Outrider rules at this point or shall I say Sulfosulfuron 75%. Only a tiny strip is left of Johnson grass that was passed over and I may buy one of those small containers you use to mix in hand sprayers and go smoke it again. I know Round up will knock it down, but it never really seems to smoke it out down to the roots completely as there is always a roots left in several spots that keeps on keeping on.
The weeds and Johnson Grass has been so thick that it has shaded out my Bermuda Grass, but the Bermuda is everywhere in patches. Here you can see the edge of a Johnson Grass patch that is dying now, and see how sparse the Bermuda is at this point. I do believe that I can pull it out this year with applications of Urea and phosphate each time every 30 days. Even if I do not have enough hay on this field to bale, I must cut the seed heads out and hope that it reached a height that I can mow it in the least of 4," but prefer 6" so the stolens will run across the ground and root. Many areas are already 6" tall. I know that the root system is not all that it can be from lack of fertilizer, but I put lime down last year and this year where it reached 6.1 which is border line on the low side. So I had them spread a one ton on each acre to bring it up a bit more. hoping it should be right at 6.8 pH. I purposely mowed it all last summer just for the weeds and Bermuda to fall to the ground for organic matter. I have quite a bit of horse manure, to spread over the hill side on this hay field, then thought about fencing it and letting the cows run on it after I make my last cutting which would be before September 1st. It just takes too long to get it to dry before then. We lose sunlight hours and it does not cure like it does in late May, June, July and August. No more hay in September.
But returning the Bermuda clipping into the soil at the end of the summer and clip it at 6-7" and then let the cattle feed on it as well as the hay. Where I stockpiled it in the pasture, they did not eat much of it. I can usually cut a few bales of Bermuda out of my pasture because the grass is so thick, as I raise the disc mower high to get rid of the seed heads. Bermuda in my pasture is the same that is in the hay field. So much of my pasture is Durana Clover that they eat what comes up all winter and the hay I put out. I like to not overstock my pastures. It really bothers me to see bare ground, but in the spring, the cattle take the Durana clover patches down to the soil while the grasses grow tall and I have to mow them. But there is much Durana in the Bermuda as well. While the Bermuda has to be cut becaues it starts to go into the boot stage. At that point, the protein is the highest. Then the new growth of the grass is soft and easy to graze with higher protein that grasses that go to seed. Even Fescue that goes to seed has lost the protein in the seed heads. I never see cattle eating the seed heads.
Sorry for rattling on as I get into making grass pastures and hay fields turn out to be the best that I can afford. I just hate how my hay field went badly after the loss of my husband and had to regroup. So now I am regrouped and going to turn it around. Feels good to be working on the hay field and pastures again.
Here is the picture below I spoke of earlier of how spotty this Vaughns Bermuda got from being smothered out. The soil looks dry from the dead organic matter on the top, but there is a lot of moisture in the soil. But I know it is a good Bermuda as I can see how nice it grows in the pasture with the help of fertilizer, liming, mowing it and letting the cattle graze it as the mowing and cattle pooping on the soil is returning the nutrients back to the soil. When we cut hay and keep taking off the nutrients in the grasses and turning it into hay, then we lose what we have pulled out of the soil. Sort of robbing the land. But if you ca return some of the nutrients and organic matter, it does so much better.
Remember Doc Harris how he would write really long articles about cattle? Looks like I am taking his place. He was in his 90's and was as sharp as a tack. I do miss him greatly as we messaged each other back and forth and he was such a nice guy. Anyway, looks like I am writing a book here. He and his wife were still together in their 90's and he enjoyed coming here and talking about cattle from days gone by. I miss him.
