Cows on my new lawn

Manuel

Hi,
I sowed our new lawn between 4 and 6 weeks ago on a half-acre.

We had a couple of unwanted visitors overnight last week, and now when I look down on the lawn from upstairs, it's pock-marked with hoof-prints, several hundred. On closer inspection they range from about 2 to 4 inches deep. The offending beasts were escorted back home and the gap in the hedge was blocked up.

Can anybody advise me what's the best approach? I just want to minimise the damage within reason so it won't be permanent, and hopefully by the end of Spring it won't be noticeable any more.

I tried rolling alone with a concrete roller, but that wasn't much use.
I tried to fork a few of them and that was a bit better, but a bit labour-intensive and a bit hard on my new grass. So with a bit of daylight next weekend I might go around with a barrow of sand or topsoil (or both) and fill the holes. I've considered doing nothing, but I reckon as the ground gets harder it'll just become a disaster. So I'm thinking I'll fill in the holes and sow new seed in the Spring if I need to.

Any advice?
Thanks,
/M.

Rabies

I have filled in holes like this before with sand and a mix of grass seed.
It will take a while, but it does work. The only thing is, you will get little if any growth from the seeds at this time of the year.

Manuel

Thanks R,
Question though: why sand and not topsoil? I have some topsoil that I could use. I guess sand is already compact, so you don't need to overfill and then tap it down with a spade, which I would probably need to do with topsoil.
But what kind of sand? I have sand lying around too, left over by the builder. Can I use that? Maybe mix the two .....
Thanks again.

Rabies

Either would work, I have used sand and it does work. Grass growth would probably better in soil if you are after a faster recovery.

Eurorunner

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