New boy on the block

Hi, just joined up today and hoping to become an active member of this interesting group!

My partner Mags and I have a small 3 Ha block in Waipu Northland which we moved to just over a year ago. The plan is to raise bobby calves to on sell plus keep a few for 1 year then on sell.

Its been a VERY hard first year......6 months of drought then waterlogged!!

We have 8 brown shavers to keep us supplied in eggs, a small orchard which keeps the Possums fed, a vege garden which keeps the rabbits fed and if there is anything left the Pukeko's finish it off!

Learning fast what the "Good Life" and "self sufficiency" is all about and spending most of my time clearing Gorse!

Hi Georgeboy and welcome to the site
Lots of helpful and very informed people on here ... am sure you will get loys of help on anything you want
lol , i hear its mandatory to have an inflateable rubber boat for winter in northland ... ( tongue in cheek here)

Hi Georgeboy and welcome to lsb

Gorse is fun, isn't it? [}][}]

Cheers
Kate

If ever you should run out of gorse and want to keep in practice ...

Welcome.

Isla;318549 wrote: If ever you should run out of gorse and want to keep in practice ...

Welcome.

Thanks for the offer Isla but what I have found is that it grows back quicker than I can clear it !!!

Stu_R;318545 wrote: Hi Georgeboy and welcome to the site
Lots of helpful and very informed people on here ... am sure you will get loys of help on anything you want
lol , i hear its mandatory to have an inflateable rubber boat for winter in northland ... ( tongue in cheek here)

Thanks Stu, can it get much harder? [!] 6 months of NO rain then last month over 323mm! the paddocks whent from bare earth to mud overnight. At least the fencing posts have started to straighten up again so the calves can't walk straight through the wires!

Are you sure you don't just need some coaching and more practice so you get faster? [}]

Kate;318547 wrote: Hi Georgeboy and welcome to lsb

Gorse is fun, isn't it? [}][}]

Cheers
Kate

The only fun bit is "setting fire" to it! I cut a lot during the drought but of course was not able to burn it so I finished up with a huge long pile in the middle of the yard. Once the rain came and the fire ban was lifted I then spent 4 hours buring it bit by bit, I was to afraid to set light to the whole thing.....it was ready to explode!!!

Georgeboy ... um lol i pile all the prunnings from the 1,250 Olive trees in a big pile ... then when fire bans off ... a bit of Deisel and up she goes ... um yeah ok , have to make sure wind isnt blowing it into the trees, and do have to stand there till worst of it has burnt down a bit ... but at least is very warm
now have you rubber boat or a jet-ski lol

Isla .. i havent any gorse ... now for free accom, a couple of free feeds, a crash course in Beefies .. i help cut for ya

Isla;318552 wrote: Are you sure you don't just need some coaching and more practice so you get faster? [}]

Cutting it out below ground level by hand using big loppers is slow, but its the only way I have found to minimise the regrowth, how do you do it apart from letting the mites do it?........how does that work by the way as I am sure I have some too, I have seen gorse down by my stream covered in cobwebs just like the photo you have on your site.

Its the pickup and hauling it out of the paddocks that takes the time but I do love to look back and see clear areas of paddock behind me.

Georgeboy ... i have used at school job , some stuff called woody weed killer ... you cut the tree/gorse down to almost ground level and then paint this stuff over the cut part ( i have found also helps if you make a few nicks in the side to and paint that) but from experience that stuff works
havent had any re-growth on anything i have done ... its not hugely expensive either ( or school wouldnt pay for it )

We could only teach you properly on the gorse we're familiar with - and then of course you'd need supervised practice, for say, six weeks or so? []

The gorse mites work well in some places and not so in others. I personally think that in a wet climate like ours, it doesn't do much more than subsist. There are many bushes around in which it is living, but it has little effect on the gorse overall. They weaken the plants where they live and suck the sap, but when there aren't enough of them, they'll hurt only the odd branch, rather than affecting whole plants or lots of plants overall.

You sooooo have to stump swab the cut gorse! Welcome by the way. Grin. I have been on my block for over 20 years and can assure you that trying to be organic and not spray things is a recipe for disaster. Perhaps, if you aren't working and you have 8 - 12 hours a day to devote to weeding etc then you might win.

I am aware that we have organic people on this site and I respect their lifestyle but having slaved for years (literally) trying to keep on top of 15 acres without spraying, I called it. Now I am the nasty from hell smacking anything that raises it unwelcome head with spray and life is wonderful and relaxed and so much more enjoyable.

Just to put this in perspetive, when I bought this block I had a hillface of gorse that was easily over 6 foot high. Had some young guys in to cut it and burn it and that was fine. No stump swabbing and next year it was all back as new gorse. I deflowered. I cut it again. I am still after 20 years spraying gorse on this one hillside so thus the defeatist attitude to containing and winning without sprays. From hundreds of gorse bushes that had been allowed to flourish I now have about 15 to knock off every year. If only the next owners knew how grateful they should be to me. Laugh. Each to their own and I only put this here because I have lived it.

DiDi;318630 wrote: ...trying to be organic and not spray things is a recipe for disaster. Perhaps, if you aren't working and you have 8 - 12 hours a day to devote to weeding etc then you might win.

That is so true. We had almost 40 acres that were infested with gorse when we came here, and bit by bit, we have got on top of it.

If the gorse is waist high or more, I would recommend getting a contractor in to mulch it. Gorse plants contain a lot of nitrogen, and the nutrients they can provide to your pasture are far too good to waste by burning. Plus, by burning, you spread any seeds of plants that are currently in flower (like most of them are right now).

For a few months after mulching, your paddocks will look wonderful, but come springtime, the regrowth will start. Let it get to about a foot high, and then spray it with Tordon Brushkiller XT. Within 2 or 3 weeks, all the plants will brown up and over following months, the stems and prickles will slowly but surely crumble into dust. There is no need to pick anything up, or to burn anything, the dead gorse plants will literally disappear.

Every year (preferably in mid to late autumn) you will need to spray again, but the amount will get less and less. We are into our 7th year of dealing to gorse now, and the amount of spraying is just a small fraction of what we were faced with initially. Eventually, I expect it will get down to the stage where a quick wander around each paddock with a backpack sprayer will take care of it. For now, it is still a job for the motorised sprayer on a trailer behind my quad bike.