Controlling weeds in grazing pasture

[Lesley11]

I'm doing some research on weed control in horse pasture. How important do people think this is in pasture management? I'm interested to know how people approach this (does it vary depending on how much land you have)? How many people use contractors and how many do it themselves? Do they spot treat weeds or apply weedkiller across the whole field or are they organic in approach? Any comments much appreciated.

 

[MiJodsR2BlinkinTite]

I make sure that I pull up and destroy any Ragwort, in spite of the local authority leaving it to grow by the hedgerow.

Thistles are trimmed in the summer. "Do 'em in May and they'll stay; do 'em in June and its too soon; do 'em in July and they'll die" (they don't!!!). Buttercups are my main problem and apparently indicates alkaline soil, so that's the next thing to do - lime is the solution so I'm told which has to be done in the autumn.

I don't use contractors simply because (a) I can't find anyone locally who isn't so tied up with farming that they can spare me the time and (b) if I could find a contractor I probably would be horrified by their prices.

We use sheep here to cross-graze wherever possible anyway.