N RANCHING
atural Resources
Control Mesquite for More Grass Follow-up hand spraying keeps pasture in the clear
Managers at Circle X Land & Cattle Company like pastures open for growing improved grasses and to make cattle management easier. In some places, that requires regular treatment of invasive mesquite.
S
TEVE DENSMORE REFERS TO THE RANCH ACREAGE ADDED IN 2000 as “Little South Texas.” But it’s across the road from his rural Bryan headquarters.
Densmore is the longtime cattle manager of Circle
X Land & Cattle Company, a seedstock Brangus and commercial cow-calf operation with several ranches in the Bryan-College Station area. In 2000, the company bought the 2,800 acres across the highway from the headquarters and a few years later started clearing brush to establish improved pasture. “It has mesquite, huisache, a little cactus and things
we don’t have much of on the other ranches,” Densmore says, explaining his nickname for it. Circle X employees used a track hoe to uproot the
mesquite in target pastures, disked twice and, in 2011, planted kleingrass. Since the mechanical work, Densmore and Circle X
employees have kept pastures clean by spot-spraying mesquite leaves by hand from a 4-wheeler (ATV). First, they used a mix of Reclaim® and Remedy® Ultra herbi- cides. In 2012, they switched to new Sendero® herbicide in its fi rst year on the market. “We try to look around and research stuff,” Densmore says. “If something comes out that looks better, we’ll
tscra.org
Steve Densmore
sure try it. That’s the only way you make progress.” When compared in broadcast trials, Sendero has
posted both better and more consistent rootkills than the traditional mix Reclaim and Remedy Ultra. But for sparse stands like those at Circle X, it makes sense to hand-treat.
Spray mix Leaf-spraying by hand works well on mesquite less
than 8 feet tall, says Dr. Charlie Hart, a Dow AgroSci- ences range scientist. That’s about the maximum height you can cover well with the spray solution. For these hand-applied foliar applications, the rec-
ommended labeled mix is 1 percent Sendero in water with one-quarter percent surfactant. Adding a dye to the spray mix helps show coverage of the plant and mark the treated ones. By law, spot applications of Sendero are limited to
1.75 pints per acre per year. That works out to 21.875 gallons (21 gallons and 7 pints) of 1 percent solution. Hart says ranchers should observe the same fac-
tors of soil temperature, mesquite foliage and growing conditions as for broadcast application. However, the season for hand-spraying mesquite lasts longer.
February 2014 The Cattleman 43
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