I've had my place for three years and unfortunately, the grass condition has gone downhill since I bought it. The drought of last couple years and the related overgrazing (18 cows on 425 acres in north central hill country) in some areas has not been good.

I'm in the process of cross fencing and extending water to what will be the far pasture which I think will help reestablish some grass. There are still some decent areas of little bluestem, side oats, etc, but there are some large areas in a few fields in the bottom lane that has very little grass…maybe 10% covered or less. These areas are currently covered up in broomweed (which is actually widespread across the place this year even where grass covering was decent) . There are also 2 hopefully fairly isolated areas of about a half acre of sand burrs.

I plan on reducing the beard down to about 12 cows, clearing some of the areas of the ranch that are thicker in underbrush, plus the cross fencing will help give the native rangeland grasses a chance to bounce back.
But also looking to spray some herbicides on the broomweed and sandburrs to help jumpstart the process.

I have a tractor and Polaris ranger and was looking at a boom sprayer. Any recommendations for preference in a rig that sets up in bed of ranger vs mounted on three point hitch? Any recommendations on treatments and timing of treatment for broomweed and sandburs? Does it do any good to shred some of the thicker patches of broomweed this late? I'm some of the thick areas of broomweed there's actually some good grass underneath.

Lots of questions and would appreciate feedback. Just hate that the quality of the land has gone down under my watch.

This weather pattern reminds me of 2010. Hot dry cloudless days the entire September, October and looking like November. Only lacking from what I remember is the strong winds.
We took care or weeds in spring so we still have grass. Different in Fayette county than where you are. If you catch broom weed before it seeds then shred it.

You have to catch broom weed when it is very young to have any kind of control. Once it is more than 2 inches tall you probably won't kill it by spraying it. You basically have to get on it when things start greening up in the spring, most likely before you can positively identify it. We have had success with 2,4-D mixed with a surfactant mixed in with it.

Reach out to B-1-83, Micropterus, BQ-90, or Canyon Ag.
These guys are wizards and knowledgeable as can be on questions like this.
They have helped my no farmer ass immensely!

Probably tell you to start with some soil samples. That what they recommend I do…. man were they right!

Sand burs are annuals that are best controlled with a pre-emergent herbicide. The other option is finding a way to get all of their seeds out before they hit the ground: i.e. I've heard people talk about putting sheep on that portion then disposing of their wool when you shear.

Slowing run off can make a big difference in a fairly short while.

Pure farmboy SWAG, but I think lots of small, fairly easy to build structures, are easier to implement than large terraces, etc.

Wow…..lots to digest here. The thing that jumps out is your stocking rate - it doesn't look out of bounds, but without seeing your brush component, it's just hard to tell. Rotate…..rotate…..ROTATE! Rest……rest……REST! A general rule of thumb is that your native grasses do best with 90 days of continuous rest during the growing season. If you can't pull that off, you need more water and cross fencing.

Broomweed is east to kill - when it's in the rosette stage in late February to mid March. Shredding broomweed gives you short broomweed, nothing more, nothing less, and scatters the $#&@ out of the seed. Your Polaris with a 50 gallon tank should do fine, and cover 5 acres at a whack.

The poster known as "Rangelady" has forgotten more about range management than any poster on here (including myself) knows. She is a great resource if you can reach her. Also contact your local USDA NRCS office about programs to help you with your brush, cross fencing, and water issues. You pay taxes, get some of it back.

Alternatively, send your kids, grandkids, the neighbor's kids, whoever to Youth Range Workshop run by the Texas Grazinglands Coalition then have them come up with a management plan.

Edit to add: then act on that plan.

Slight correction: Youth Range Workshop is a program of Texas Section Society for Range Management. TXGLC plays a big role though.

Tssrmyouthrangeworkshop.com

Reach out to me ....TXGLC has some travel scholarships to the Nstl GLC conference in early Dec in Tucson. You will meet about 300 or more ranchers who are experts at what you are doing! We are seeking novice landowners who want to learn!

TXGLC has regional coalitions all over Texas with workshops, etc. Learning what works in your neighborhood from successful ranchers, well that can't be beat! Info on Texas Grazing Land Coalition is at texasglc.org. We have a newsletter and things going on all the time.

We also partner with Wildlife Habitat Federation who also offers even more grant funded tech assistance. We can definitely get you excellent professional help!

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See. OP? Told you!

Finally getting back around to responding. I reached out to rangelady and she responded immediately! One of her people are supposed to be reaching out to me.

For Polaris mounted sprayer, do you have one you recommend? I have a lot of ground to cover so would prefer a larger spray pattern if possible.

Thanks everyone for feedback!