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Grazing Animals
Rabbits, Tortoises, Guinea Pigs, Sheep, Goats and Chickens fall under this category and we can apply the same rule of thumb for all of them. Maintaining a healthy green lawn when you have grazing animals is not impossible but will require some effort from you.
These creatures share the same characteristics when it comes to their grazing habits. Typically, when grazing animals are kept as pets they are contained within an area of grass and stopped from wandering about willy-nilly. As a result, any damage to your lawn caused by their urine, droppings, munching or scratching will be confined to a small area which can be dealt with once you have moved the enclosure on to its next location.
What is the worst that will happen?
The name gives it away…grazing animals will munch away at the lawn, and areas where they toilet are likely to damage the grass and cause dead patches, especially if they return to the same spot.
Repairing dead patches:
Dead patches appearing can be quite a burden to see on your lawn, we recommend the following to help assist recovery:
- Try to remove the dead area through forcefully raking the area.
- We then need to create a tilth by .. up the area of the patch, if needs be you can also add some top dressing.
- Spread lawn seed over the area.
- Ensure the seed has enough soil contact.
- Once all the above is done to ensure you are watering at least twice a day to help with germination.
The Solution
For smaller pets contained in hutches, it is simply a case of periodically moving their home to different areas of the lawn before an area gets too damaged.
Once you have moved your pets to a new area, we suggest watering down where they were previously kept. This will dilute the concentration of urine.
Lawn treatments and pet safety:
With grazing animals consuming the grass, you need to take consideration if you are applying treatments to the lawn. Read instructions on packages carefully before applying. For Lawntech customer’s, see an overview of our treatments below:
Fertiliser:
This product is applied in granular form and is a semi-organic product which poses no risks to pets or wildlife.
Moss Treatment:
A liquid form treatment that is iron based. Grazing animals must be kept off for three weeks after treatment. We suggest keeping an area of the lawn untreated where the animals can remain until they can be moved back once the treatment has been taken up and grown out of the plant.
Herbicide:
Similar to the moss treatment, the herbicide is applied through a sprayer and is in liquid form. Grazing animals must be kept off for at least two weeks or until the weeds become inedible.