Haven't heard of Huisach, which is probably a good thing! But am very concerned about Palmer Amaranth, which I read is giving people in Iowa very serious problems as it is extremely hard to kill. At least one farmer believes hand pulling and burning it is the only way to truly kill it......and has hired people to help him do just that.
What especially concerns me is that it apparently has been put into some of those Native Grasses and Wildflower mixes being used for planting pollinator and wild life food plots. I really want to plant some of that, especially for pollinators, but won't do it until I can find a guaranteed 'clean' mix. Wonder if the same businesses and government agencies that have sold some of the bad stuff will take responsibility for the clean-up??????
We raise cattle and don't farm except for Alfalfa and grass for hay, so about our only weed problems have been Canada Thistle, thanks to the wild geese, and the wind, and recently have seen some Mares' Tail in the area. I really don't like using chemicals because we have so many varieties of good forbs and wild native grasses we have protected on this ranch, some of which has been in our family since 1890's and I would really hate to harm those.
We also depend heavily on the brushy draws for winter protection for our cows, and spraying Thistle has killed some of that and having a thistle problem in the first place is an 'irritant' and losing ANY brush causes real 'heartburn' for the 'senior cowboy' on this ranch.
Seems like we should be able to generate some conversation about what 'pests', from weeds to politicians, give us the most heartburn. Oh, we do have Political Bull where we discuss the very worst 'pests'!
mrj
