crown vetch

[2ndyrgal]

my hay fields are COVERED in it, as they are baling late this year (rain) How in the h**l do I get rid of it???

[Petstorejunkie]

why get rid of it? Its related to peas, is tasty and horses love it...

[MikeP]

Crown Vetch is a great hay/forage plant. You're lucky to have it.

[Calvincrowe]

Unless it has gone to seed (forms pods), I'd not worry--as petstore said, horses seem to like it. I can't see how you could get rid of it and not harm your grass. As an aside, my chickens love it too!

[bludejavu]

Gosh around here crown vetch hay sells at a rather premium price. I'd keep it in my pastures too, if it grew in them.

[TrueColours]

Really???

Learn something new around here every day! I would have yanked that stuff up by the roots as well to get rid of it

We bought a house years ago that had crown vetch on one of the backyard slopes and it was awful to get rid of once it had been established. Killiz didnt touch it and Roundup needed to be applied again and again and again to just keep it under control let alone eradicate it. We sold the place, so no idea if they ever did manage to totally get rid of it or not

[2ndyrgal]

and around here (northern ky) it is NOT highly prized, it is a pain in the a** because it is so thick and heavy, it is impossible to cure properly, all it does is get moldy and black underneath, my horses don't touch the stuff. Oh it looks beautiful, my hayfields look like scottish heather with all the blooms. I got a neighbor cattle farmer to come over and cut it for round bales, and the stuff is so thick and heavy, he's having to stop the tractor every few yards, back up and recut. Yuck, you all can keep, I'm mowing short for the next couple of years.
Last years grass hay was gorgeous. Sigh.

[deltawave]

God, we spent money planting that stuff on the side of an awkward and hard-to-mow hill at our last house. I never knew it was potential horse forage! :lol: It did grow like crazy and throve under horrible conditions. (no sun, minimal water)

[bludejavu]

Correction to my earlier post - it's not Crown Vetch that sells great around here - it's Purple Vetch and Hairy Vetch. After researching, I discovered that Crown Vetch can be poisonous to horses.:(