Reading, lately, Weeds

Weeds are the name of the game lately. Until the last few years, we've been at a standstill with the ongoing weed battle between the thistles and us. However, the last few years have seen the emergence of weeds that we had not battled before, namely, foxtail. Oh, you are my nemesis. And I'm noticing creeping buttercup where the pigs where last winter. So. In an effort to win the war, I've been doing some reading, mostly on the fabulous site, On Pasture, and I'm slowly putting together a battle plan.

Several things I've realized -

First of all, the weeds accumulating ties in nicely with when we started haying 3 pastures regularly and 2 not at all. I think I'll start alternating between the 3 haying pastures so that the 2 aren't so burdened. It will mean less hay, in a way, but then again, if we don't do anything weedy hay isn't worth anything!

I also want to up my game in terms of keeping track of grass growth. Perhaps with a big fancy chart!

And have more permanent subdivisions in the non haying (ie, rocky) pastures. This may, or may not, happen this year.

So far, I've found the following links useful and hope to find more.

http://onpasture.com/2013/05/13/the-abcs-of-soil-science/

http://onpasture.com/2013/05/07/plant-growth-under-rotational-grazing/

http://onpasture.com/2013/05/20/the-grass-whispering-journal-or-wwgwd-what-would-the-grass-whisperer-do/

http://onpasture.com/2013/04/09/maximizing-spring-green-up-without-destroying-summer-pastures/