Another harrowing question ( sorry)

[Beatrice5]

Following on from yesterdays post that has now sadly dissapeared before I could read all your replies.

But why do you need to harrow? I think mine has been done at the wrong time with a much too strong big farm mechanical harrow as it really has ripped all my grass out by the roots and left little blobs sitting on top now fast drying out. Surely that will kill the grass and it's roots and all I am left with is a ploughed field?

I am new to pasture management as have always been on DIY livery so I am learning fast and the hard way so it seems. I am currently so shocked as to the mess left behind and the poor horses haven't moved from the gateway as they hate walking on the loose clumpy soil and there is absolutely nothing left for them to eat.

Please advise, we are on clay soil but it has been so dry recently and is due to stay dry so everything is dying.

 

[JamesEarwaker]

The harrow (or mine) can be altered to set how aggressively the tines work, normaly you would set it on a aggressive mode when re-seeding at the same time to get more soil to seed contact.
Its still too wet here to even travel on some fields, grass is very hard to kill off so with a bit of rain it will soon re-cover, its just a shame the horses havnt got a spare field to go in while the poor field was harrowed.

 

[Beatrice5]

Thank you next time I will ask him to be less aggressive

Probably not an easy question to answer but how long until I will see some signs of recovery?

I have use of another paddock but it is totally dead and brown flopped over old grass and as its only access is down the side of my neighbours house- you cannot get anything larger than my discovery down there. Also as my mare is heavily in foal with an unknown covering date I want her at my house to keep a close eye on her. Any tips on what I can do to speed things up in my paddock and any tips on what to do with my neighbours paddock ?

Advise Much appreciated

 

[JamesEarwaker]

I think recovery all depends on when you next have some rain.

Dont be too hasty on thinking about chucking fert on it or it needs rolling or something to try and re-cover it from the state its in as with a bit of rain it should encourage the new grass to grow.

You say your neighbours field is brown and dead, is it totaly gone or any new shoots you can see that it could be recovered? if dead and way past it then a harrow-re seed combination job to make a new grass paddock.