Over Grown Field

farmkilkenny

Good Morning,

I have a field that has not being used for a few years and now I want to clean it up. So what would be the best course of action to clear it up? I have a ford 3000 tractor and was maybe thinking of getting a topper or a flail mower to cut it. So which mower would be best for this job? And lastly what do I do with the grass after cutting it? any advice would be great.

Username John

farmkilkenny wrote: »

Good Morning,

I have a field that has not being used for a few years and now I want to clean it up. So what would be the best course of action to clear it up? I have a ford 3000 tractor and was maybe thinking of getting a topper or a flail mower to cut it. So which mower would be best for this job? And lastly what do I do with the grass after cutting it? any advice would be great.

What exactly is growing there? Old grass? Briars? Ferns? Furze? Would it be possible to put up a few pics?
And when you have it cleaned up - what do you want to do with it? Reseed it?

If its just old grass, then I would advise getting a few horses into it over the winter, and let them bare it down. Easier than mowining it...

farmkilkenny

It mostly old grass and alot of weeds as well. I would like to reseed it and then use it for Silage. Horse would not be bad idea. I will take some picture when I´m there next time

blue5000

You could organize a welcome home party for the team in the field, that should flatten it down a bit, only jealous!

If it is not too rough mow it with a disc mower and bale it, it would be alright for bedding

farmkilkenny

Hi blue5000, Yea it was a good game yesterday! good idea with home coming party! Anyway yes cutting it is one option so would it be safe to burn the grass after cutting or let the grass rot in the field?

sh1tstirrer

farmkilkenny wrote: »

Hi blue5000, Yea it was a good game yesterday! good idea with home coming party! Anyway yes cutting it is one option so would it be safe to burn the grass after cutting or let the grass rot in the field?

If the grass has been growing wild on it for a few years it will never rot. I found that out when I had to plough land that wasn't used for a few years. Cutting will not take out the flattened grass and grazing will trample this years grass in with it.

BalingMad

Had same situation with 30 acres I bought, didn't do anything with it for few months, let a local put in batty horses in there for a while. They actually helped to tin out the rough stuff a bit.
I then burned it off, some of it needed a second run later.
After that we had to get a lad with fail mower to knock real strong weeds, bushes and fellastrups. Topper is not an option, topper is only for after grazing. And wouldn't use my own mounted mower, didn't want anything to happen to it

LostCovey

BalingMad wrote: »

Had same situation with 30 acres I bought, didn't do anything with it for few months, let a local put in batty horses in there for a while. They actually helped to tin out the rough stuff a bit.
I then burned it off, some of it needed a second run later.
After that we had to get a lad with fail mower to knock real strong weeds, bushes and fellastrups. Topper is not an option, topper is only for after grazing. And wouldn't use my own mounted mower, didn't want anything to happen to it

+1 on the horses. They eat anything bar stones. Only thing is it brings their owners around the place......

farmkilkenny

Good points there lads. I´ve tried to find somebody local with some horses but no luck so far. I´m thinking that the horse would only help thin it abit but would need alot of work cutting and burning grass. So would a flail Mower be up for this task? I´m guessing it would need few runs with mower and burning. It is 35 Acre of land so abit of work to be done! :eek: I might have to wait till next year as it raining alot lately

Bactidiaryl

35 acre. thats a good a good skelp of land.you could get a farmer to strip graze it with dry cows or lighter cattle.if you strip graze it they will bare it.and probably get paid for it too.

BalingMad

farmkilkenny wrote: »

Good points there lads. I´ve tried to find somebody local with some horses but no luck so far. I´m thinking that the horse would only help thin it abit but would need alot of work cutting and burning grass. So would a flail Mower be up for this task? I´m guessing it would need few runs with mower and burning. It is 35 Acre of land so abit of work to be done! :eek: I might have to wait till next year as it raining alot lately

It took us two runs of the fail mower in the worst places, once it was all burnt off I disc harrowed it all as the layer of topsoil was very shallow. Then the usual power harrowing etc

Username John

farmkilkenny wrote: »

Good points there lads. I´ve tried to find somebody local with some horses but no luck so far. I´m thinking that the horse would only help thin it abit but would need alot of work cutting and burning grass. So would a flail Mower be up for this task? I´m guessing it would need few runs with mower and burning. It is 35 Acre of land so abit of work to be done! I might have to wait till next year as it raining alot lately

You'd be amazed how close to the ground horses would eat, old grass and all... The weeds would prob still need to be managed all right tho.

I would advise leaving it til next year, and not being in a rush now. Put something in over the winter, to eat as much of it down as possible.

I had to do something similiar this year - and I made the mistake of not getting horses.

The field had a lot of heavy weeds - thistles, ferns, etc. These were cut with a mower, and then pushed off the field - easy enough to deal with, as they were tall and when cut stayed in fairly big clumps.

The old grass sod was a nightmare - I am sorry I didnt put in horses. It was years of growth and regrowth, so nearly a few inches of just dead grass. The field was ploughed, but in some places, the sod wouldnt turn over properly. So it had to be disced a good few times, and even now there is a lot of bits of sod left :mad:

If you have use for it - I was advised to put in rape or kale. Altho maybe too late for that this year now, maybe someone else could advise on that?
But from what I heard, the rape is great to clean the ground from weeds, and break up the soil with its roots. Then cattle in on top help to break down any old sods, and reseed afterwards - supposedly makes a great job. But didnt suit me, as I wouldnt have the stock to eat it. Just something else to think about maybe...

Whatever you do, best of luck with it.

farmkilkenny

Cheers Lads that information is very helpful. I´m going to leave it till next year and try find some horses for the winter. Only problem is that field does not have any water or fences so that could be problem with horse! Would be just easier to cut field few times and burn it off.

BalingMad

farmkilkenny wrote: »

Cheers Lads that information is very helpful. I´m going to leave it till next year and try find some horses for the winter. Only problem is that field does not have any water or fences so that could be problem with horse! Would be just easier to cut field few times and burn it off.

Well my land had none at time, only boundary wall nd thick hedges and they never moved, no water either, only a stream

49801

tracked digger to scrap all the rubbish into piles and let them rot....

horse be a lot cheaper... that said i would not let it to the lads who drove into our yard in a big white pick up that were looking for 'grazing for a horse'

hedgecutting eddie

best way would to spray it off then stick a match to it b the best way if ur not near any houses , will you b setting the ground for tillage??

farmkilkenny

I was talking to local lad that has track digger and he did same job as some of you were saying. none of local farmer has horses and I´m not keen on having horses on land with guys that I don´t know. Too many guys with big white van going around checking farms. I think I will go that route with digger to clean it up next year. The plan is to use it for silage when all is good.

Username John

farmkilkenny wrote: »

I was talking to local lad that has track digger and he did same job as some of you were saying. none of local farmer has horses and I´m not keen on having horses on land with guys that I don´t know. Too many guys with big white van going around checking farms. I think I will go that route with digger to clean it up next year. The plan is to use it for silage when all is good.

Thats a good, but expensive plan

If I coudl suggest getting the digger in early in the year - so the weeds have a chance to regrow, so you can hit them with spray come April time.

If you cleared with a digger, and then reseeded kinda straight away, you could have a lot of weeds come back into the pasture...

The_Conductor

hedgecutting eddie wrote: »

best way would to spray it off then stick a match to it b the best way if ur not near any houses , will you b setting the ground for tillage??

I'd like to remind you (and anyone else who might be this way inclined) of the wildlife acts- specifically:

Section 40 of the Wildlife Act 1976, incorporating section 46 of the Wildlife (Amendment) Act 2000

(a) It shall be an offence for a person to cut, grub, burn or otherwise destroy, during the period beginning on the 1st day of March and ending on the 31st day of August in any year, any vegetation growing on any land not then cultivated.

(b) It shall be an offence for a person to cut grub, burn or otherwise destroy any vegetation growing in any hedge or ditch during the period mentioned in paragraph (a ) of this subsection.

(2) Subsection (1) of this section shall not apply in relation to – (a) the destroying, in the ordinary course of agriculture or forestry, of any vegetation growing on or in any hedge or ditch;
(b) the cutting or grubbing of isolated bushes or clumps or gorse, furze or whin or the mowing of isolated growths or fern in the ordinary course of agriculture.

(c) The cutting, grubbing or destroying of vegetation in the course of any works being duly carried out for reasons of public health or safety by a Minister or the Government or a body established or regulated by or under a statute.
(cc) the clearance of vegetation in the course of fisheries development works carried out by the Central Fisheries Board or a regional fisheries board in the exercise of its functions under the Fisheries Acts, 1959 to 1999;

(d) the destroying of any noxious weed to which the Noxious Weeds Act 1936, applies

(e) the clearance of vegetation in the course of road or other construction works or in the development or preparation of sites on which any building or other structure in intended to be provided.

(f) The removal or destruction of vegetation required by a notice served by the Minister under section 62(1) of the Act of 1946 to be removed or destroyed;

farmkilkenny

Ok I had no luck finding a farmer with some horses so I'm thinking of buying 2 or 3 horses to help with the land. So what type of horse or breed should I be looking out for? i want a horse that easy to manage and doesn't need much maintenance as I don't have any Sheds or building to house them at night. Also how often would I have to check them as I live in Dublin and farm is in kilkenny. Cheers

JJJJNR

They need some sort of shelter against the ice and moisture, esp if you want them to be productive, also you will need to feed them

Something like this would do the trick.



You'll also need to get the vaccinated coming into the winter.

Bodacious

farmkilkenny wrote: »

Ok I had no luck finding a farmer with some horses so I'm thinking of buying 2 or 3 horses to help with the land. So what type of horse or breed should I be looking out for? i want a horse that easy to manage and doesn't need much maintenance as I don't have any Sheds or building to house them at night. Also how often would I have to check them as I live in Dublin and farm is in kilkenny. Cheers

don't do it, you'll regret it as you'll be stuck with them as no Market for them when field cleared and you may become attached to them

cam1452

if your still looking for horses to graze it. i hav a few hunting cobs that wont mind the cold winter. if thats any good to you.

99nsr125

hedgecutting eddie wrote: »

best way would to spray it off then stick a match to it b the best way if ur not near any houses , will you b setting the ground for tillage??

Provided your within the specified dates this is the best way (IMO).

DONT use kerosene/diesel etc to help the burn, if you want to use anything
use little straw bundles with some added Sunflower oil

You loose the Nitrogen to the atmosphere if their is any green left in the plants

but it allows you to clear the site,
the remaining ash helps raise the PH similar to lime (25% as effective by weight)
any remaining black char when mixed into the soil helps to trap nutrients and maintain aeration of the soil
it kills shallow roots and seeds of weeds in the topsoil nearest to the surface

You WILL have to reseed or else wind blown weeds will takeover again

You could then plough/disc/cultivate/harrow and begin cropping

but when we would do something like this after the site was cleared
we would hire an agri contractor to direct drill beans or vetch/tares to fix nitrogen
then plough the whole crop under when mature and put
it into grass/wheat if it was ready if not a crop of oil seed rape followed by
another crop of beans/vetch ploughed under again.

Direct drilling was ~35 Euro an acre including vat earlier in the year, your type
of seed and whether fertiliser is applied at the same time could push this to
50-60 an acre excluding cost of seed and fertiliser.

However the beans/vetch will fix enough nitrogen to cover these costs.

There's winter sown oil seed rape runs Sep-Aug and spring sown oil seed rape
March-Sep, spring sown rape is for the warmer parts of the country.

It'll cost ~400 an acre to produce the oilseed rape crop using plough etc and you'll break even
again here when you sell the crop and could even make a profit of a 100 euro or more
an acre but that'd be some way down the road when the ground is back in good form.

Beans can be sown as late as November

Good Luck

psychward

JJJJNR wrote: »

Something like this would do the trick.

where can you get one of those ? any idea of the price ?

Cherry Blossom Girl

farmkilkenny wrote: »

Ok I had no luck finding a farmer with some horses so I'm thinking of buying 2 or 3 horses to help with the land. So what type of horse or breed should I be looking out for? i want a horse that easy to manage and doesn't need much maintenance as I don't have any Sheds or building to house them at night. Also how often would I have to check them as I live in Dublin and farm is in kilkenny. Cheers

Do you have any idea how much work goes into even the most 'low maintenance' horse? Please don't just buy a few horses and effectively abandon them in your field over the winter. That's both irresponsible and cruel.

What are you going to do with them when they've fulfilled their purpose to you?

psychward

Bright__Eyes wrote: »

What are you going to do with them when they've fulfilled their purpose to you?

I heard theres a big demand in French restaurants for horsemeat

Username John

Bright__Eyes wrote: »

Do you have any idea how much work goes into even the most 'low maintenance' horse? Please don't just buy a few horses and effectively abandon them in your field over the winter. That's both irresponsible and cruel.

What are you going to do with them when they've fulfilled their purpose to you?

To be honest - no.

I did think they would look after themselves in a situation like this (where they had enough rough grass to eat, water to drink & shelter)
What else would you need to do?

JohnBoy

High maintenance again, but pigs!!!!


free range pigs, they'll graze it and dig it all in one go, but probably not very practical in your situation I suppose.

farmkilkenny

Bright Eyes, I'm not that bad! I like animals and I would be keeping a check on them. So what involved in looking after them? there plenty of grass and water. I know you would check to see if they are sick or if they hurt them self.

milkprofit

Do not buy horses no fence set to good ! horse person for winter
set or give to local tillage man for 1-2 years depending on work to be done or maybe 3 years and have him reeseed last year put agreement on paper-(contract)
You can spend time-money fencing boundrey