Post by rd200 on Jun 9, 2015 11:01:41 GMT -5
Long story short, my pasture isn't the greatest. When we moved here it was just field, then the farmer that rents it didn't plant it for a year, and last year we sectioned off 1 acre for our "pasture" which was mostly weeds & some grass last year. Thru out the year, it got a bit better. Bringing in more grass, less weeds. This spring I frost seeded 5 different grasses into it hoping to make it better this summer. We kept our animals off of it until May 15 th or so. We got it seeded late (March 20th) and not a lot took- it was too warm by then. Maybe 30-40%. So, the weeds were taking over faster than the grasses were growing so decided to let them out there and start eating it before the weeds got out of control. Even though I know it wasn't the best for the Grasses to get established but like I said, not much took anyways.
My one goat eats a lot of the weeds, and my one milking cow & her 8wk old calf eat a lot of the shorter grasses. They have definitely not kept up with eating it. Its almost out of control now and getting taller by the day. But now they seem to not be grazing as much. I think its getting too "old" and definetly not as tender as it was a few wks ago. Should I mow it down?? I have one other 1/3 of an acre section I can put them into while I'm mowing it down and letting it re-grow. I'm not sure if I should keep letting them on it for now and see if they eat more or if I should mow it. Seems almost like a "waste" to mow down some of the nice grasses that DID come thru when I frost seeded. But the weeds are growing a lot faster than the grass. if I get it mowed down, I'm hoping they can keep up with it again....??
Id think 2-3 animals could keep up with 1 acre of pasture....