posted 1 week ago
A few years ago my boyfriend and I bought a house with 5 acres in Central California. We put a ton of work into it and we love what we turned it into so far, including a large garden, small orchard, many additional drought and heat resistant trees, owl boxes, bee hives, free range chickens etc. At some point we'd like to consider adding a small amount of livestock, possibly just 2 donkeys. However, the pasture areas are largely taken over by foxtail grass (I think brome grass? I know there are different grasses that people call foxtails. This one can't be managed by mowing as it only leads to it growing seeds from a tiny low stem). We also had a huge problem with goatheads (puncture vine) initially, but that's improved a LOT by letting the pasture grow tall instead of tilling it into a dirt space like the previous owner was doing, and pulling whatever goatheads do still pop up. With the foxtails I'm kinda stumped as there are way too many to pull, I'd like to avoid spraying chemicals, and I know they would be a risk for any grazing animals. I'm thinking of broadcasting additional seeds when the rainy season starts up again in the fall to try and crowd them out, but not really sure what seeds or if that would be effective. I'd like to at least significantly reduce them and realize I may never get fully rid of them as seeds will keep flying in from neighboring properties. We did have a patio area where our dogs run free and after a few foxtail related vet visits we got rid of the foxtails in that area by applying a thick area of mulch, but we can't do that on the whole 5 acres. Any other suggestions, ideally from sometime who actually successfully tackled a foxtail pasture like that? Thanks!!