spacie1977
Well-Known Member
I've just bought a 7 acre field to keep my horses on. The land has been left for years (no grazing or maintenance apart from the occasional cut to stop the grass getting too long). So it's not been looked after in terms of irradicating weeds, and at the moment it's 2/3 thistles.
I've never needed to manage grazing before so have no idea where to start with getting rid of the stuff. What's the most effective and economical way I can turn it all back to healthy grazing?
There's way too much to pull by hand and I'm guessing unless I get the whole root that'll be pointless anyway.
I don't mind spending a day spraying by hand if that's the best option. But wonder how effective it'll be. Should I just get a farmer to plough and reseed it all? No doubt it'll be expensive but the horses won't need to be on it for a few months. Will sheep get rid of it if they graze on it for a few months?
Reading up a bit on sprays, I apparently need a spraying certificate for some if using a knapsack, and some sprays aren't legal to use in a knapsack at all :-(
To complicate things, the field is close to a stream so there's certain chemicals I won't be able to use near that (unless I just spray the top end of the field?)
What should I do?
I've never needed to manage grazing before so have no idea where to start with getting rid of the stuff. What's the most effective and economical way I can turn it all back to healthy grazing?
There's way too much to pull by hand and I'm guessing unless I get the whole root that'll be pointless anyway.
I don't mind spending a day spraying by hand if that's the best option. But wonder how effective it'll be. Should I just get a farmer to plough and reseed it all? No doubt it'll be expensive but the horses won't need to be on it for a few months. Will sheep get rid of it if they graze on it for a few months?
Reading up a bit on sprays, I apparently need a spraying certificate for some if using a knapsack, and some sprays aren't legal to use in a knapsack at all :-(
To complicate things, the field is close to a stream so there's certain chemicals I won't be able to use near that (unless I just spray the top end of the field?)
What should I do?