Daydream thread continues.....

lostinrates

Thats beautiful alfie, i would like to meet this woman.


Well, old horse was not at the gate this morning with special horse and grey horse so i trudged out to find her so i good call the fallen stock guys and tell them where she was, when i saw her.....on the other side of the elcetric fence munching. Phew. I took the fence down at the end and called her, but she walked to the other end and pushed through, then lumbered back to me for a nuzzle. She has certainlY got more affectionate, but no less frustrating.....took me a while to repair the snapped electric!

lostinrates

Alfie, dh has my mobile, but Yes, can i call you later today?

rozeepozee

Hi guys, we've nearly completed the move....

We've now realised we have a gorgeous 3 and 1/2 acre field of creeping buttercup.... It is awash. It looks very pretty. I know it's a problem, though but it's not life and death so I have to smile or I would be stressed!

Any bright ideas about what to do with it. I really don't want to spray and there's no need as we don't need the field...

Garden Organic suggests geese and hens like to eat the leaves and seeds respectively which is handy as that was about the extent of the livestock we wanted to get into at the moment. But I have to wonder, "How many geese and chickens do you need to control a 3 and 1/2 acre field of the stuff??!?"

Hope you are all looking forward to the long break. School holidays are not a break for us

Itismehonest

:j for Alfie

CTC - Good old-fashioned calamine lotion if you don't mind sporting pink spots

Just about on top of the normal mowing, strimming, weeding & general tidying up that needs doing every time the weather improves enough to get outside :rotfl:
Yes, Dave, the weather looks set to return to normal - Devon liquid sunshine - so it'll be a bit of a break before we start all over again.

Between a couple of days feeling less than 100%, trying to keep up with a friend in hospital & other friends who have had the earth moving around them constantly for the last 11 days I apologise for not telling you my un-news before

Davesnave

rozeepozee wrote: »

We've now realised we have a gorgeous 3 and 1/2 acre field of creeping buttercup.... It is awash. It looks very pretty. I know it's a problem, though but it's not life and death so I have to smile or I would be stressed!

Any bright ideas about what to do with it. I really don't want to spray and there's no need as we don't need the field...

I don't think it is great for ruminant animals. We have a fair bit of it too and I just live with it, for now at any rate. Partridges eat the flowers, but we only have two of those...!

Even if geese eat the stuff, they won't rid you of it. I would hold fire and take local advice, when it's available. Others must have it too.

Just had a couple of bonfires; one in the field and the other in the garden. It was supposed to be dull & cool again, but it was 31C in the polytunnel when I last looked and the sunshine has been with us all morning.

rozeepozee

Davesnave wrote: »

I don't think it is great for ruminant animals. We have a fair bit of it too and I just live with it, for now at any rate. Partridges eat the flowers, but we only have two of those...!

Even if geese eat the stuff, they won't rid you of it. I would hold fire and take local advice, when it's available. Others must have it too.

Just had a couple of bonfires; one in the field and the other in the garden. It was supposed to be dull & cool again, but it was 31C in the polytunnel when I last looked and the sunshine has been with us all morning.

Yeah, apparently, the cows avoid eatin git, but I don't know how they'll do that as it's everywhere! We're in no rush. I think it'll be a case of slowly working on it small section by small section over the next twenty years

Itismehonest

rozeepozee wrote: »

Yeah, apparently, the cows avoid eatin git

Freudian slip?

Luckily creeping buttercup is not a problem here. I'd guess that, if it were, we'd tackle it in the usual manner......... good olde-worlde carpet left down & then a deep rotivate to turn to enable to lift the roots. If the field's not for imminent use you can take as long as your available carpet/heavy silage sheeting etc. needs.

rozeepozee

Itismehonest wrote: »

Freudian slip?

Luckily creeping buttercup is not a problem here. I'd guess that, if it were, we'd tackle it in the usual manner......... good olde-worlde carpet left down & then a deep rotivate to turn to enable to lift the roots. If the field's not for imminent use you can take as long as your available carpet/heavy silage sheeting etc. needs.

With three and a half acres, that's a hell of a lot of carpet :rotfl:It like heavy moist soil, so we're going to improve the drainage too.

Itismehonest

rozeepozee wrote: »

With three and a half acres, that's a hell of a lot of carpet :rotfl:It like heavy moist soil, so we're going to improve the drainage too.

Yes We have used a lot of carpet on our 3+acres in our time. Before we got rid of most of the carpets there was a fairly regular turn round of 6 properties worth so it was a good, cheap way of getting on top of naff land.

If you are putting in drainage then, when the diggers go in, you can have a bit of a root hunt-&-remove. If it's a water-loving kind then, maybe, draining the land will help solve the problem, anyway? It does seem to love poorly drained soil from what I have seen.

lostinrates

Yep....depnds what bettercup you have. And honestly, i don't know how it impacts on birds. In grazing animals you have issues of decreased fertility, liver damage and in some types photosensitivity and skin irritarion.

Its one of those things that farmers often ignore but is a dripping tap of loss of profit, so the committed small holder is imo, financially wrong too. To say nothing of the ethics. Hmm. We have some patches of buttercup too .....;) if its wide spread well....i dunno.

All i can say is i have decided postpone organics and spray too get everything under control now.