We are entering our second year with two horses on approx. 5 acres (fenced into two halves, plus a small paddock) here in Middleburg VA. Last year our pasture was nice and lush. We suspected it needed some help going into this spring, and asked our co-op rep to come out to make recommendations. He said the pasture looked good and told us we could optionally overseed with their grass/clover mix, which we did. Grass was growing well for the latter half of April - but then with the arrival of May came buttercup and assorted other weeds. Weâre sending out a soil sample but are pretty sure the problem is soil acidity. If thatâs right, can we still lime the pasture in May? How long do we need to keep the horses off the limed area? And will it help to bring the pasture back this season, or do we have to rely on feeding purchased hay this year and wait for the pasture to revive next year?
We keep the horses off the pasture for the hour the truck is here :). The transport company does try to put it on right before it rains, but the horses go back onto it the same day (usually with some hay to eat depending on how âdustyâ the grass is). Minor consumption wonât hurt them, it is calcium carbonate. Some people give it deliberately as a feed additive.
I donât know about the timing of your flushes of grass growth but here late spring would probably be too late to boost the pasture much - lime doesnât act as quickly as say N. It takes time (months) to become incorporated into the soil. But it wouldnât be a waste to put it on now either - it will help in the longer term.
Also note that while buttercup does out-competes grass in acidic conditions, it still does okay in neutral conditions i.e. now that buttercup is established, lime alone is unlikely to eliminate it. You will probably need to spray.
Thank you kalidascope - very helpful! Follow-up questions: 1) What could explain why we had no buttercup last year, whereas now the pasture is overrun with it? 2) I donât use herbicides here - are there any alternatives if lime alone wonât control it? Hand pulling of course - but thereâs SO much!! 3) Do I understand correctly that I will probably not have a chance of providing my horses with enough nutrition from the pasture this year, and will have to rely on feeding my horses purchased hay?
You had buttercup last year, the grass was simply hiding it. As the pasture was grazed and rained on, etc. the Ph level changed and with increased grass consumption, foot pressure/damage, the buttercup is now dominant. Lime, lime, limeâŠbut my buttercup just sort of gets damaged, not killed, no matter how much lime I put down. It sucks. I am prepared to spray the sections that are infested. Hopefully the same thing that kills BC will kill daisies, too. They suck even more than BC.
Calvincrowe, what herbicides do you use that you are confident do not kill the nutritious grass or wildlife? From everything Iâve read, there just isnât such a thing!
Ask your co-op rep what to do. Soils are very locale specific. Some soils, like ours, you add lime to it, and it becomes a very large brick.
My co-op representative gave me incorrect information - twice! Thatâs why Iâm posting questions here.
Using lime worked here (TN), quickly and well, and even on year two of not adding lime, I donât have many buttercups (knock wood, so far) this year, whereas many of my neighbors do. I wish you the best of luck!
Thank you, Katyb, for giving me hope! 
[QUOTE=Alysoun;8143334]
Thank you kalidascope - very helpful! Follow-up questions: 1) What could explain why we had no buttercup last year, whereas now the pasture is overrun with it? 2) I donât use herbicides here - are there any alternatives if lime alone wonât control it? Hand pulling of course - but thereâs SO much!! 3) Do I understand correctly that I will probably not have a chance of providing my horses with enough nutrition from the pasture this year, and will have to rely on feeding my horses purchased hay?[/QUOTE]
-
Like Calvincrowe said, you had buttercup last year. What was grazing the property before? Something other than horses? Horses are fantastic at eating every last blade of âgoodâ grass and leaving anything less desirable, and they also cut up the turf a lot more, creating buttercup and dock infested paddocks in no time.
-
Iâm not against sprays so havenât investigated alternatives particularly thoroughly. That said, I mow my paddocks after they have been grazed, to break up the manure and to top the weeds (mostly dock and buttercup) and roughs that the horses have left. It means the weeds donât get such a competitive advantage over the grass (which has been cropped short by the horses), and stops them going to seed. In my opinion it has stopped the spread of the weeds, and combined with regular fairly heavy liming (2 ton/ha in spring and autumn) seems to be improving my pasture, which was very undergrazed when we moved on 1.25 years ago. We also did a soil test and added some other stuff at the start, which helped the grass.
-
They will get some nutrition from the pasture, but not as much as last year. With only two horses on five acres I would be surprised if you need to supplement hay/feed unless they are hard keepers? I have five on five acres, turned out 24/7, and they do well on pasture alone mid spring-mid autumn. Break feeding/strip grazing your paddocks will help you get the most out of your large-ish paddocks.
[QUOTE=kalidascope;8143625]
⊠I have five on five acres, turned out 24/7, and they do well on pasture alone mid spring-mid autumn. Break feeding/strip grazing your paddocks will help you get the most out of your large-ish paddocks.[/QUOTE]
I am in the same general region as the OP (I am across the Potomac from Quantico), and keep 3 horses on 5 acres. They graze 24/7 from mid-April until mid-October. I do have my pasture cross-fenced into 5 strips, using HorseGaurd tape and step-in posts. I rotate them as needed, and never run out of grass, and I also NEVER allow a section to become over-grazed.
I agree with kalidascope that you should strip graze your pasture, too.
You can apply lime anytime, and you donât have to keep the livestock off of the pasture.
But, if you want to do things right start with a soil test. The local feed store will have the bags and will ship it off to the lab for you. The lab will mail the results to you. Then (and only then) can you determine what your soil needs or doesnât need; and in what amounts.
Fertilizing and liming according to soil test results is a cost saver as well as being much more effective in producing quality pasture. Once the pasture is healthy mowing and an occasional spot treatment will probably be all you need to do to it - and a soil test every year to see if you need to apply more or less lime or fertilizer.
Itâs also healthier for the environment as well. Youâll have good grazing with minimal impact to the environment (or your horses health) due to judicious use of herbicides and fertilizers.
http://extension.umd.edu/learn/controlling-buttercup-pastures
Correct soil pH and correctly fertilizing the soil (through a soil test) and applied at the correct time, and rotational grazing will keep your pastures in a healthy, weed-free condition.
More than likely your horses overgrazed certain areas and allowed some bare spots to be created. The buttercup seeds then had a perfect spot to set up house.
Mowing OFTEN once buttercups are established and having correctly balanced soils will help to control the buttercups.
Chemicals used at the right time can get rid of the infestation, but wonât only target buttercups. You would lose your clover as well.
The link above gives you a list of chemicals that work on broadleaf weeds.
First, you need a soil sample taken. They cost $15 here. I was quite surprised when mine came back saying no lime needed. So Iâll save a significant amount of money by not buying what I donât need.
Horses are spot grazers, eating one place to dirt and leaving other ares (usually the âtoiletâ areas) lush and verdant. Buttercups are notorious for their ability to spread quickly in those over grazed areas. Itâs likely you had a small population last year that took advantage of an opportunity this year.
Contact your County Extension agent about sprays that would work in your specific location. Your local Soil Conservation office can also provide assistance. Youâve already paid for the service in your taxes! 
Weed control in East TN usually requires two applications. Once in the early spring to deal with âearly emergenceâ weeds (buttercups among them) and then again in late spring/early summer to get the late emergence weeds (like ragweed). Just when you do this is climate dependant. For us itâs late Feb. or early Mar. and then in mid to late June. This year we had a brutally cold Feb. and that delayed the spring application
Mowing, by the way, is part of a weed control program. The County Agent can help you integrate that into your program.
G.
Thank you, all! Yes, I took soil samples over the weekend and will send them to Virginia Tech Cooperative Extension for analysis today. I guess I should not take any action until I get the results back?
Where I live, the Cooperative Extension does have a unit focused on horses, that conducts great seminars and such - but is not set up to provide individual advice. This is theoretically done by the farm co-op store, but theyâve given me incorrect advice two years in a row - so Iâve given up on them and am turning to this forum.
We have been mowing (bushhogging actually) every 3-4 weeks and rotating the horses between the two main pasture sections. Should we do it more frequently than that, especially in spring?
Does strip grazing mean installing fences to create narrow lanes for horses to walk along? Are there online plans for this? OMG weâve invested so much in re-doing our fencing, I donât know if I can do any more right now. But maybe next year?
I donât doubt that herbicides kill weeds. My concern is that they have toxic effects on other plants and animals too. Even if nobody drops dead immediately, there are many documented long-term effects.
[QUOTE=JSwan;8143674]
You can apply lime anytime, and you donât have to keep the livestock off of the pasture.
But, if you want to do things right start with a soil test. The local feed store will have the bags and will ship it off to the lab for you. The lab will mail the results to you. Then (and only then) can you determine what your soil needs or doesnât need; and in what amounts.
Fertilizing and liming according to soil test results is a cost saver as well as being much more effective in producing quality pasture. Once the pasture is healthy mowing and an occasional spot treatment will probably be all you need to do to it - and a soil test every year to see if you need to apply more or less lime or fertilizer.
Itâs also healthier for the environment as well. Youâll have good grazing with minimal impact to the environment (or your horses health) due to judicious use of herbicides and fertilizers.[/QUOTE]
Yes. I just had all of my pastures tested and analyzed through the Virginia Tech Extension service (free service). I have 9 pastures and not all needed the same thing. Got a terrific report that also told me how much lime is needed per acre/per pasture.
I was going to lime this Spring (now), but they suggested I wait until late summer/early Fall, as it takes about 6 months for lime to have an effect. So thatâs what Iâm doing. Hope to see the benefits next Spring.
As other have said it is always worth the money to pull soil tests. To get an accurate âreadingâ it is necessary to âpullâ soil/dirt about 3+ inches below the surface. And to take random samples from various parts of the paddock/field. Mix together and fill the sample bag as marked. Some Ag/Farm supply may have a step-in soil sample tool, donât know what the proper name is for it. It will pull âplugsâ at the proper depth and make the job easy and quick.
The report you get back will go into detail of what is needed and how much of what should be applied per acre.
The best time to apply lime is the late fall. As other have said it takes several months to work its way into the soil. So come spring you will reap the rewards of your time and money. But lime can be applied any time of the year.
Buttercups and other weeds thrive in low PH soil. But I have found they do just as well once established in any type of soil in our neck of the woods. Buttercups like a lot of weeds put out a prolific amount of seeds. So even though you didnât have many last year without control they will get exponential each season.
They only way to possibly control them without the use of herbicides is close mowing to keep the flowers from maturing. Close mowing is not the best thing for the pasture grass with horses on it. If you going to try and control them this way you MUST be diligent. They are pretty tenacious and new flowers are put out not long after mowing. I tried but in the end I lost the battle.
I sprayed with 2-4-D, 5+ ounces per gallon of water using a small boom sprayer at about 3-5 miles an hour with the pressure set at 35+ PSI. Two applications about 5 days apart. And this MUST be done before or just after the flower heads start to form and or just opened. If done to late the plant will be killed but they have already formed seeds that will sprout the following year. 2-4-D will also eliminate both domestic and European Plantations will ease. The European plantation have very broad leaves which smothers surrounding grass and put out a ton of seeds each year. They will quickly take over if not kept in check. Diligent mowing as soon as the seed spikes appear will keep them in check.
2-4-D should not be used on pastures that have been over seeded and or newly established until the grass has matured and âhardenâ. 2-4-D will stress and or kill young grass.
âCorrect soil pH and correctly fertilizing the soil (through a soil test) and applied at the correct time, and rotational grazing will keep your pastures in a healthy, weed-free conditionâ
Though this is true to a certain extent IMO and experience it is a bit of âmythâ to think this is all one has to do. Especially for those who only have a few acres to work with.
Since eliminating my buttercup problem a few years ago with 2-4-D I have not had to deal with them since.
[QUOTE=Alysoun;8143770]
âŠDoes strip grazing mean installing fences to create narrow lanes for horses to walk along? Are there online plans for this? OMG weâve invested so much in re-doing our fencing, I donât know if I can do any more right now. But maybe next year?..[/QUOTE]
That is one way that some people do it - narrow âpathsâ that the horse has to âfollowâ in theory keeping them moving and not overgrazing the same area. I havenât ever done it that way, so I canât really comment. But I can tell you that when I turn horse(s) loose in the 200â long 10â wide grass paddock access aisle at work, they tend to congregate where they like the grass the best. One hour a day has resulted in some areas over-grazed and others untouched. So personally, I am not convinced that the âpathâ method is worth all the effort.
My rotational grazing is accomplished VERY simply. I have a pipe panel fenced sacrifice area (water tank located in sacrifice area) that has 5 gates off of it. Each gate opens up a section of pasture. Rotating is as simple as closing one gate and opening the next⊠My perimeter fence is no-climb mesh, but my cross fencing is all tape on step-in posts. Each cross fence line ends at a wood perimeter fence post, and a T-post along the pipe panel fence. Seriously SUPER easy to install and uber-cheap. I do keep it hot, and the horses respect it.
I assume this is just grass? OP, I have to spot-spray 2-4D because Iâm trying to preserve the minimal alfalfa in my field. Just an FYI.
[QUOTE=sid;8143807]
Yes. I just had all of my pastures tested and analyzed through the Virginia Tech Extension service (free service). I have 9 pastures and not all needed the same thing. Got a terrific report that also told me how much lime is needed per acre/per pasture.
I was going to lime this Spring (now), but they suggested I wait until late
summer/early Fall, as it takes about 6 months for lime to have an effect. So thatâs what Iâm doing. Hope to see the benefits next Spring.[/QUOTE]
Was the Extension agent Timothy Mize?
