Pasture Care

[mdt192]

Hello all, I have been reading the board for awhile and have enjoyed it very much.

I am closing on a 135 acre addition to our family beef farm this Friday. It's probably about 100 acres of pasture that has not been taken care of at all. Undergrazed, not clipped. Some parts probably haven't seen a person (much less a bush hog) in 5-10 years. Woody plants (cedar, osage orange, black locust) and various broadleaf weeds popping up everywhere. It's not completely fenced in, but that should be accomplished around the end of the year.

What should be my first course of action in regards to the state of the pasture? I have little experience in dealing with this level of a mess. On our current land, we bush hog once a year in the late summer / early fall and spray a light coating of 2,4 D in the spring, and it seems to keep the place in pretty good shape.

Thanks in advance.

 

[farmerjan]

Fence it, let the cows get in and start to clean it up; eat what they want, tromp into the ground anything they can. Bush hog what you can without tearing up the equipment.
Do soil samples so you have an idea of the PH so that you can lime if needed as soon as possible as it usually takes a little time for the lime to work.
Cut any trees that are too big to bushhog that you don't want there. If you work on it slowly you will also find any rocks,ledges, gullies,holes, etc and so on, BEFORE you drop the front end of a tractor in one or tear off the blades of the bushhog.
Are you wanting to make any of it into hay ground? If not, then sectioning it off with electric is a good way to get the cattle to work on it a section at a time. Plus the winter will reveal anything that the lush spring/summer growth will hide. The cows will walk around any especially difficult or treacherous terrain.
What about available water? Maybe some creeks/streams or ponds on it.
I would let the cows do as much work as possible on it for a few months then make some more educated decisions when you can see some of the ground through the overgrowth.

 

[TennesseeTuxedo]

:welcome: Great advice.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

:welcome: Great advice.

totally agree!

 

[bird dog]

I would also do what the others are saying but go ahead and start spot spraying the trash trees. Diesel and remedy using the basal bark method on the larger trees. Mid to late summer is when the poison works the best.

 

[robwoo76]

Fence it, let the cows get in and start to clean it up; eat what they want, tromp into the ground anything they can. Bush hog what you can without tearing up the equipment.
Do soil samples so you have an idea of the PH so that you can lime if needed as soon as possible as it usually takes a little time for the lime to work.
Cut any trees that are too big to bushhog that you don't want there. If you work on it slowly you will also find any rocks,ledges, gullies,holes, etc and so on, BEFORE you drop the front end of a tractor in one or tear off the blades of the bushhog.
Are you wanting to make any of it into hay ground? If not, then sectioning it off with electric is a good way to get the cattle to work on it a section at a time. Plus the winter will reveal anything that the lush spring/summer growth will hide. The cows will walk around any especially difficult or treacherous terrain.
What about available water? Maybe some creeks/streams or ponds on it.
I would let the cows do as much work as possible on it for a few months then make some more educated decisions when you can see some of the ground through the overgrowth.

Thanks, Fantastic advice ya'll. Thanks so much Jan :lol: