A (probably) dumb question on pasture on clay soils

[alsxx]

I hope this makes some sort of sense....The field I have is on clay, when we moved in (in august) the field had been rested for god knows how long, and then was cut for hay in june, so by the beginning of August the grass was a good 4 inches long.

When the grass was munched down in one area (they were restricted for a while as I have to watch the weight on one of them), there was only dead stuff underneath, and the little grass plants were quite sparse, not a thick carpet of grass like I have seen in other pastures. Although the grass is very much growing now, its still sparse (apart from the original area that was grazed right down, that has sprung back thicker) - so how can I improve this? Or will it happen naturally over time? The horses spent until the beginning of November on one half, and then until the beginning of Feb on the other half (I moved them back as it was so poached). The winter half will now be rested until October/November time (weather dependant) and I was hoping to get a cut of hay off of it too.

I guess my main query is, being on clay which naturally has poor drainage, the ground poached very badly over winter and this only made the draining of any water worse, despite being on the side of a hill - would having a thicker distribution of grass make the ground less likely to poach, or am I just doomed to poaching regardless???

 

[Gluttonforpunishment]

We're heavy clay soil too & it certainly can be a nightmare in winter.

If you are able to tile drain the paddock this will help with the poaching but this is not a cheap process and involves diggers, trenches and loads of pipe!

The paddock will also benefit from being airated (sure my spelling is out there!) much the same as you would do with a domestic lawn.

Lastly, annual harrowing to rake out the dead mossy bits and re-seeding any sparse patches will all help in maintaining and improving the pasture in general.

The gateways will always poach more badly than well drained soil and other than putting down the rubber mats with holes in that allow the grass to grow through there really isn't much you can do.

Sorry if you already know most of the above but hope it is of some help

 

[alsxx]

No that is really helpful, thanks! I couldn't do the tile drainage option as I only rent the field....but the airating (sp!!!) could be an option - how would I go about that? I did wonder if walking around with my fork and pricking holes in the ground may help....but that may take me a while!

I am going to try and do a rubber matted area around the field shelter, trough and gateway of the winter field, so at least they can have an area to get out of the mud - thats the worse thing, knowing they don't really have any place they can avoid wading through sticky clay.

 

[JamesEarwaker]

Ive been advising someone else with clay soils today, it can be a nightmare at the best of times i must admit, goes very hard baked when dry and then very sticky when wet, drainage is always the place to start with clay soils, as said above always useful to get someone to airate it, mole drain/sub soil, all mean basicaly the same.
Annual maintance of the field is always a must esp with clay soils, gives it the best possible chance after a winter we have just had, rubber matting is always a great method esp with gateways as they are always the worst places and can hardly do much with them when it drys back out.

 

[alsxx]

If anyone could let me know how to airate it that would be good, I was looking at mole draining on the net but I don't have ditches around the edges of the field (well there are on 2 sides but they are the other side of some rather thick hedges!!) and it appeared I would need these for the moles to drain into?

Once it dries up enough its going to be harrowed and rolled, but yep at the moment in places it is liquid clay and is vile, 2 weeks ago it was actually bone dry and like concrete, amazing what a difference a week of rain can make.

 

[JamesEarwaker]

It would most probably be suitable to look for a contractor specializing in this sort of work who has a machine that could do it, or ask local farmers etc who maybe could help or put you in the right hands.
I got asked this today, weather you should roll clay soils after harrowing and ill say it again im always in 2 minds, harrowing is a job that opens up matted grass and lets air in to create new grass growth, rolling back down defeats the object of harrowing a little, if the ground is going for hay then yes i would agree to roll after harrowing to knock stones back down but if it isnt i would seriously consider it!!!

 

[alsxx]

I only really wanted to roll it to flatten out the hoof holes so it doesnt dry all rutted, could I roll first, then harrow? I want to try and get a cut of hay off of half if at all possible, but saying that, we don't have any stones! But what you say does make sense re packing the ground back down again..

 

[JamesEarwaker]

when working on clay it has to be done dry, so rolling first wouldnt really flatten out hoof marks as clay when dry is baked like concreate, best thing to do is harrow, this process can level out holes etc and if your still not convinced put the roller over it.

 

[Gluttonforpunishment]

I find that harrowing alone is enough to level out the hoof indents once the paddocks have dried up. Must admit I have shied away from rolling because I've always thought it was counter productive - not that i'm basing that on fact, just my opinion.

Because you are in a heavy soil area you should find the local farms all have the machinery for aerating - having said that, not knowing your area, area you surrounded by arable land or livestock? (sorry for my ignorance!) If it is mainly livestock you may not get on so well.

If you google soil aerating you will drag up some pictures of the types of machinery they will use.

As you rent the land just check your contract to make sure you're OK to do this without the landowners permission as it will depend on what clauses have been written in regarding pasture management.

Lastly - don't make the mistake I did and try putting hardcore around the gateways and troughs. All it does is eventually get sucked into the soil and you end up picking it out of your horses hooves!

 

[alsxx]

Thanks both thats really helpful.

There is a mixture of arable and livestock, mostly sheep...so I will ask around. Lucky for me landowners don't really care what I do, I am very lucky! But yes I wont try the hardcore in gateways, have heard bad things about it disapearing....I'm going to try the rubber grass mats though and hope they help the gateway to the winter field.