I've one 3.5 acre paddock on our property in West Gippsland which we've recently locked up with the intention to cut it for hay. Prior to this it had horses grazing on it. The paddock has been neglected a little, it has a bit of capeweed which has just started to flower, last year we had bit of dock but we've managed to get on top of that. It also has areas where the grass is thicker and coarser - which the horses didnt like, the areas they grazed most are still quite low and thin and doesnt appear to be taking off as well as the 'less palatable' areas.

I am not sure what grass species we have in this paddock, most of the property is a perennial rye grass but this paddock appears to have some other grass species as well. (Is there an online reference where I can ID grass species?)

Unfortunately we havent had the option to cross graze with sheep or cows. I am wondering if it is too late now to slash this paddock to knock back the coarse longer areas and the capeweed and try encourage more even growth for haying or will it be best to leave it as is and just cut for hay later with whatever we end up with?