acreage per horse 24/7 all year grazing

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polly123

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Just wondering on everyones thoughts on reasonable acreage per horse (we are on clay soil rough grazing) with no stables so grazing all year round
 
polly123 said:
Just wondering on everyones thoughts on reasonable acreage per horse (we are on clay soil rough grazing) with no stables so grazing all year round
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I have 2 large and 1 pony on 4 acres in winter and 6.5 in summer and it sustains them with lots to spare .... I only need to feed hay in jan feb if frost and snow ... Mine out 24/7 no stables
 
Depends how much hay you want to feed and the size of the horses. Mine are 16-18hh and get 4.5 acres each in winter, 2 each in summer. I only need to put hay out when there's frost, snow or driving rain and wind. Its old rough pasture on clay here but at that density it never gets trashed.
 
I have 2 on 5 acres and it's nowhere near enough. Its segregated into 3 and we wreck one field (knee deep mud) every winter, feed hay for about 4 months and battle thrush/ mud fever, then they are OK on the remaining 2 thirds til next winter.
 
especially on clay I would want at least 4 acres per horse. I have 4 horses (13'3, 15, 15'2 & 16'2) who have about a 10 acres field, however, a good 2 acres get very waterlogged most of the winter. they come in at night all winter happily! due to the wet and boggy areas I would need double the amount of land to keep them out over winter, but could then have half the amount in the summer as they balloon!
 
Thanks everyone, the grazing does get waterlogged in winter so I myself thought the more acres the better so I could rest what was used in winter over the summer letting the land and grass recover and also use the driest area for winter grazing and the area that gets waterlogged keep for the better months.
 
Mine are on 4 acres of well drained clay land and have it split in two to rotate in the summer but have access to it all in winter, but I do hay daily from November to March.
 
It's hard as it is completely different when winter hits. I thought I had it made with my new place. 6 acres for only 2 horses. Summer I have plenty of grass winter I used a 2 acre field as a trash paddock - Trashed was not the word. It become sinking sand and the mud came up to my knee! So I had to open another 2 acre paddock I was resting for summer. This was amazing when I opened it up in January, nice long grass. Now its almost like the other one :( roll on spring!

It also depends on the sizes of your horses, feeding hay in fields in winter (as that ruins the land fast). you can get more out of your land if you can divide sections and rotate in the summer. For example 1 acre divided into two would hold nice for one horse (in the summer) as he would eat one half, swap him around to the other and let the eaten half grow because if he has full access to the whole acre, horses are selective grazers he would eat patches, leaving patches to over grow that he wont touch loosing you more area space.
 
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