Advice on field maintenance

Fluppen

Hi all,

I have a 100 acre farm, all grassland and all grazed by horses. I've been using my DB 1690 a PZ drum mower and a very old chain harrow to tidy the fields after the horses.
The PZ mower works well and tidies the well grazed fields very nicely but it's very small which makes it very slow work. When cutting rushes or ungrazed grass it leaves too much in a row which takes a long time to disappear.
I'm looking for replacements for both but I can't decide what would be best to buy.
My DB is from 1983 and I'd like it to last another while so I don't want to put it under any great pressure but would like to be cutting 9foot or close to it if possible.
I've read the topper v mower v flail threads and I think something like a rotary mower would be the best compromise but I'm very open to suggestions. I like the look of the Joskin TR270 C3 at the moment.
In terms of the chain harrow, I'm pretty clueless really, and I suspect it may be worsening my buttercup problem, although mowing/topping without spraying would do that too I guess.
Is there an effective way to control buttercups without spray?
My main reason for using the chain harrow has been to spread the horse dung, what are the other advantages/disadvantages of chain harrows?

Really what I'm asking is, what is the best way to maintain my pasture. Keeping in mind that it is for my horses and I don't want dairy farm quality grass as that would leave me with very obese and possibly laminitic horses.

N.B. fertiliser usage is very minimal and I try to use lime and mowing to help control rushes rather than sprays (gran-lime in the less accessible fields)

Sorry about the long post and thanks in advance for any suggestions.

Muckit

Buttercups are a tricky 'weed' to control without spray. Then again are they doing any harm? If they are not, l wouldn't get too obesed with getting rid of them. They hug the ground and spread on stolons like clover. A mower or topper will only glide over them.

Your chain garrowing would more than likely be breaking the shoots and wouldn't be spreading rhem anyways whatever good it is doing.

I'd keep going with the liming and chainharrowing the dung.

A bit of moleploughing this weather nay help with drainage. You could get a contractor to do a few acres and see results for yourself.

Fluppen

Thanks for the input. The buttercups aren't doing any direct harm as the horses don't eat them, but I'd still prefer to reduce them a bit at least to reduce the risk since people could be forgiven for thinking I'm growing rapeseed in some areas with all the yellow about. Also, I know that they are no longer harmful once dried in hay, but they do create a lot of yellow dust in hay (I'm speaking from experience) so now I want to reduce them in hay fields too.
Thanks for the moleplough idea for the rushes, it's something that hasn't been tried here in living memory and from what I can see it's definitely worth a shot.

Anybody have any further input/ideas/suggestions for what topper would suit best? I've read some more about the Joskin I like and it seems to have a much lower max topping height than most others so I'm not sure about it now . Also what are people's thoughts on running a 9foot topper on an old DB1690?

Thanks in advance.

Say my name

I've an Abbey 8ft offset topper here.
We bought it second-hand 15 years ago.
So I'd estimate it to be 20 years old. It's had rushes and stones and rabbits and everything through it and still going strong. I had to replace the sheet metal covers on it a while ago but apart from that it's bulletproof.
It'll spread and chop the grass out better than your mower anyway.

You've plenty of horsepower for a 9ft but there's my experience of the 8ft. The only thing, the grass won't be growing back as quick as it would being cut by the mower.

You must have some good quality land if you can just get away by applying lime and no fert? (even once in a while).

Muckit

I'd recommend the Abbey too. Great topper. The major cyclone are supposed to be good too.

Fluppen

Thanks again for the replies.

I'll have another look at the Abbey, they're easier to get locally than the Joskin anyway. There just seems to be a lot of machine for the money with the Joskin at the moment since there's an offer on and the 9foot is 2599 new(exc VAT). The Major cyclone is pretty much exactly what I want but it's heavier duty than what I need and you do pay for that extra toughness

My land isn't great but it's old well established permanent pasture which is hardy enough to minimise and recover from the inevitable poaching from the horses. I also have a low stocking rate which is why there isn't any great need for fertiliser. The farmyard manure does go out on it but there is only just enough to spread on the fields I use for hay.