# Pasture Weed Control



## ShireRidgeFarm (Sep 24, 2015)

How do you control weeds in your pasture? 

Our fields are being taken over by crown vetch and Pennsylvania smartweed. I'd rather not use herbicides on the fields, so I'm looking for viable alternatives. What I've found so far is that mowing several times in the spring can get rid of the crown vetch. What are some strategies that work for you?


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## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

Over seed twice a year with what you want in the field.


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## ShireRidgeFarm (Sep 24, 2015)

ksalvagno said:


> Over seed twice a year with what you want in the field.


That's a good idea. Thanks!


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## SalteyLove (Jun 18, 2011)

I would do a soil test, they are usually fairly inexpensive through a local agricultural university or agriculture extension office. Typically if weeds are spreading fast it means the pH is off. Usually lime needs to be spread.


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## ShireRidgeFarm (Sep 24, 2015)

SalteyLove said:


> I would do a soil test, they are usually fairly inexpensive through a local agricultural university or agriculture extension office. Typically if weeds are spreading fast it means the pH is off. Usually lime needs to be spread.


 Ok, thanks, I'll have to look into that.

The weeds have been spreading farther throughout the field over the past 5 years or so. I think the main problem is the animals aren't interested in eating these particular weeds. Earlier in the spring the fields were mostly good grasses but now heading into fall the grasses are loosing to the weeds. The soil is not really that great in my area - a lot of rocks and clay.


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## drakeforce (Nov 20, 2016)

Google up home made organic herbicide you'll probably find all sorts of ideas vinegar and salt I have herd and there are organic herbicides but it is to expensive made up of citrus oil.


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## catharina (Mar 17, 2016)

Both of those are perennials so that makes it harder. One way to get some control of perennial weeds is to wait & not mow until they're about to bloom & then mow them very short. At that point in it's cycle the plant has put as much as it can into reproducing & has the least amount of stored food in the roots. A few years of that could weaken them significantly, as well as prevent them from reseeding. Your county or state Ag Advisor may be able to help you choose. Vetch is a legume so it can outcompete other plants more easily in poor soil. Legumes are unlike most other plants--they can use nitrogen from the air instead. If you can start spreading manure & things to improve nitrogen & other nutrient levels in your soil, it could help the other plants compete with the vetch better. Extra nitrogen in the soil won't help the vetch as much because there's plenty of nitrogen in the air.

Something I just read on vetch is interesting--it's supposed to make a very nutritious hay for ruminants, but it's bad for non-ruminants like horses.

My mom's country suffered food shortages in WWII & she said they'd eat smart weed. The one over there is small, with flowers the colors of Good & Plenty candies. I'm not sure which species it was, or which species Pennsylvania smart weed is either.

Reading up on these weeds may give you some other ideas for control, such as adjusting soil pH as was already mentioned. Do you know anyone who has sheep or cows? They might eat them.


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## ShireRidgeFarm (Sep 24, 2015)

Thanks for the info!

The smartweed might not be as much of a problems as I thought it was - it only grows were the grass can't make it (like around the barn where the chickens eat the grass to death) and I've seen the goats eating it. It sure doesn't look appetizing to me, but now I'm curious...  

The crown vetch is still a problem, though. The goats will eat it sometimes, but they don't seem to like it that much. I've seen our donkey eat it, too, and he doesn't like it that much either. He didn't get sick or anything, though. It just grows too fast in comparison to everything else. 

We mowed the crown vetch in the donkey's part of the field and that really slowed it down. More mowing like that is on the schedule for spring. We meant to spread some lime but didn't end up getting to that...  It's cold and snowy now. :snowhat:


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## SeventeenFarms (Dec 10, 2013)

I would take the suggestions of a soil test to correct pH and fertility issues, and overseed with a pasture mix spring and fall, and even maybe a dormant seed in the winter. Also, mow low when weeds flower or are just setting seed, before the seed matures. Like was said previously, stress the unwanted plants when they are weakest, and limit seed production. Vetch, at least the ones I know, don't like to be mowed low. You need to maintain a height that your pasture grasses grow best and weeds grow least! If you mow everything too low, you risk stressing your pasture grasses and getting more weeds. If your animals are not eating the vetch, then possibly your pasture grasses are being over grazed and causing more weeds? Can you rotate? Ive used temporary fencing to rest parts of my pasture. Weeds are hard - I dont use pesticides on my farm - its a battle to achieve balance, and in some areas you win and others you lose. I have a sedge problem in a lower field that is "wet". It takes over in the summer and not much I can do about it, but in the drier fields I do all that I have suggested above, and it has worked out to favor the pasture grasses more than the weeds.


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## ShireRidgeFarm (Sep 24, 2015)

I think the pasture grass is getting overgrazed since the goats prefer it. It's very thick and full in the spring, but by fall it's rather depleted and the weeds move in. I didn't really design a good rotation system when we built everything (I really wish I did now!) but hopefully I'll be able to work something out in the future - I'd love to do that for parasite control, too. 

It's amazing how steep a learning curve there is in farming! Pre-farmer me would have thought, "Meh, just let the field do it's thing." No such luck!


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## SalteyLove (Jun 18, 2011)

You can still do soil tests in the winter time! Applying lime won't do you a lick of good without a soil test. If the pH of the soil isn't an issue, you'll just be throwing money away.

http://anr.ext.wvu.edu/soil/soil_testing


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## ShireRidgeFarm (Sep 24, 2015)

SalteyLove said:


> You can still do soil tests in the winter time! Applying lime won't do you a lick of good without a soil test. If the pH of the soil isn't an issue, you'll just be throwing money away.
> 
> http://anr.ext.wvu.edu/soil/soil_testing


Thanks!


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