Ground Therapy

[Blaithin]

Sorry in advance for large photos!

I just rent a little old acreage so I don't have plans of huge monetary investment in it. However there are areas on it, some more than others, that are showing neglect and abuse. I'm not completely innocent in abusing it either, but the last few years I've become more interested in soil and grass management and so there's a few things that are within my feeble scope of trying and experimenting with. It's not a speedy thing as I have no equipment except my pitchfork, a wheelbarrow and my two legs, but I'm slowly getting some things done and this spring there are some noticeable things. The "Guru's" always say to take photos to record changes so that you aren't just relying on your memory, and wow, the photos are worse than my memory!

I decided to focus mostly on building up a layer of litter to help retain moisture. Seems the easiest thing for me to do myself.

Last fall I started spreading some bedding from the chicken coop on a bare hill in probably the worst area of the acreage. After the last couple drier years and poor grazing management, there are lots of bare areas in spots! This is what it looked like then. Looking at it now I spread it on a bit thick but there's only a couple spots the grass didn't manage to break through.





This is what it looks like this week. Obviously the chicken poop has given the grass a good boost but what I'm surprised by is the huge difference in dandelions. Just by covering the dirt, even though it's got some of that shit fertilizer, there's hardly any dandelions in the spot I covered. Meanwhile where there's no litter it's like a dandelion festival.



You can see a huge difference between the covered ground on the left and the stuff I didn't get to yet on the right.



I'm quite interested to see how this goes as the summer goes on. I don't plan on putting any cows on it until fall at the earliest. Hoping to get a good sward going for them to trample in. Currently I'm spreading more or less straight straw on other parts of the pasture. I want to see if just providing a residue layer to help keep moisture in will help it even without that chicken shit boost. In another area of the acreage I covered a large section with the spring cleanings of the chicken coop so I can see what the fertilizer does there as a boost - and so far it's looking good!

[woodland]

Good deal👍

We do the same thing on a larger scale by bedding and feeding all our cattle on pasture. Every time we bed up we just move over and blast another layer of straw on fresh ground and move the silage boxes every week as well. We don’t bother harrowing it even as it holds more moisture and grows better down the road although it is delayed for the spring as it has to grow through it. You’ll see the difference for the next ten years depending on how heavy it goes on. More expensive than fertilizer but lasts way longer. Might get a few thistles but less dandelions and a pass with a mower before a rain will take care of them.

Good luck with your project. 🍀

[GDR]

So what's the theory on the dandelion. Grass more competitive with better moisture? Lack of sunlight? Toxins release during breakdown affecting the dandelion but not the grass?

I will say I've noticed similar occurances with heavy trash from feeding at times.

[woodland]

So what's the theory on the dandelion. Grass more competitive with better moisture? Lack of sunlight? Toxins release during breakdown affecting the dandelion but not the grass?

I will say I've noticed similar occurances with heavy trash from feeding at times.

I think dandelions love short grass where their leaves can flop open and catch full sun. If the grass is thick and taller than the dandelion their leaves remain vertical and catch very little sun and can’t compete. I would sooner spend money on fertility (fertilizer or manure) to grow more grass than on chemical to kill weeds in a poor pasture.

At least that’s my theory............ YMMV 🍀

[Blaithin]

So what's the theory on the dandelion. Grass more competitive with better moisture? Lack of sunlight? Toxins release during breakdown affecting the dandelion but not the grass?

I will say I've noticed similar occurances with heavy trash from feeding at times.

My theory is more ground cover. Which could lend itself to partly what Woodland says, higher grass outcompetes dandy's.

Doubt it's that simple though.

Someone once told me they like soil that's low in calcium however I'm not sure chicken litter is considered a source of calcium. I'd think most of their calcium is directed to eggs, not manure. I suppose one could pour milk on an area and see if that helps.... if that would even be a source of available calcium to the soil hah!

They seem to thrive on shorter grass areas with bare ground exposure. They are in other places, but not the thick carpet they are in the places with lots of ground showing. In my front pasture I spread litter as well but that was this spring. While there are less dandelions than other bad areas, they're definitely still there, not as obviously gone as in the small strips in these photos. Could be I didn't spread it so thick, could be that because it was spread in the spring it didn't have the snow and winter to help settle it down right to the ground so the dandy's just grew up threw it like the grass. Who knows.

The back area is flush with buffalo beans right now so obviously the over grazing and poor grass growth because of the rain issue last year is helping more than just the dandelions. I don't really want to go back there and see if it's really helped the buckbrush, I tried to bale graze over that!