All-Natural Options for Weed Control

Here’s how to help your pasture outcompete weeds so you can avoid using toxic herbicides.
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All-Natural Options for Weed Control
Cross-fence or divide pastures into smaller sections and rotate horses among them to prevent overgrazing and weed invasion. | Photo: Photos.com

Help your pasture outcompete weeds so you can avoid using toxic herbicides

It’s early summer, and your horses wear the bloom that comes from grazing on spring’s green grass. You want to make sure your pastures aren’t overgrazed and overtaken by weeds by summer’s end, but you’re (rightfully) hesitant to go spray a bunch of chemicals on your horse’s main forage source. Isn’t there a more natural way to attain nearly weed-free fields? The answer is yes, but it takes some planning and effort.

Safeguard Your Grass

Managing your pastures well is the most natural and least toxic weed control option. A healthy stand of grass will outcompete weeds for nutrients and light and keep horses busy so they aren’t tempted to nibble on potentially toxic weeds that do appear.

Scott Jensen, MS, an educator with the University of Idaho Extension in Owyhee County, focuses on grazing management of irrigated and nonirrigated pastures. He is also part of the University of Idaho team that offers the annual Lost Rivers Grazing Academy, a four-day hands-on course held in the ranching community of Salmon, Idaho, that focuses on pastures and management-intensive grazing.  

The No. 1 thing for preventing weeds in pastures, says Jensen, “is to maintain an appropriate amount of residual grass.” In other words, don’t let your horses graze it too short. “If you can maintain a healthy residual, there’s less opportunity for weed invasion,” he says.  

The golden rule of pasture grazing is to never allow grass to be grazed shorter than three inches. This ensures the plants will have enough reserves for rapid regrowth; those bottom three inches store crucial energy.  

You’ve seen it play out in other people’s pastures, if not your own: Leaving horses in a pasture too long creates bare spots and opens it up to weed invasion. “Sometimes overgrazing is a challenge for horse owners,” says Jensen. “Horses are selective eaters; they graze the best, most nutritious areas of the pasture first. As those areas regrow, the horses return to those spots repeatedly, eating the small stuff right down to the ground. The rest of the pasture gets taller and taller, less nutritious, and less tasty,” he notes, referring to fibrous mature grasses whose energy has been spent.  

So how can horse owners avoid overgrazing? Jensen suggests practicing rotational grazing, or subdividing pastures and rotating horses through one- to two-acre sections. Temporary fencing is especially useful for this. You might split a small pasture in half or thirds and a larger pasture into four to six areas.  

“Sometimes it takes a person thinking outside of the box to make it work, but rotational grazing can work even on a small acreage,” Jensen says. Once horses have grazed the majority of the grass in a pasture section down to an average height of three or four inches, rotate them to the next section. Only allow horses back on a pasture segment when grass has regrown to about six to eight inches.

Strategic Mowing

Another natural way to control weeds is to mow, as most weeds cannot withstand it. Mowing after grazing to three to four inches “evens the playing field” by cutting tall plants down to a more palatable size. It encourages grass plants to produce more leaves (called tillers), thereby making the stand thicker and better able to outcompete weeds. Set the mower deck around six inches, and have at it!

“It is helpful to drag or harrow the pasture following each grazing rotation to break up manure piles,” adds Jensen. When you break up the manure, the plants can then utilize its nutrients and organic materials. To accomplish this, pull a harrow with your tractor or four-wheel-drive vehicle, or simply take a manure fork and spread manure manually. You can find a variety of harrows at farm or tractor supply stores. Alternatively, you can construct a basic harrow from a discarded piece of chain-link fence with two old tires tied down for weight. An old metal bedspring, gate, or similar item might also work—and it keeps one more item out of the landfill.

Making Sacrifices

Sometimes the answer to growing healthy, weed-combating grass—particularly if you don’t have enough land for rotational grazing—is to rest the pastures for a time. Lost Rivers Grazing Academy graduate Marcie Cleaver, while no longer a horse owner, places her small herd of registered Hereford cattle on sacrifice areas to give her fields a break. Her five-acre farm in Olympia, Washington, boasts textbook-perfect pastures, a testament to her good management techniques.

Creating a Sacrifice Area for Horses
RELATED CONTENT: Creating a Sacrifice Area for Horses

A sacrifice area is a small enclosure, such as a corral, run, pen, drylot, or paddock meant to be your horse’s outdoor living quarters. Essentially, you are giving up the use of that small portion of land as a grassy area to benefit the rest of your pasture, recognizing that grass will never grow in this area. Confine horses to a sacrifice area during the winter and early spring, when pasture plants are dormant and/or soils are wet. During the summer you can use your sacrifice area if pastures are at risk of becoming overgrazed.

Cleaver removes her cattle from the pasture in the fall and winter when the rains start. “The damage hooves do to the soft ground is hard to undo,” she says. “Compaction and the tearing up of the soil and grasses reduces grass yield the following spring. In addition, it creates bare spots where weeds (which are typically hardier and faster growing than grass) will take hold.

“If I did not have a sacrifice area, my pasture quality would decline every year to the point that the grass yield would not be sufficient to feed the cattle in the summer,” Cleaver says. “I would then need to purchase hay, a costly input. My sacrifice area gives me a return on the investment of its construction cost.”

When weeds do show up, Cleaver gets rid of them as soon as possible when her cattle finish grazing an area. “All the tall plants that your animals have not grazed stand out in the pasture,” she says. “Walk over and check them out. These are most likely weeds and undesirable plants that should be removed. Otherwise, those end up being the ones going to seed and multiplying. There may be something toxic there, too. Sometimes I take a bucket out with me in the pasture so I can hand-pull and throw those weeds into it.”

She uses a weed burner to destroy broadleaf (nongrass plants) weeds in and around her driveway. “Neighbors are often a seed source of weeds,” Cleaver notes, so she periodically pulls weeds along neighboring fencelines. “In general, I keep an eye on my neighborhood and ask for cooperation on controlling noxious weeds.”

When the Weeds Become Too Much

Cleaver turns to herbicides when weeds become too invasive. “The decision is a function of what my weed load is,” she says. “If I’ve got a ton of buttercup, and there’s no way I or anybody can pull it all; that’s when I spray.”

“Determine what weed you have and how to target it specifically,” says Jensen, who got creative when managing a weed problem on a property he owned. “I had a section that was cheatgrass-infested and used my horses to eliminate it by purposely grazing it to the dirt in the springtime and keeping it from ever going to the seed.” Cheatgrass is an example of an invasive weed that isn’t harmful to livestock, but is only palatable as an immature plant.

You can identify a weed—and whether it’s noxious—by taking samples to your local Extension or conservation district office. “After identifying it, the same resource agencies can help you determine the proper herbicide to control it,” Jensen explains. If you choose to use herbicides, be sure to use the right product for the specific weed and apply it at the right time of year.  

“Always read and follow the label,” Jensen adds. “Don’t underspray or overspray; if you burn the plant tissue by spraying above the label recommendation, then the plant can’t absorb the chemical. Besides, both federal and state laws require users to properly read and follow label directions when using herbicides.”  

Homemade Weed Control Spray
RELATED CONTENT: Homemade Weed Control Spray

Instead of spraying chemicals on everything in large areas where it might not be needed, the best application method is to spot-spray following manufacturer directions. The mentality of “if a little is good, a lot is better” can cause serious damage to your land and the environment. Avoid spraying on windy days or when there’s rain in the forecast. Minimize herbicide use near wetlands, lakes, ditches, streams, and other waters because herbicides can be very toxic to fish and other aquatic life, as well as to native vegetation. In these areas remove weeds mechanically rather than with chemicals.

Cleaver prefers to buy herbicide in concentrate form and mix it herself. “Premixed is very expensive, and you will use it up very quickly,” she says.

Again, always read and follow the manufacturer’s directions—which will indicate when it’s safe to put animals back out on pasture—and apply herbicides accordingly. Directions will also explain the type of protective clothing you should wear, usually work clothes including long pants, sleeves, and gloves. You might also consider wearing safety glasses or goggles to protect your eyes.

Take-Home Message

Whatever weed management approach you choose, keep after it on a regular basis to help grasses compete for the space, moisture, and nutrients that weeds might otherwise use up. “The best method is prevention; don’t have bare areas,” Cleaver says. “If you do end up with bare spots, overseed in the fall when you remove your animals for the winter.”

Be sure to use only certified weed-free pasture grass seed mix, and check that the hay you buy is free of weeds and weed seeds. “Weed management is all about being ahead of the curve and not allowing weeds to get a foothold in the first place,” says Cleaver.

In the end, a healthy pasture benefits all: You get to enjoy lovely green fields, and your horses get to enjoy healthy forage. Your pocketbook benefits from reduced hay bills and reduced herbicide use. The environment benefits, as well, because abundant pasture plants put nutrients from the horse manure to good use and soak up rain, preventing erosion. And a healthy pasture has fewer bare spots for weeds to invade. A win for everyone.  

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Written by:

Alayne Blickle, a lifelong equestrian and ranch riding competitor, is the creator/director of Horses for Clean Water, an award-winning, internationally acclaimed environmental education program for horse owners. Well-known for her enthusiastic, down-to-earth approach, Blickle is an educator and photojournalist who has worked with horse and livestock owners since 1990 teaching manure composting, pasture management, mud and dust control, water conservation, chemical use reduction, firewise, and wildlife enhancement. She teaches and travels North America and writes for horse publications. Blickle and her husband raise and train their mustangs and quarter horses at their eco-sensitive guest ranch, Sweet Pepper Ranch, in sunny Nampa, Idaho.

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