Lime Time

We did soil tests on our pasture and the ph levels are a little low (acidic). The report suggested spreading 1-1/2 to 2 tons of agricultural lime per acre for our cool season perennial grass hay/pasture operation. Adding lime to correct the ph will also help to suppress weeds.

We paid to have one large truck load of agricultural lime delivered to our farm, it was dumped near the barn. Ag lime is presently $20/ton, we bought 24.75 tons.

Next we rented a lime spreader from the local soil conservation office in Kingston and towed it home at less than 25 MPH with the Suburban. The lime spreader requires a 60+ HP tractor to use.

I then used the front-end loader on the tractor to scoop up lime and dump it into the spreader, when full I would then hook the tractor up to the spreader and go out and spread the lime. Spreading the lime is kind of fun but it's a lot of work.

I spread the lime primarily in the pasture area that goes from the barn to the well house. This is the area where we have been keeping four horses.

Before we could do the lime we had to move the horses. Debby helped me setup the fencing for the new pasture which is located behind the well house. So we now have two nice large horse pasture areas.

The most difficult part in fencing is clearing/maintaining fence lines. Weeds, bushes, thorns, etc grow up quickly along fence lines. We use mechanical methods to deal with the growth, we don't like to use chemicals (poison) as they are bad for us and the environment. This mirrors my approach to sun protection, I prefer to wear a hat and long sleeves instead of applying chemicals to my skin.