Weeds

If you’re looking out at pastures that are growing so fast you don’t know how to keep up, here are some tips for managing your grazing so that you slow the speed that forage matures, and you maintain quality forage.

Greg Brann, Natural Resources Conservation Service Grazing Specialist in Tennessee, recently sent some information out to his local farmers about “indicator plants” along with some tips for how to use that information to improve soil health and pasture quality.  It’s good information for everyone to consider. What Are Indicator Plants? Indicator Plants are plants that, […]

Here’s how Greg Judy manages Autumn Olive in his pastures to take advantage of it for nitrogen fixation and soil building as well as forage. Check the map in the article to see if it’s in your area, and if not, consider these techniques for managing other brushy species.

This is a good example of how changing our thinking can help us deal with brush economically and efficiently by using our tools to work with mother nature.

Think no-till is a new deal? Well not to Jimmy Standefer. He planted his first no-till cover crop in 1967. It was a failure. It took a couple of years for him to get his Dad to let him try it again. But the second try was a huge success and after that there was […]

One of our On Pasture readers in east Texas wrote us to get some ideas for controlling bitterweed on her place. She raises natural sheep and hay, so would prefer not to use herbicides. But she now has one four-acre pasture that is about 80% bitterweed and pulling and burning it is very time consuming. […]

On Pasture reader Kirk Cunningham wanted to know if I had ever found studies on cows grazing teasel. I knew of nothing off the top of my head, so I spent quite some time searching the internet. The only thing I found was from the 1945 Congressional Record. Sandwiched between remarks on the results of […]

Uh-Oh! Grazing your pastures too short this fall could mean more weeds next spring!

With its 2-inch long spines, you might think that it’s not a plant that livestock would graze. But studies show that cattle, goats and sheep can graze it and help control it.

As winter loosens its surly grip and dreams of spring abound, it’s a good time to remind yourself how important it is to actively managing your grass and forage resources. There is no secret formula and only one rule: Think grass first. If you ask yourself “what’s best in the long term for my forage […]

Spraying herbicides wasn’t doing the job of reducing spotted knapweed and was just reducing legumes and other forbs in pasture. So Jim decided to work with his cattle to take care of the problem and create healthier pastures. The results were tremendous!

When I was in Grapevine, Texas last week, lots of folks asked me if they could use my training technique to teach cows to eat Woolly Croton. Woolly Croton (Croton capitatus) is also known as goat weed or dove weed, because dove, quail and turkeys love the seeds it produces. That means that hunters appreciate […]

That’s pretty much what the research, and a decade of experience has shown me about using herbicides to control weeds. More about that, plus an alternative that actually works.

If you go to enough workshops about grazing, you’re bound to see an illustration that shows how biting off the tops of plants impacts their roots, and how if you graze short enough, the plant won’t have enough roots to rebound and produce more leafy material. In fact, if you’ve been with us at On Pasture for […]

For folks grazing rangelands in the west, a fire can mean that public land managers will require them to keep their livestock off the range for 2 years. But research that shows that’s not necessary for healthy rangelands. Check it out!