Lespedeza cuneata nightmare

Lespedeza cuneata up close.  It's currently on the verge of flowering which is the right time to strike. 

Lespedeza cuneata is an invasive species from Asia and Austrailia that can now be found in much of the eastern US and Canada.  When young it can be mowed for hay or grazed, but, as it grows older, it develops of tough coarse stems that animals avoid.  Although I have found evidence of the bison eating the young plants in small amounts (I've also found evidence of one trying to eat an old shotgun shell), they seem to almost exclusively eat grass.  This has led to an unfortunate imbalance in parts of our pasture in which, free of any competing grasses, the Lespedeza forms dense stands that shade out the remaining grasses.

One of the stands of Lespedeza in our high pasture before

To combat this issue I purchased a used sickle bar mower and layed waste to the stands of Lespedeza.

Afterwards.  With the Lespedeza cut back the grasses should now have a fighting chance. 

The mower: a New Holland 451.  Kind of old, but, with some care, will probably last another thirty years.

Much of the Lespedeza was cut back yesterday afternoon, but a broken retaining x-washer on the PTO quick attach pin has temporarily placed the mower out of commision.  Once I acquire the replacement part, though, it shouldn't be too difficult to finish the mowing. 

The above map graphic shows the areas of heavy Lespedeza density which were digitized from recently acquired aerial imagery. The tan colored areas indicate patches I was able to mow yesterday, while the green indicates unmowed areas.