Totally bare land!

Hi there, we moved onto our block near Cust, North Canterbury, just before Christmas - lovely new home, and 10 acres of almost nothing. The land was planted with lucerne a few years ago, but this has never been weeded or fed and consequently there is now about two lucerne plants to the square metre with the remainder being filled in by something which looks like dandelions (well the flowers do, the rest of the plant doesn't resemble the sort of dandelions that grow in gardens). Very pretty but probably useless. We have no fences, and very little money.

Not sure where to start with the "pasture". Should we kill it all off and plant something like oats to clean it up, or can we get away with just direct drilling a pasture mixture? Not sure whether we are going to do sheep or beef, but will be fencing over winter with sheep netting and a top wire, plus outriggers for electric wire if needed in the future. Might get a horse in a couple of years' time, so worried that the little lucerne that is growing wouldn't be suitable for a horse to graze.

All advice and suggestions gratefully received!

Welcome to the board.

There are some very problematic things which might look a bit like dandelions. Do you have any pictures you could show us?

Welcome aboard.
If the yellow stuff is ragwort as I suspect it might be then you will need to get rid of it. It is toxic to all species including humans.
Apart from that you could direct drill at the appropriate time of year (consult your real farmer neighbours on that one) or get a few pigs if the boundary fence will contain them. Let the pigs eat the remaining vegetation and turn the soil then harrow to smooth out the pig-rooting, sow with whatever pasture mix is appropriate for the area, and you eat the pigs.

Right... well, I had a moment of panic there, but no - I can confirm that it isn't Ragwort. We are about to have the boundary fence tested by the neighbour's pigs and I don't mind betting that they will burst right through! Nice idea, though!