Grass season BS

[grassfarmer]

I see the grass season BS is going full swing. Got the pseudo scientific comic from DowAgro today tying to sell their poisons. Among their rather misleading literature are some real gems:
Weeds - "Canada thistle - poor forage value" ?? - not if you follow the research that indicates it has a feed value equal to alfalfa.

Dandelion - "Highly competitive with desirable grasses" ?? - the only thing I've found it competitive with is bare spots in a pasture.

Quackgrass - "Good forage value similar to other wheat grasses" ?? -Never heard of quack being of the wheatgrass family before.

Timothy - "Very palatable throughout the season..."?? yeah good luck, I find it totally unmanageable in a pasture situation. I would rather have some of their so called weeds than this crap in my pasture.

Needless to say they won't be getting an order from me any time soon.

[WoolyBear]

I haven't yet seen any dandelions, and thistles that were any match for a flock of ewes with their lambs. I don't know if its the pretty yellow flower or what it is, but the sheep sure love biting their tops off. The ewes will start at the top of the thistles and strip them clean. Not as much root action as some of the chemicals might have but its certainly more nutritionous!

[cowman]

Well I don't think they are holding a gun on you, insisting you buy their products?
Obviously someone must be buying their products, so I guess you must be the only one in the world who has seen the "light"! Oh, and lets not forget Dow Elanco is an evil international corporation...probably have signed a few pacts with the devil! LOL
Whether you like it or not modern agriculture is built on chemical use. Now I know you consider that evil and the users as totally misguided fools, but that is the reality of the situation?
You don't want to use them...then don't!

[cowman]

In some municipalities thistles must be controlled or the municipality will do the job and bill it back to the landowner via their taxes. I agree with cowman, if a farmer chooses not to use chemical control for weeds its up to them.

I have my property sprayed for thistles when I feel they are getting to be a problem. One application of Grazon has kept things in check for two pasture seasons.

[grassfarmer]

Do either of the latter posters have any comments on the bizzare
"technical" quotes I extracted from the comic? That was my reason for posting not laying out my beliefs of chemical spraying.

[cswilson]

We had a real mess in a big meadow-one of the slash and burn plow jockeys had a fire get away and burnt it off-several bad ground fires-anyways it just got polluted with thistles after that. It was terribe-you couldn't spray it if you wanted-like I would. During the drought we lost all our water on that field so weren't able to graze it-that year of total rest cleaned up those thistles better than anything. It's interesting -no spray on our place for 20 years and I have less weeds than my farmer buddies who drench it every year.

[smcgrath76]

I thought I might request the video, so I can enter the ocntest and win the Ranger 6x6.
I think that most pasture composition problems relate to previous management, rather than some lightning strike of God. While these chemicals may restore a more desirable mix, certainly without also changing the management strategy the problem is bound to repeat itself. One of the quotes that struck me is that after application, they were able to graze the pasture longer than they had previously. I am pretty sure long periods of continuous grazing don't make a beautiful pasture.

[cowman]

Well grassfarmer they are trying to make a sale, so unlikely they are going to say negative stuff about their product? Do you believe all the BS General Motors or Ford puts up?
A lot of farmers have used GrazeOn with good results. You might be interested in what Murphys, Stauffer, and John Bystrom have done with it south of Eckville? They are pretty convinced it has increased the quantity and quality of their grass. Now I don't know if you consider them idiots or not, but they are pretty successful cattlemen by just about anyones standards? The pastures are marked with big signs.
I'm not saying chemicals are the only way to go. There are other options. But its quick, economic, and gets you in a position to make further gains.

[cowman]

I have a neighbour that will not use chemical weed control. They have a problem with chamomile and every year they hire kids to pick the stuff, vs having one pass with chemical and its out of their field !!

Funny thing is that they strip topsoil and sell it annually, and have for years,and yet they swear on a stack of bibles that they are running an environmentally sustainable operation. Have got the Environmental Farm Plan sign at the gate to prove it !!!

[cowman]

Well that is pretty nice? I'd sure like a load of that top soil...built in flower garden! LOL
I wonder how cows do grazing tansy or tall buttercup? There was one "back to nature" bright light east of Red Deer who decided if he starved his cows down enough they'd clean up the tansy...only problem was abought half of them aborted! Next week he had the neighbor in spraying the hell out of it!

[cowman]

one poor beggar bought a load of tansy infested hay and the AG fieldman seized the hay, wouldn't allow him to feed it. Cost him a bundle in lost feed, so he made sure his future hay purchases came from a place where there was a weed control program in effect.

[cswilson]

Heck guys seed quackgrass up here lol.