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Such drastically different opinions... Any plant experts or sheep rancher to add input?
On the slope there are all kinds of vegetation mixed in; on the flat area though there is mainly this grass plant. I assume this was not the originall vegetation, but laid-down grass turf. Hope someone can identify this grass type and maybe its characteristics.
I wonder if I can change into some ground cover grass that does not grow so tall, therefore does not need mowing.
Well ..... what you have there right now is a hazardous disaster waiting to happen. Your most recent photos appear to be of more than one variety of barbed foxtail grasses which are all dangerous for animals because of the barbed bacteria carrying seed heads causing injuries and infections to animals eyes, noses, mouths, throat, ears, foot pads and belly skin. There are several varieties of foxtail grasses and you can do an image search online for them all to identify the ones you have or get a grass expert to come see them and ID them. If you have a dog there or any other livestock animals on the property you need to inspect them now for the foxtail barbs and remove any that you find on them, and keep the animals out of there until you get all that stuff cut down and destroyed. Here's why: Protecting Your Dogs From Foxtail Grass
The other problem is you also have those white flower clusters which appears might be either Queen Anne's Lace which is toxic to livestock or else maybe Cow Parsnip which is phytotoxic and really dangerous for the skin of humans. Plus you've got other scrubby rough stuff that doesn't all show up well enough in the pictures to ID but what ever it is it doesn't look good, it all looks like stuff that could be on the noxious weeds lists. Plus it probably all has west coast ticks in it, they hang out on tall grasses like that waiting for animals to pass through the grass.
So I think you are going to need to consult with an experienced hay grower or an agricultural agent to come do an inspection and ID what kinds of foxtails and other noxious weeds and brambles and bushes are there and what are the best herbicides to use to get rid of it. You have to get rid of it permanently if you plan to reseed it with some other kind of ground cover that's easier to look after, that is safe for livestock and humans to be on and which presents no physical / bacterial / toxicity hazards to anyone.
Unless you go strictly to drought tolerant short mosses and sedums there is nothing else I know of that you can grow that will not need cutting low to create fire breaks, so you should get that idea of not mowing or brush-cutting out of your head right now. You live in wildfire country and it's your responsibility to keep down whatever ground cover vegetation you allow to grow at all costs so get used to the idea of you having to get everything in that environment kept controlled throughout the year and cut very short two or three times a year.
Kokonutty gave a good answer about erosion, and erosion prevention is something else you will have to consider when you decide what kinds of new vegetation you want to grow in the areas where the tall foxtail grasses are presently growing, which you do need to eradicate.
I got a quote to mow grass, for fire prevention purpose (as opposed to beautifying the hosue). I haven't asked estimated hours yet; this hourly rate already pauses me. Is that a normal price range for mowing grass these days? This is around Albion CA.
$45/hr = $90K annual salary... It seems just yesterday that hourly workers were fighting for living wage.
Why do you ignore overhead? Why don't YOU do it if it's not worth paying someone? We'll wait.
Not sure of you are asking about the math or is it a rhetorical question. But here is my calculation:
An office worker works 40 hours a week. There are 52 weeks a year, so that's 52X40=2080 hours. For simplicity we usually just use 2000 to do the conversion.
This means, a McDonald's hourly worker who gets paid $15/hr, is equivalent to an annual salary of 15X2000=30K.
On the reverse, someone making $100K annually salary, is making a $100,000/2000=$50/hr hourly wage.
This lawn mower's requested rate is equivalent to 45X2000=$90K salary if he/she works a full 2000 hours a year like an office worker.
I'm going to assume someone has already pointed this out but your math assumes the guy is on a mower for the entire 40 hour work week to reach these numbers. Obviously this is not the case, there is travel time, filling up for gas, more travel time etc.
I got a quote to mow grass, for fire prevention purpose (as opposed to beautifying the hosue). I haven't asked estimated hours yet; this hourly rate already pauses me. Is that a normal price range for mowing grass these days? This is around Albion CA.
$45/hr = $90K annual salary... It seems just yesterday that hourly workers were fighting for living wage.
Such drastically different opinions... Any plant experts or sheep rancher to add input?
On the slope there are all kinds of vegetation mixed in; on the flat area though there is mainly this grass plant. I assume this was not the originall vegetation, but laid-down grass turf. Hope someone can identify this grass type and maybe its characteristics.
I wonder if I can change into some ground cover grass that does not grow so tall, therefore does not need mowing.
The other problem is you also have those white flower clusters which appears might be either Queen Anne's Lace which is toxic to livestock or else maybe Cow Parsnip which is phytotoxic and really dangerous for the skin of humans.
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I wondered if the white might be yarrow...can't tell. Doesn't matter. Livestock don't particularly like that either! Agree about the foxtail grass. It can be nasty stuff. Also agree with getting an expert (check for an ag extension service, maybe someone from your county) come look over that field and give you workable options that suit your locale.
I got a quote to mow grass, for fire prevention purpose (as opposed to beautifying the hosue). I haven't asked estimated hours yet; this hourly rate already pauses me. Is that a normal price range for mowing grass these days? This is around Albion CA.
$45/hr = $90K annual salary... It seems just yesterday that hourly workers were fighting for living wage.
You've obviously never owned a business. Taxes, insurance, overhead, repairs, etc, will eat up about 60% of that money. That brings it down to $18/hour, and then you have all your personal expenses and taxes that will get taken out of that. In CA, I'd charge $100/hour, per person.
my town facebook page is full of people asking for "high school students of college students" to do yard work for them. i suppose they can be looking to help out a local kid but i generally perceive requests of this nature to believe that they are looking to pay very little for the work.
Before I retired, I was making $50/hr. My company billed my time at $175/hr to cover overhead and profit.
I pay $40 to have a small, irregular shape yard mowed, edged and blown. 2-3 guys 20-30 minutes. I couldn't care less what that works out to hourly. All I care about is that it's worth every penny to have someone else do it!
Ouch! My customer bill rate is about 30% more than my pay rate. I cannot imagine a 200%+ markup.
Anyhow back to the topic -- I paid $60 per visit to a team of three guys to take care of the lawn. Usually took about one hour total. This was Connecticut.
I wondered if the white might be yarrow...can't tell. Doesn't matter. Livestock don't particularly like that either! Agree about the foxtail grass. It can be nasty stuff. Also agree with getting an expert (check for an ag extension service, maybe someone from your county) come look over that field and give you workable options that suit your locale.
I wondered about that too but couldn't see if there was any of the lacy, feathery yarrow foliage to go with the flowers. It could actually be one (or more) of any number of the umbelliferae plants in the Apiaceae family, including poisonous hemlock or many wild plants like carrot, celery, angelica, coriander, etc. But like you say it doesn't matter now.
The property has apparently been allowed to go fallow and wild by previous owners for so long before the OP took possession of it that everything in there now is feral stuff that has to be cleared out and renewed with other vegetation before OP can put livestock on or do anything else to develop it besides brush cutting it every year.
OP, you have your work cut out for you on that property.
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