Pasture Management

[Farmfresh]

Yeah but we have a LOT going on in this little space!

I do cheat also I also "farm" a vacant lot down the road from me (1/3 acre +/-) and raise my broilers at my D1's house with her 3 acres.

I always did like haiku poetry!

 

[ducks4you]

I love the google earth pictures- last time I looked at our property, it was more than 4 years out of date.
OK, I downloaded google earth and I was right- the last picture of our area was July 2003. How did you get such good resolution on you photos? Did you do aerial pictures?

I'm no genius--I just listen to my 20-some DD's who LIVE on the Net!!!
All I did was the following:
1) Went to Google/Maps and typed in my home address
2) Hit PrintScreen (sometimes the key on your keyboard says "PrtScr SysRq") to copy what was on my monitor
3) Pulled up Irfanview (there's a free download) and went to Image/Paste
4) I fiddled with the size and cropping and copied and made changes, but, MOST IMPORTANT, I went to Image/Sharpen to get/save the best resolution
5) Copied from computer to Photobucket, then copied/pasted the codes (as you do)

I don't think they look at our corner of nowhere very often

WOW--I thought OUR place was in the middle of nowhere, in the town that time forgot, (affectionately KA "Longbourne", like in Pride and Prejudice)!!

 

[carlmarkony]

Hi,

I have gone through your post.. it is regarding pasture management. I want to suggest few measures which may useful to you.
This is a good time to plant, or rather top seed. Even the hay you feed over the winter will help seed the place. The manure will help build soil altho. I prefer to break it up by dragging an old box spring behind the mower or quad.

 

[Denim Deb]

Depends on how big the pasture is as to whether or not you want to leave the manure. Where I have my horses, I have 4 horses on about an acre. I try to keep the pasture picked up. Otherwise, it's just too much manure. Now, if I had pastures the size I wanted, I'd leave the manure and periodically drag the pastures.

 

[KaboomAngel]

Horses are an amazing amount of work- especially in the winter when you don't get much reward for having them!

I think as my elderly horses die off (we have 3 that are in their mid-20s. with my luck they will live to 40), I want to change the mix and add maybe a goat or 2 for fiber and milk, an alpaca or 2, and/or a fiber sheep. But, I'v heard those animals are just about as hard on pasture as horses are except for the tearing it up running part.

Llamas are wonderful on pasture! So I would presume that alpacas would be as well... They eat weeds, and when rotated I hardly have to hay in the summer!

ETA: My usual seeding mix for my Llamas is 40% each of Orchard Grass and Timothy, and 20% Alfalfa.