Crash course on taking care of a pasture?

Hello:

I've just joined.

My wife and I just finished signing the agreement to purchase a lovely property in the country close to Toronto, Ontario. It is a 26 acre property - 16 acres pasture, 10 acres woods.

We know nothing about country living so I am seeking to learn as much as I can before we move in in October.

The current owner has horses. I'm guessing they help him in keeping his pasture open. We do not have horses, nor do we plan to do anything agriculturally with the land - other than just enjoy it. We'd like to keep the pasture open and in good shape so that we can enjoy walking on our property with our two dogs. I plan to mow a 2-3 acre field with some regularity where I will train the dogs. I also train the dogs in tracking so a reasonably maintained pasture would be great for this.

Some of the area around the house is grass and kept mowed by the current owner.

I'm looking for a crash course on managing a pasture. I expect I would need a tractor and I'm not sure if I can get away with just one tractor to help manage the pasture and mow around the house, or if I would need two - one riding mower ?

I have to admit that it might be a year or two before I can afford to get a reasonably sized tractor. I've been shocked at what they cost. I might have to look for someone in the area that I can make a deal with to cut the pasture down a few times a year until then. If I'm going to need two tractors than I might be best off getting a riding mower right now as they are not that expensive and getting a tractor later when I can.

Any tips at all that you would have on managing the pasture would be very much appreciated.

Thank you

Suggest talking to local people to find out what the quality of your present pasture is and then go from there.

Egon [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

I do not know how fast your pasture grass grows, but here in FL I have to run the tractor once a week for the yard and once a month for the pastures. If I had to pay someone every month to mow my pastures, I would be broke. For me, it was cheaper in the long run to buy a tractor. If you only need to mow your pastures once to twice a year, then I would just buy a lawn tractor and pay someone to mow it. The other alternative would be to buy a tractor that could handle a 60" finish mower, and then use it for the yard and pastures.

Joe

Thanks for your thoughts Joe. Would I need a rough cutter for the pasture and a finish mower for the yard ? or were you suggesting just the finish mower for both? The pasture is in good shape now - not overgrow.

I use my finish mower on both my yard and pasture. If your pasture is under control, then you should have no problem with a finish mower. Of course, that means no large sticks or rocks in the pasture that your blades may hit...

Joe

I use tractor to mow the pasture and the garden tractor (riding lawn mower) to mow the lawn in the garden area. My lawn needs to be mowed at least once a week during the growing season. I let the pasture grass grow a bit higher, but it need to be mowed at least once a month. I think that you may have a hard time to manage twenty some acres with only a riding lawn mower. Weed control and fertilization are also important in order to keep the pasture looking good.

Canoetrpr,

Welcome aboard and congratulations on your new purchase! [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] You're definitely going to need a tractor. I’ve found that the forums at www.tractorbynet.com are a great resource for selecting, pricing, and operating tractors. To maintain 16 acres of pasture/yard you are going to want either a sub-compact or compact utility tractor (not a lawn tractor), with a least a 60” mower. With that size mower, I would guess that it would take about 45-60 minutes per acre to cut the pasture, depending on the terrain and height of the grass. The sub-compacts are very popular now because of their versatility. My wife and I have 7 acres (2 acres lawn/garden and 5 acres of pasture) of land and next year I'm planning on getting a JD 2305 (24HP diesel w/53" FEL, 62" MMM, and 48" Tiller). As you mentioned, tractors are NOT cheap and I expect to pay about $11,000 just for the tractor and belly mower alone. Brush hogs and towed rotary cutters are somewhat cheaper. The difference between a brush hog and a finish mower is in the blade. Finish mowers tend to give a neat manicured look because of the razor sharp blade, but brush hogs have much duller blades that hold up better to abuse (brush, brambles, etc.). If your pasture has been well maintained, than a finish mower should be great for both your lawn and the pasture.

The secret to keeping your pasture in prime shape is regular cutting. Application of herbicides is not necessary if you do this because you will prevent the weeds from going to seed while slowing sapping any reserves they may have stored in their roots. Fertilization is unnecessary, unless the pasture is being overgrazed. Also, you need to avoid cutting the pasture too short (less than 2”) or too infrequently (less than once a month). You don’t want to cut off more than 1/3 off the height of the grass. I’m figuring on keeping my lawn mowed to 2” and the pasture to 6” (even after I get the sheep, the pasture will still need mowed periodically).

By the way, have you considered free ranging Guinea Fowl for insect control? I don’t know if that would work out with the dogs, but it’ll certainly keep the tick population down.

</font><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr />
By the way, have you considered free ranging Guinea Fowl for insect control? I don’t know if that would work out with the dogs, but it’ll certainly keep the tick population down.

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I've had Guinea fowl (some of the ugliest birds) and noticed little, if any, tick control. You'd need MANY birds to have any real control effect on the tick population. My birds also never seemed to wonder to far from the barn.