Paddock Help Please

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nijinsky

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South Lincs
www.xaraymax.co.uk
I bought an adjoining field last year as I needed extra grazing, it was last used for wheat. At the time I couldn't really afford to get it properly turned over and seeded and I'm sure I read on here that you didn't have to do that. So my usual paddock guy came in harrowed, rolled and seeded it, ideally I would have left it until next year to graze but I couldn't wait that long. The grass is coming through, horses are grazing on it but it's not great grass, very tufty in places, very thin & still a fair amount of wheat coming through but it's better than nothing.

Also rented the field next to that (agreement so I got my bought field a bit cheaper), I haven't done a thing with that & it has grown considerably but there is sooooo much thistle in there. My normal paddock guy is out of action at the moment but he suggested toping it, take about a foot off & then spray it in a month or so, at least taking the top off will look better and stop thistle seeding & blowing on to neighbouring farmers fields.

Got a local farmer in to top it & he said cut it right down, the grass is crap, he called it black grass, whatever that is, then we'll need to burn it & that will hopefully kill the thistle, if not it will need to be sprayed. He then recommended turning it all over & seeding it properly, the way I've done it isn't good enough, just harrowing, rolling, etc and us horsey people are all the same, never want to spend money to do a proper job, cheeky bugger but anyway.......

So has anyone been successful with growing decent grass without the expense of having to completely rotivate their field, any suggestions/advice would be gratefully received, at the end of the day if I have to do it I will but I know it won't be cheap and does anyone have any ideas how much it would be to completely redo a 5 acre field from scratch? At least if I have an idea I'll have a comparison with my local farmer's prices.

Thanks, if you got this far.
 

Rotavating or ploughing is actually a big mistake.It will take two years for the ground to settle so that horses dont do too much damage.
Autumn spraying to kill weeds and grasses,followed by heavy disc harrowing to create a tilth.Sow grass seed,disc harrow again and roll with a cambridge roller.It will take the best part of a year before you can graze this.
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I didn't think you could burn fields anymore?!
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But might be wrong.

If you are using it just for grazing (and not hay etc), I would have thought just harrowing, seeding and rolling would be okay but I would probably spray with Roundup first to kill off everything because it sounds like it is mainly rubbish at the moment.
 
Thanks guys.

Not sure about burning it either, local farmer said to do so, I'll probably burn the whole village down if I attempted it
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Don't fancy using Round Up on a field that size, I'll be there forever, there is a weed killer than I cannot for the life of me remember, sounds like a load of initials, ie, MCPA.... or something like that.
 
Hi,

Field 1 (the one that had the crop growing in it) will need to be spraded with roundup and then reseaded, this can be done in Sept/oct this year. A good local contractor should be able to do this. Doining it this time of the year will allow the ground to settld over the winter and be ready for use in the spring

Field 2 (the weeds) Yes top it now and then get it spared in april time. If you ask your local chemical supplier they will normally send some one out to assess the field and recommend what chemicals to use, They will also know who can do the sparying. Our 5 acre field cost about £120 for the chemicals and sparying
 
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