Pasture Burning

[dcara]

I'm thinking of burning a small 10 acre pasture this season and looking for some suggestions. I have read that the best time to burn is about 3 - 4 weeks before green up. In my area (depending on weather) rye grass starts coming on pretty strong about end of March so the time to burn is getting close. Other things I've heard or read are

1) Back burn against the wind for ease of burn control
2) Burn just before a rain for hot spot control and also to get the ash into the ground
3) Burn at night when its easier to see hot spots after the burn
4) If your going to fertilize, wait till after the burn to take the soil test.

Other thoughts?

 

[dun]

Talk to your local NRCS or wildlife department. To do it legally it may be advisable to attend a "burn school" or at least have someone that knows what they are doing prepare a burn plan.

 

[marksmu]

I do not recommend burning at night. There are all kinds of things that can go wrong on a burn, and not being able to see what you are doing is just going to make it much much more dangerous.

Burn during the day and look for hot spots at night if you want. Talk to people who burn and get them to show you how they do it. It will help you alot. It may not even be legal on 10 acres if thats all you own so also check with the NRCS...

As to the actual burn it can burn very fast and get way out of control. You need to:

1) Have an emergency plan and inform your neighbors of the burn.

2) Do NOT burn on a day when it is very windy...pick a nice 4-8mph day. If its too windy you can lose control the second you start the fire.

3) Build fire stops. Either disc the area you want the fire to stop, or mow it extremely low, and then drag with a box blade or something to get the fuel away from the stops. 10' is a good enough fire stop.

4) Start the fire into the wind along your fire stop. Make sure that it does not cross the fire stop. You can usually stomp it out when its small, so start SMALL...dont try to go to fast. Once you know how fast its going to burn you can make the fire larger....but its impossible to make it smaller once it starts.

5) Once its burned away from your stops, you can go drive up wind and start the fire on the other side of the field. It will burn much faster with the wind and much hotter into the wind.

6) stick around for several hours to put out any areas that had debris or wood or other matter than can burn for a long time.

10 acres of good burning dead matter will burn in a matter of minutes, so be ready for that.

 

[Jogeephus]

For fields I harrow around it first. Set the fire on the downwind side and let this back into the field about 60-100 feet all the while looking for jumps. Once its at this distance I begin setting a backing flank fire along the side that is more prone for a wind shift. Once this is going fine and all looks good I ring it as quickly as possible. Once rung the fire will create its own wind and draw everything to the center. It will look like a bomb going off but by its drawing everything to the center it will force the brands toward the center and pull them hundreds of feet into the air and they will be out by the time they ever reach the ground. Never had a problem using this method on grass land.

Just a tip that could come in handy. If you have one that jumps you can use your pickup truck to plow dual brake in front of the flames by pressing your brake peddle and gas at the same time and spinning your wheels. Saw this done once and was impressed but I always keep a harrow handy.

 

[farmwriter]

We had a pasture burn jump the road 8 or so years ago, and we still refer to it as 'The Great Fire'. Dad's in land management and has done it forever, called and got a burn permit, the weather was supposed to be perfect, and something still was able to jump. Scary stuff.
Here's what advice I can add:
Ask some friends to come help. Let's face it, fire is fun so most people are happy to be on hand that day.
We like for everybody to have a 2 gallon (or larger) garden sprayer, a shovel, and their cell phones.
Somebody will have the Mule with the ag sprayer full of water on standby.
And February was when we had The Great Fire at our place. It's a pretty good time to burn in our neck of the woods. Be safe!

 

[dcara]

Thanks for all the suggestions. Hopefully I won't end up on the evening news.

I picked this 10 acre tract for my first burn because it has roads on 3 sides and a tank. What could possibly go wrong ?

 

[kenny thomas]

Looks like payday is starting for me. :lol:
Good advice from all. Check the burn regulations for your area. In VA you have to wait until after 4PM.
Remember you could be liable if it escapes.

 

[ga. prime]

The drawback to burning in March is the wind is often strong and variable. Burning in even a light and variable wind is a recipe for disaster. You need a steady wind to burn on. A wind driven fire in thick dry bermuda grass is ferocious.

 

[dun]

A couple of years ago we had a good bit of rain and the grass was just starting to green up. I pulled a clump of dried brown grass and lit it to see if it was dry enough to burn. Had a heck of a time getting a flame but it quickly fizzled and just smoked. The wind had been changing through all of the compas points and I hadn;t intended to burn that day, just wanted to see if the grass would burn. When the clump I had was barely smoking (I thought) I dropped it and figured it was too wet. A gust hit me from the back and the non-burning handfull of grass burst into flames. Fire spread like crazy. I would get around the front of it and get it stomped out and the wind would change and it would take off in the other direction. After about 15 minutes the area was getting bigger and I coudln;t get ahead of it. Called the fire department. Took 2 water trucks and crews to stop it before it got to the house to the north, barn to the west and other pastures south and east. Changing winds is no time to be messing with fire.

 

[Arkieman]

Burned a 15 acre hayfield yesterday using the same type technique as Jogee described above. It was a first for me. Everything went really well. I absolutely would never do it w/o discing around the edges though. My kids loved setting the fires - hope we didn't create a future pyromaniac!!

 

[TLCfromARK]

Here is a link to some good info on burning.

http://www.wildlifemanagement.info/files/burning_1.pdf
;-)