Recent content by Tristan

As mentioned you may be better off topping these and letting the horses eat them for now, and then looking at spraying next spring when they start to come up again. Nettles can be quite tricky to kill, and take up herbicides better when actively growing. Spraying at that point may help avoid...

Indeed. Being more focused on management of smaller acreages, we'd buy the tractor and machinery to be able to cope with the jobs we'll cover - so a compact tractor would be ideal. Being an ag contractor means bigger acreages, bigger tractors, bigger machinery and a bit more hassle moving it all...

With overseeding it can be beneficial to harrow first, pulling out dead thatch etc and creating space for the new plants to establish. These don't have to be seperate tasks though with some broadcast seeders coming with harrows attached. Sometimes it can also be beneficial to roll afterwards to...

I agree and think that a company may take those hassles out of the land side of things, leaving people more free time \ money to concentrate on the horses, which is essentially the whole reason you're doing it anyway! Certainly there may be something to be said for knowing that hedgecutting...

If you did apply lime then the paddock should be rested until after a good rain and it has been washed in. You can also use calcified seaweed to correct soil pH which can be grazed straight away.

I can see how that's frustrating, which I think is why some people choose to pay a company to turn up on a specific day. I suppose in that way you're partly paying for a level of customer service that you may not get with someone doing you a favour or with another primary interest. I also...

I think the place to start would be with a soil analysis. This will help you see what you soil is lacking in terms of nutrients and what (if anything) should be applied and in what quantity so you avoid making it too rich. If you have poor grass growth and have noticed increases in weeds such as...

Yes, our farm buildings are now craft workshops / holiday lets, a farm shop and the Sussex barn is a wedding venue!! If anyone has got a quote from a company then I'd be very interested in seeing how inflated it is over the prices that people would be more comfortable with. From various...

Sorry, my first post isn't that clear on where I was coming from. I'm not looking for someone to provide these services to me, more a finding out people's opinions on companies which do provide the services and why they do \ do not use them. I used to be the local farmer, and since stopping...

That's an interesting one. To me, 'paddock maintenance' is a variety of tasks. So any agri contractor coming in to top a paddock for example would be the 'paddock maintenance person'. Or is it that companies who focus on smaller scale agricultural contracting are generally charging more than...

Sounds a good way of doing it with the 'many hands' approach and the bartering. Interesting that you do your own hay making - several people that I've spoken too have felt that agricultural contractors they have had in before bumped them down the list due to having smaller acreages and the hay...

Hello all, I'm looking into paddock maintenance and just wondered if people would mind sharing their opinions? General opinions on what you tend to do, or even what you don't do if you feel that it's unnecessary you are welcome. More specifically though, people's use of paddock...