greybeard
Herd Master
Thought I would post a little about pastures and the differences in a manged pasture and one that is not...and what the results of an un-managed pasture can easily become.
For people new to pasture management, the first rule is vision.
Have in your mind, not what you want your pasture to be tomorrow, but what you want it to be when you are all done and have nothing left to do but get up, watch the sunrise, drink a cup of Joe, and wander out to tend to your animal's immediate needs. Never, lose sight of that vision.
Weeds. Later in this, I will be using that term loosely, a catch all for any unwanted plant even tho it may include tree saplings, woody brush, reeds and vines around ponds..all of it. For this purpose, if it isn't grass forage, it's a weed.
As most here know, I took my land from a many decades old thicketed pine & hardwood forest, and tho the original process began when I was a kid in the mid 60s, I didn't really get into it seriously until 2008. At that time, it was a useless, ugly, useless, impenetrable mess. My vision at that time, was cleared land, with just a few trees left, pond, and plenty of good forage for cattle, fenced pastures weed and brush free and I worked to that end immediately. Cleared the land, piled the leftovers from logging, burned them and planted grass then worked on fences. By 2010, I cattle grazing belly deep in Bahia grass. Thought I was home free then, but soon realized my work had only begun.
Even if I had bought a place with good pastures already established and ready for grazing, there would still be work to be done...the managing part.
There are 2 types weeds, as there are 2 types any plant. Annuals and perennials.
By far, annuals seem like they would be easiest to deal with, as they are almost all seed born. Perennials on the other hand return each season from their root stocks, usually having lain dormant during the cold winter months.
Regardless of the method of weed control we choose, to be successful (or actually 'more successful') , we need to know a little about plant growth..how the vascular system works from the roots up thru the stalk or trunk.
Not all plants work exactly the same, solid woody trees work different than a soft weed stem but the basics are mostly the same.
Annual weeds.
There is a common misconception, that you can mow or graze down annual weeds 2-3 times per year and quickly get rid of them permanently. Most cases, this is not true. All you have done is to prevent or postpone seedhead formation. Most people's lawns are from seed established plants, but you mow it every week and it never dies out during the growing season. And there are always weeds popping up in your lawn, no matter how many times you mow. Why? There is, in the soil, a seedbank. There are years of seeds of every kind of plant that ever grew in the last decade (maybe longer) stored there, just waiting for the right moment to sprout and grow, and many of the native weed seed can lie dormant for many years, still viable. There are also seeds in that seedbank, from those bags of grass seed you originally planted to make a lawn. They don't all sprout..a lot stay 'in reserve' to help replace lawn grass that has died.
Perennials can be even worse and that problem comes not from seeds but from the root systems. We tend to think of roots being a one way conduit, carrying nutrient rich moisture from the ground to the limbs and leaves of trees and plants. It is not. It's a crowded 2 way highway. The roots are more than suction and anchoring devices...they are also storage facilities and they do a great job of it. Unless it's an evergreen, the plant itself dies back in winter, but within the root system, even in regions where the frost line is very deep, are stored vital nutrients. Energy, in the form of carbohydrates, sugars and some starches that were made by the leaves' photosynthesis during the growing season and sent down a section of the plant stalk or trunk called the phloem, and that area of living cells can move nutrients up or down as the plant needs demand. (The section of 'plant highway' that transports nutrients up TO the leaves is the Xyleum and it is generally made of dead cells.)
The volume of energy stored in perennial roots can last for years, thru drought, extremely long bitterly cold winters, mowing, herbicide applications, digging, tugging, pulling and it usually only takes one little root left to produce at least one new plant, even if every bit of the above ground plant is gone.
More later.......
For people new to pasture management, the first rule is vision.
Have in your mind, not what you want your pasture to be tomorrow, but what you want it to be when you are all done and have nothing left to do but get up, watch the sunrise, drink a cup of Joe, and wander out to tend to your animal's immediate needs. Never, lose sight of that vision.
Weeds. Later in this, I will be using that term loosely, a catch all for any unwanted plant even tho it may include tree saplings, woody brush, reeds and vines around ponds..all of it. For this purpose, if it isn't grass forage, it's a weed.
As most here know, I took my land from a many decades old thicketed pine & hardwood forest, and tho the original process began when I was a kid in the mid 60s, I didn't really get into it seriously until 2008. At that time, it was a useless, ugly, useless, impenetrable mess. My vision at that time, was cleared land, with just a few trees left, pond, and plenty of good forage for cattle, fenced pastures weed and brush free and I worked to that end immediately. Cleared the land, piled the leftovers from logging, burned them and planted grass then worked on fences. By 2010, I cattle grazing belly deep in Bahia grass. Thought I was home free then, but soon realized my work had only begun.
Even if I had bought a place with good pastures already established and ready for grazing, there would still be work to be done...the managing part.
There are 2 types weeds, as there are 2 types any plant. Annuals and perennials.
By far, annuals seem like they would be easiest to deal with, as they are almost all seed born. Perennials on the other hand return each season from their root stocks, usually having lain dormant during the cold winter months.
Regardless of the method of weed control we choose, to be successful (or actually 'more successful') , we need to know a little about plant growth..how the vascular system works from the roots up thru the stalk or trunk.
Not all plants work exactly the same, solid woody trees work different than a soft weed stem but the basics are mostly the same.
Annual weeds.
There is a common misconception, that you can mow or graze down annual weeds 2-3 times per year and quickly get rid of them permanently. Most cases, this is not true. All you have done is to prevent or postpone seedhead formation. Most people's lawns are from seed established plants, but you mow it every week and it never dies out during the growing season. And there are always weeds popping up in your lawn, no matter how many times you mow. Why? There is, in the soil, a seedbank. There are years of seeds of every kind of plant that ever grew in the last decade (maybe longer) stored there, just waiting for the right moment to sprout and grow, and many of the native weed seed can lie dormant for many years, still viable. There are also seeds in that seedbank, from those bags of grass seed you originally planted to make a lawn. They don't all sprout..a lot stay 'in reserve' to help replace lawn grass that has died.
Perennials can be even worse and that problem comes not from seeds but from the root systems. We tend to think of roots being a one way conduit, carrying nutrient rich moisture from the ground to the limbs and leaves of trees and plants. It is not. It's a crowded 2 way highway. The roots are more than suction and anchoring devices...they are also storage facilities and they do a great job of it. Unless it's an evergreen, the plant itself dies back in winter, but within the root system, even in regions where the frost line is very deep, are stored vital nutrients. Energy, in the form of carbohydrates, sugars and some starches that were made by the leaves' photosynthesis during the growing season and sent down a section of the plant stalk or trunk called the phloem, and that area of living cells can move nutrients up or down as the plant needs demand. (The section of 'plant highway' that transports nutrients up TO the leaves is the Xyleum and it is generally made of dead cells.)
The volume of energy stored in perennial roots can last for years, thru drought, extremely long bitterly cold winters, mowing, herbicide applications, digging, tugging, pulling and it usually only takes one little root left to produce at least one new plant, even if every bit of the above ground plant is gone.
More later.......
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