Management
Guidelines:
Type and Class of
Livestock:
All classes of sheep, goats, and cattle.
Grazing Objective:
Prevent seed production, reduce plant size and
vigor
Growth Stage for
Treatment:
Graze bull thistle heavily during the rosette to
bolting stage. Repeated grazing at approximately
two-week intervals will be necessary to prevent
flowering and seed production. May need to graze
only once in a season if grazing occurs in the
early flowering stage. A minimum of three
successive years of grazing is needed to reduce
populations.
Potential Effectiveness:
Sheep and goats will readily graze bull thistle.
Cattle will not graze bull thistle beyond the
late bud stage. Grazing works best when combined
with a fall herbicide treatment. Grazing reduces
plant size, density, and reproductive
efficiency. |