Clear land with grazing
If you are grazing to clear your land, you need to consider when to do it and the risks involved.
When should I graze?
If your land is pastoral, you may look to graze intensively with livestock before planting. This will reduce grass length and make it easier to plant through.
If you do graze heavily and plant early in the season, this will help seedlings to establish with no transplant shock.
Your seedlings will start to grow in the spring. You may not need to do any additional clearing if the seedlings have shot up and are competing against the cover.
If your seedlings have not shot up, you may need to do some releasing (apply herbicides) to help get your trees established. Our Agrichemical spraying page has more information on maintenance after planting.
Risks with grazing
There are risks with animal grazing. If you continue this as a method after you plant, animals may eat or trample your seedlings so you need to:
- be on top of your management and regularly monitor your seedlings
- be careful of the stock you use (for example, sheep are generally better than cattle).
If you have sprayed and recently planted, you should wait before you put stock in.