Bid

[Kiril]

Originally Posted by Tim Wilson

PS. Kiril, do me a favour and delineate CT (compost tea) from ICT compost tea.

Good point ..... perhaps I should call it BCT.

Bill ..... do you have any answers forthcoming?

[treegal1]

ok just some thoughts..........

first, its a horse farm. widely known that horses wont eat there own $h*t so to use there waste you need to convert it into something else. I would suggest a worm bin. then just contract the spreading of the worm casts. 2-3 apps would pay of a spreader??? and pay labor at the same time.

also for something that big, maybe your best profit is in making them self sufficient, sell them on the tools to diy??? then consult and provide labor???

also how about the soil test???????first............

[Tim Wilson]

Originally Posted by ICT Bill

Tim
You have had experience with horses and forage, how did your fields work for you

pro's con's ?

Bill, I'm unsure what you are looking for. With enough fenced pasture areas horse pasture is relatively easy to manage with rotating horses from area to area and harrowing the pastures and irrigating (or sub irrigation). The horse manure pretty much sustains the grass but it is good to combine some kind of legume like red clover with grasses to provide a nutrient supply. I like red clover, alfalfa, timothy, fescue, reed canary as a mix.

[ICT Bill]

Originally Posted by Tim Wilson

Bill, I'm unsure what you are looking for. With enough fenced pasture areas horse pasture is relatively easy to manage with rotating horses from area to area and harrowing the pastures and irrigating (or sub irrigation). The horse manure pretty much sustains the grass but it is good to combine some kind of legume like red clover with grasses to provide a nutrient supply. I like red clover, alfalfa, timothy, fescue, reed canary as a mix.

Nice mix, I wasn't very clear. I was asking if you ever sprayed tea on your fields where the horses were, was there any good or bad points from it or anything noticable at all besides some happy soil and plants

I am told on some fields in the south that use our product that the horses won't eat anything else, they have become very picky. They will but, will sniff around trying to find the (what they think) is the more nutritious stuff

[Tim Wilson]

Originally Posted by ICT Bill

Nice mix, I wasn't very clear. I was asking if you ever sprayed tea on your fields where the horses were, was there any good or bad points from it or anything noticable at all besides some happy soil and plants

I am told on some fields in the south that use our product that the horses won't eat anything else, they have become very picky. They will but, will sniff around trying to find the (what they think) is the more nutritious stuff

We did not spray ACT on the fields. The fields had sufficient organic matter to be self-sustaining and we distributed our tea through our irrigation system which did not extend to the fields.

[starry night]

Originally Posted by Tim Wilson

........ I like red clover, alfalfa, timothy, fescue, reed canary as a mix.

That sounds fairly typical of pasture grasses here in the Midwest USA also except for the reed canary which I have never heard of. Timothy is probably our dominant horse grass. The one here that sometimes is used in pasture mixes with the most interesting name is birdsfoot trefoil. And one of the newer ones is festulolium (I love to say it; the way it rolls off the tongue.)) It is a cross of tall fescue (festuca) and Italian ryegrass (rye=lolium.)

And I agree: separate your pastures, spread the manure, and rotate the grazing or hay-making.

[Tim Wilson]

Reed Canarygrass; great forage - gotta cut early as hay but can get extra cuts. Grows anywhere. Must be seeded with other varities or will dominate forever.

http://www.ser.org/sernw/rcg_info.asp

http://www.livinglandscapes.bc.ca/cb.../phalaris.html

My seed dealer
http://www.qualityseeds.ca/forage/gr...ary-grass.html

http://www.extension.umn.edu/distrib...ms/DI5533.html

[starry night]

Canary grass, I didn't know until I saw the name phalaris arundinacea.
We call a varigated form of it Ribbon grass here as an ornamental in landscapes.
It's quite attractive but very aggressive, as you alluded to, Tim.

I wonder if it really is the same as is indicated by its Latin name.

[andyslawncare]

Originally Posted by ygim

I got a call to come price out fertilizing some property. I measured it it comes to 820,000 square feet.
I have to figure out what to charge them...
Any help?

Is this a business or residence? Almost 19 acres = WOW

Good luck

[ygim]

Well thanks for all your input I got the job.