I have a pasture that has been over-grazed & has some grass but is quickly being taken over by weeds & clover. We have several other pastures but we can not take this pasutre totally out of commission. Our one mare is just about totally blind & this is the only pasture that she "knows" & it is directly connected to her stall so that she can come & go as she pleases. I have been told to use Roundup & then re-seed (& keep the pasture closed to all horses for at least several months. I don't really want to use chemical means if I don't have to & I need to be able to keep this one horse on it. ANY SUGGESTIONS??? Help would be greatly appreciated........

-- C R Roush (ccpaints@pa.net), April 29, 2001

Answers

If you can figure out any way to rotate pastures, that's the easiest way. Maybe divide the pasture in half, or keep her out of the pasture altogether for a couple of weeks at a time. So if you rotate, here's what you can do. Let animal(s) in a pasture small enough that they will eat it down in about a week. Naturally, they will leave the less palatable weeds. Move the animals off the pasture and then mow what's left so that everything is the same height. When the grass is tall enough again (I think two fists is the rule of thumb), let the animals in again. Repeat.

Grass is much better adapted to being grazed than most weeds. Unpalatable weeds are normally untouched while the grass is heavily grazed, giving the weeds a strong advantage. By rotating and then mowing, you destroy the advantage the weeds would normally have over the grass, and the grass thrives and eventually is able to out-compete the weeds.

Good luck!

-- Laura Jensen (lrjensen@nwlink.com), April 29, 2001.

This is a little un orthadoxsed but here goes, at the horse ranch I work at the wild geranium realy takes over the show horses pastures, just recently we started dumping the manure around here rather then hauling it off. I find a patch of new growing geranium and dump the fresh manure, shavings from the stall right on the weed and rake it semi flat[ make sure weedx is covered]fresh shavings pull the nitrogen out so plant cant grow, espacaly with no light, and as the manure and shavings break down, the seeds in the wheat hay we feed start to sprout and grass grows instead.

-- kathy h (ckhart55@earthlink.net), April 29, 2001.

These are all good suggestions. Another one is section off 1/4 of it and till and seed or sprig that section. You could also try a controlled burn before seeding/sprigging. After its established, go to the next section etc.

-- Stacia in OK (oneclassycowgirl@aol.com), April 30, 2001.