Spraying is one approach to pasture management.

I have been struggling to get my corn sprayed the past few days - finally got it done yesterday afternoon. Then got 85 hundreths of rain in about an hour this morning....may get to spray again.

But I was thinking about the difference in my definition of a "weed" in corn vs my definition of a "weed" in a pasture.  In corn, especially young corn, a weed is anything that is not corn.

However in pastures, my definition of a weed is very different: it is anything that the cattle will not readily eat.  And cattle will eat about anything at least when it is small.

The thing my cattle do not readily eat is the various types of thistle. I do not really want my cattle to get hungry enough to eat thistle. They seem to agree.

So if I spray almost any spray is not just going to get the thistle. there will be some other plants killed that the cattle would ordinarily eat. 

By mowing just after the cattle leaver a paddock, by definition I just get the stuff they will not eat - mostly thistle.

Another benefit of mowing as I showed above with my flail with a full width roller behind is that I spread the manure piles.  If I sprayed I'd still need to come back with the drag to spread the manure so might as well just take care of weeds and manure piles with one trip.

Thanks for the kind words.   Jim at Dawn