre-bloom. At that stage, if you wack em down, they do not come back unless you leave too much of the stem. The rosettes are easier to control (but much harder to find without walking every inch of pasture in late fall/early spring) with a backpack sprayer and some cheap 2,4-D with surfactant. Once they bolt, it takes a little more $$ herbicide to kill them. It appears to me that spraying in late winter/early spring with 2,4-D, I do not damage my clover. Sure, I kill some, but it's not complete eradication. By early to mid-March, I can frost seed clover (if needed) and control thistles AND have a good clover crop. Some pastures seem to be worse than others. I've never had an issue in my hayfields though. Seems that typically mowing and timing keeps them under wrap. Its that dang horsenettle that I battle in hayfields. Timing of chemical application is key to knocking that stuff out. You've got to get it at bloom, but pre-fruit set to get the best control...or atleast, that's been my observation.
