cutting grass

[Jericho]

My field needs to be regularly topped to clear it of some very rough patches of grass and docks / nettles and after regularly breaking our ride on lawn mower last year my OH has banned me from taking it any where near the field

.

I started paying a local farmer to do it but at £30 a go and it needs doing at least once a month really to improve it I cant really afford it so I was wondering if there is an alternative.... Strip grazing doesnt really help as the grass just grows in areas where the horse isnt..

Does anyone know whether I can tow (using a quad bike i.e. no PTO) a manual grass topper / mower) or if indeed such a thing exists?

 

[jillygem]

Sorry no idea about the topper/mower, Sheep are the best answer!!

 

[1275gta]

I would second sheep, will improve the grass no end.

 

[flyingfeet]

Anything without a PTO will be too gutless for the job

So suggest the sheep and strimming - the sheep won't eat nettle patches, so you just need to strim these. They can be left as when dry are a tasty treat for the horses (and sheep!)

 

[Jericho]

would love to have sheep but field is post and rail and wire fencing so would need to spend lots on fencing so keep the sheep in....

 

[Steeleydan]

We mow our paddock with the sit on mower the secret is DO NOT let the grass get too long and thick, remember the sit on is only a bigger version of a walk behind mower not really designed to cut grass 12" long as we discovered!!
We have a 1 acre paddock we just use for the winter, we then rest it the whole of the summer and use the other fields. We then every week mow the winter paddock with the sit on to thicken it, it completly recovers from been trashed thro winter. But if we leave it a fortnight the sit on struggles to get thro the thick spring/summer grass and chokes a bit.
One of my house sitting clients has a mower that tows behind her quad(No pto) and it self propelled, you attatch it to the back of the quad and pull a cord (like on a petrol lawnmower) and it self propells, but again its good but wont cut thick long grass. We have a tractor and topper for the big field. My advice to you would be talk nice to your OH convince him you are not going to wreck the sit on, and cut your rough bits every week, and start soon.

 

[L&M]

You can buy toppers for quad bikes but very expensive (the one we looked at was way over our budget at nearly £3000!!)