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Clipping pastures

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George

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Do any of you clip your pastures? I always clip the weeds right after I move the cattle to new pastures, seems to give the grasses a much better chance of coming back and if I don't the weeds will try to take over.

We have terrible problems with multi flora roses, canidian thistle, and black locus and osage orange trees.

We have to clip at least 3 times a year to keep things under control.

One of the families in my sunday school class has 8 acres that has had nothing on it since April and he wanted me to clip it.

Kindaweedy.jpg


Ready to go back home - - - JD4650 with a BH220 - - -

Letsgohome.jpg


On large fields this shure makes things easier

Autosteer.jpg


It's an auto steer unit by "Outback" - - - we set it on 30' passes to plant with a 12 row planter, with the bush hog cutting 21' max I can set it on 20' and not have skips - - - at 6 MPH I can cover a lot of ground quickly!
 
I usually clip about this time of year for Canada and Scotch Thistle and a few other weeds. Just did it last week on the one field that had thistle but the rest are pretty clean since they haven't been seeded down as long.
 
I have seen mowing when i went thru missouri before, in our neck of the woods if you got that bad of problem with weeds you might want to change your way of range management.
 
I would be pretty happy with weeds as that would mean we have had some moisture!!!
 
Some of my pastures are completely dead of grass but the thistle, multi flora rose and locus trees are having one of the best years ever.

I guess they have long tap roots, my alfalfa is still growing at about half the normall rate but at least it is growing.

The only grass I have is the swamps that the cattle will normally not go into. This year they are just staying in the swamps but while the grass is growing there I can walk right thru without getting my feet wet!

I have considered spending the time and money to drain the swamps but now I am sure glad I never did!
 
I see a lot of people around here clipping pasture. I'm a fan of it! I feel it is helping my grass along with what else I'm doing to improvement my pastures without paying for fertilizer. I wish I didn't have to use my sickle bar mower because of course it cuts it way too short, but it's all I have and I still feel it helps. I can't wait to have a bat wing set up like yours or just a pull behind brush hog of some sort! Even this year it seems like the thorn trees and weeds are still trying to take over these parts. ....and maybe helps with less eye trouble??? Seems like the grass heads out so fast around here even when stocking heavily.
 
If you wern't so far I would make you a good deal on a couple of 15' bat wings.

I'm getting lazier in my old age - - - love the 21' thinking about a 24' if I find one priced right.

Was told Bush hog is making a 40' with dual fold - - - want to see it but I don't have enough use for one that big.

I got my first 15' in the mid 1970s and everyong told me I was crazy as most people stll used 5' or 6' 3 point hitch mowers

Fuel is to high to mow with something small - - - I have a 6' on the front of my skid steer and will fly down the fences and trim around any other obsicles then let the big boy do it's job.

I have three remotes on the tractor so I can lift either wing indepently and the whole unit on the third lever - - - really makes it easy to use.
 
Most of my pastures are the strips between tilled fields.

This is what the pastures look like

Burntuppasture.jpg


Of course the locus trees are still growing - - - this has been mowed three times a year for the last nine years since I bought the ground and has been mowed twice already this year



Locustreeinthepasture.jpg


But I still have grass in the swamps the cattle normally will not go into

Swampisgreen.jpg


Dogs playing in the edge of the crossing
Dogsandgrassatthecreek.jpg


Dogs, Cows and calves hanging out in the shade

Dogscowsandcalvesintheshade.jpg


My cows are used to my dogs but they will stampede and kill a strange dog ( about twice a year ) One of my German Shepherd pups was about 6 months old and got to close to a claf and the cows butted and stomped him into the ground.
 
Everytime you cut a locust tree and dont tree the stump there are probably 20 new trees that sprout from the roots. Worked for a guy once and we went thru and clipped all the locust and tried to treat them all. 5 years later, solid locusts again. 1 application of Grazon with and airplane and they are gone.
 
eatbeef said:
Everytime you cut a locust tree and dont tree the stump there are probably 20 new trees that sprout from the roots. Worked for a guy once and we went thru and clipped all the locust and tried to treat them all. 5 years later, solid locusts again. 1 application of Grazon with and airplane and they are gone.

Milestone works better, gets more stuff. Costs a lot more to though.
 
Milestone works better, gets more stuff. Costs a lot more to though.

Havent used that, but might have to try it. Usually all that is ever in my fourwheeler tank is Grazon, but i have some firebush/kochia around the place that Grazon wont kill, maybe Milestone would do the trick? Also there is some chemical that the range specialist recommended to use for basal treatment of trees, and can be put on in the winter.
 
The guy that does all our arial spraying won't even use grazon any more. I like milestone a lot, the sprayer thinks it kills more broadleaves for longer than grazon, it sure smokes musk thistle good, (if you have any of those neighbors) :D but don't have a heart attack when you go to buy it. We have a lot of kochia that almost nothing will kill. Due to a lot of neighbors using a cut rate of roundup for the past 15 years. You have to get them right after a rain when they are growing early in the morning with about a double rate of banvel. Make sure you use a good surfactant. We also have to use amonium sulphate for the ph in our water.
 
I dozed the trees and removed the stumps but you never get all the roots - - - I figure I have to clip for weeds anyway but I thought they would have given up by now.
 
We always clip pastures but it has got way to dry to do it. I would say 50 or more fires have been started by hogs in the last 30 days..
 
I've got a 22 acre lot that is mostly woods with about 3 to 5 acres of swamp running thru it - - - calves are loving it this year!

First time I can remember that a man can walk thru it!

calvesinswamp2012.jpg


There is a lot more grass there than the picture shows.
 
You guys need a few Highlands. They keep the brush trimmed.

Great fire control as well. Don't need a damn fence to hold water like you do with goats.

No devil eyes like goats. Big plus there.
 

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