DiamondSCattleCo
Well-known member
Northern Rancher said:How about not tilling at all and using pasture rest and grazing-there hasn't been bare ground on our place in 15 years or more. As for a competitive crop a vigerous stand of grass competes as good as anything I've found.
I've never had any luck with convincing my cows to graze thistle. So it still ends up reseeding itself. I've got a timothy pasture that started out 8 years ago with a little bitty spot of thistle in the northwest corner. I've now got thistle coverage over 30% of that pasture, despite fertlizing the timothy.
As for the stand of grass, I agree with you. A good stand of grass will compete like mad, but I'm saying that it takes some work to get that stand going in my area. And it will also take some clipping to ensure that the thistle never gets a start.
Rod