Advice for reading and equipment to put right 4 acres of unmanged land

[nat88]

We have been offered 4 acres of land for grazing on the provision that we clear and sort out the land. At the moment the land has been left completely untouched for about 20 years, there are a number of fallen trees, brambles, nettles and the ants have been very creative and have fashioned huge ant hills over both of the fields! We have started to clear the fallen trees and found many tree stumps but we are not sure if we should scrape up the "grass" that is there at the moment and make banks around the fields which will help to act as a bit of a wind break. The fields have natural fencing of sorts being hedgerow trees etc, but we think that we should erect additional fencing. Basically does anyone know of any good books that are worth reading to help put us in the right direction? I also wanted to know if a large quad would be ok to attach a roller/chain harrow/seed dispenser etc to for future maintenance or if I need to purchase something else. We have a digger and dumper to get the clearance underway, but will need to do something to level the land out. The land has we think been used for grazing possibly sheep a very long time ago so any advise on soil testing, type of seed to sew etc would be greatly appreciated, it is very good arable land and in the Cambridge area, it is well drained and there is no clay. The land would be split into 4 paddocks so that I could rotate the grazing for my horse once it’s all done. Many thanks

 

[Stinkbomb]

Not sure on your questions but are you sure they are ant hills??? I get lots of mole hills in mine so wondered whether it could be that??? Also i wouldnt get rid of any hedges trees etc as they act as great wind/rain/sun barriers but im not sure whether you meant this or just to erect traditional fencing as "extra"

 

[marieE]

burn everything

and then have the land harrowed and weed killerd and re sow with grass as it sounds you will be lacking. ring local farmer for advice, or hay man thy shld be able to help

 

[jrp204]

Get someone in with a flail topper and beat off all the cr*p, let everything start to grow back and whack it with a good broadleaved weed spray or if its really bad roundup it and reseed. If it is mainly overgrown grass you may be able to get it mown and round baled and dump the bales just to get the field cleared. Before you let anyone in to cut it check theres no posts, big stones etc hiding in the grass, it won't go down well with the contractor if they hit something big! Get the ph tested and apply lime before reseeding if it is needed. Good luck.

 

[*hic*]

See if there are any free range pig farmers in the area who would make use of it for a few months. Pigs are excellent at clearing and fertilising but with four acres it's a bit much to suggest you buy your own and let them get on with it - you'd need dozens!

 

[nat88]

I know what you mean on the mole front! We get these in our garden, but these are ant mountains! Put it one way they are about 2 to 3 foot high! I think that the flail topper sounds like a great idea and I have been told to try something called Grazeon as this will apparently get rid of brambles/nettles etc, I dont know if anyone has any experiance of this product. I will be keeping the trees and hedging, but there are gaps so I will have to put something extra in place too. Is it ok to do the PH testing myself? I know that you can get them from garden centres and I will check if lime is needed before I even consider turning my boy out. Thank you so much for your replies, it is appreciated.

 

[jrp204]

contact you local farmers merchants who will prob do a soil analysis for a small charge, they can also arrange to have lime spread too , Grazeon is good as far as i can remember, OH has used it.

 

[OWLIE185]

If there is no fresh water supply apply for a water metre.

Get the soil analysed to determine if any mag lime or other minerals need adding.

Remove all fallen trees and stump grind out all remaining stumps and roots as otherwise they will infect the soil.

Trim up all the hedges and note any trees of shrubs that are poisonous such as yew and oak. Remove all old fencing.

If there are a lot of weeds you either have the choice of area spraying them, strimming them each time they re-grow until they give up or do a total kill.

If you do a total kill then allow eight weeks for the total kill to work and then plough up the field, then cultivate and drill the seed in.

If you re-sead you need to leave the field alone for 2 years if you want the best possible pasture. In those two years you need to cut and collect the grass at least 2 times in the growing season and roll it at least twice a year.

Install the water pipe by mole drilling it in and install plastic water troughs. (Horses have been known to kick metal water troughs and fracture their legs).

Last of all re-fence the field with post and rail fencing and equi-fencing. Paint all fencing posts and rails in advance and once the posts and the top rails are put in put the equi-fencing in place and then the bottom and middle row. Equi-fencing will prevent horses kicking through the fencing and stop dogs entering the paddocks.

You are probably best to use a contractor who specialises in grass land.