when to mow and how much to mow at one time?

[thatdoggJake]

I'm south of Houston and it has been a long hard winter down here for us (In terms of Texas). In my lease agreement, given there has been enough rain, I have to mow my 500 acres once a year. How would you go about mowing your 500 acre lease land? It is striaght grassland with just a couple trees on the whole place. When should I start mowing? How much should I mow at a time? Since mid December there has been record rain and things are just now finally starting to dry up after a couple months of wet ground. When will I start seeing more green grass? Should I do some soil testing? Should I fertilize or weed kill? I have a ten year lease, but I'm not holding my breathe that it plays out over all ten years for either one reason or another? Oh yeah, and I don't want to go broke. lol ;-)

None of the property is crossed fence. Total there is about 80 head on the place with a carrying capacity of about 100 head during an average year.

Thanks!!!!!

 

[novaman]

Why don't you let the cattle do the mowing? I realize you are understocked but that shouldn't keep you from managing a majority of the property with the cows alone.

 

[upfrombottom]

I can understand why the owners want pastures clipped at least once a year. We do it here to keep the brush down. I usually clip my pasture in October or early November after most of the summer grasses have gone dormant. Don't clip it for a couple years and you'll be hiring a dozer to come clear it agaln.

 

[novatech]

upfrombottom is right as far as what the owner wants. Your most important consideration is weed control.Watch your predominant weeds. You want to mow just before they go to seed. You need to clip the top of the grass not mow it down to the ground. Clipping it stimulates fresh growth. The number of times you mow may be determined by how fast the weeds grow. If you are already understocked you certainly do not need to fertilize so that also eliminates the soil test. If you plan on buying more cattle then soil test and fertilize before you buy them.
Weed control and and grass production is, in part, controlled by stocking rate. To many or to few cattle encourage the growth of weeds. Unfortunately the weather will not let us have the perfect stocking rate. My late uncle and mentor taught me that pasture should only be stocked with 75% of the estimated stocking rate.This is with permanent type momma cows. The other 25% should be liquid cattle,those cattle that are bought and sold. The liquid cattle control the extra grass and fatten up while doing it. Liquid cattle can be just about anything from stockers to open cows getting bred or what ever else you think you could make a little extra on.

 

[pdfangus]

another option if predators can be controlled is to add some brush goats to the mix.

help with weed control and add a different revenue stream.

I have a friend that makes a lot more money from his goats than from his cattle. But then he has shifted to the goats for the income. He has guard dogs in with the goats.

 

[1982vett]

August, when the grass is short and the weeds (the ones that escaped the 2,4-d) are already half dead from heat and lack of moisture.

 

[thatdoggJake]

It was not mowed last year due to the lack of rain. This year there is too much rain. Go figure. So, there is already some tall dead weeds in the field. My fear is that it is going to keep some of the good grass from coming up. Could I cut/clip them before things start to green or is that going to hurt me more than not doing it?

 

[dun]

Unless the tall dead weeds form a solid enough canapy that the ground is heavily shaded they aaren;t going to affect anything. Mow them now and they'll broadcast what seeds they haven;t already dropped. Leave them and they'll broadcast the seeds they haven;t already dropped. I've found that it takes almost as long to reclaim an abused/neglected pasture as it took for it to get inot the shape it;s in now.

 

[novatech]

Unless the tall dead weeds form a solid enough canapy that the ground is heavily shaded they aaren;t going to affect anything. Mow them now and they'll broadcast what seeds they haven;t already dropped. Leave them and they'll broadcast the seeds they haven;t already dropped. I've found that it takes almost as long to reclaim an abused/neglected pasture as it took for it to get into the shape it;s in now.

Unfortunately you will find almost a solid stand of weeds under the previous growth which makes grass almost non existent. My recommendation is to get your herbicide license. Sell the shredder and spray the stuff. It takes a smaller tractor, less fuel and the spray rig is usually less expensive. Mine covers 24 feet where the bat wing only covers 15. Once the weeds are under control spraying becomes limited as the grass is then strong enough to keep it chocked out. That is given you also manage the grass properly.

 

[marksmu]

Depending on how many head you have you could potentially have to mow all the time. 500 acres here south of Houston grows FAST. I am in Houston area as well, and I kept my 44 head on 68 acres, and that was plenty for them. The remaining 700 acres I either mowed, or allowed my neighbor to graze to keep down.

I would strongly suggest getting enough cattle to cut the cost of mowing if you can afford it. Mowing takes time, wears on your equipment, and has no value to you. If you can get someone to make hay on your excess on a contract deal, they come make the hay, and you keep 40% they keep 60% that could be a good deal for you. Then you only have to get a fertilizer buggy and run the fields once and make a phone call.

When we got our place it was in pretty rough shape, and its taken 3 years to get 568 of the 768 acres into control. It will take another 3 for the remaining 200 because its much worse off.