Anyone else need rain?

[Sandstone1]

As much as I hate to say it we need rain! Ground is so hard and dusty. Do not need loads but just enough to soften the ground a bit. Dont want the grass to go mad but we need it to grow a bit or hay will be short this year the way its going.

 

[scruffyponies]

Have never known an April like it. Even the water meadows look parched. I suspect many of us will be in trouble for grazing or hay if we don't have a little soon.

 

[HappyHollyDays]

No grass in the field but my garden and orchard are nicely covered. I’m considering bringing the horses home for a few days to eat it down before I mow.

 

[vmac66]

Mare and her field mate were on very little grazing as both have had laminitis. YO harrowed and rolled the field earlier this week, it now looks like a, ploughed field. Don't want much grass but just enough for horses to nibble on would be good.

 

[The Xmas Furry]

I'd like steady rain for hay growing grass and to soften the ground.
It's the 1st time in many years that I've got limited grass keep in my fields.

Little A doesn't need it to rain as laminitis prevention is going well in these arid conditions.

 

[Chianti]

Yes! I find it quite frightening. I have a friend whose family farm in the SE. She says they are going to give up trying to grow cereal crops as springs are now too dry.

 

[Squeak]

Yes me too! The ground is like concrete and the grass isn't growing. The school is too dusty to ride in but the ground is too hard for faster work out hacking.

 

[Tiddlypom]

It's shaping up here to be a re run of 2020 .

A very wet winter morphing into a bone dry spring, leading very probably into another much reduced hay yield (75%). I haven't been able to put my equicentral track up yet, there is more grass currently on the lawn than on their two adjoining paddocks.

 

[JoannaC]

It suits mine as they are both fatties but could definitely do with some on the school. It does seem to be like this now but then the grass growslike crazy in the Autumn.

 

[Carrottom]

If the BBC weather fore cast is correct is going to start raining a week tomorrow and rain all week ? west Wales.

 

[tda]

Yes definitely, outside track set up, now mainly bald, centres looking very poor ??

 

[Quigleyandme]

Good God, all the rain in the world must have been dumped on my corner of Ireland then. I have no grass because my fields were until very recently a sucking, squelching, slimy mess of black mud I couldn’t even walk on. They are now a forlorn mess of crusty mud with stubborn puddles and tiny islands of grass. It started raining last June and I think there has been 15 mostly non-consecutive dry days since. Drying out now and my young friend will be over next week to harrow, fertilise and reseed if it doesn’t rain again in the interim. It can rain from a clear blue sky here. They call it a wolf’s wedding. I’m still bringing very reluctant horses in at night and will be for another month in all probability. The only thing I miss about Devon is my reliable year round grazing and modest hay bill. I’ve a lovely set up here but the ground is hopeless for horses most of the year. I knew it was wet when I bought the place but I thought all the ditching I had done would solve it and honestly if you haven’t experienced it you simply can’t know how bad it is. Apparently it never used to be like this so I suspect global warming is the real issue.

 

[PoniesRock]

I’m very happy with the lack of rain in my lami prone pony paddock. Butttt we desperately need the rain on our hay fields!

 

[meleeka]

Yes definitely, outside track set up, now mainly bald, centres looking very poor ??

same here. There’s usually a noticeable difference the middle bit and track, but it’s millimetres . i’m worrying about lack of hay already.

 

[Lipglosspukka]

I can't wait for a bit of rain so everything can finally go mad. Plus I've put off fencing off the field because they need what little grass there is already out there!

 

[PapaverFollis]

The next 10 days should see most people getting a bit of rain.


Apart from Shetland! And that patch near London...

 

[LadyGascoyne]

Oh I hope so! We need it too. I’m bringing in at night just to save the grass at the moment.

 

[teddypops]

Desperately. Grass isn’t growing in the grazing fields or the hay fields.

 

[Wishfilly]

Apparently we have only had something like 10% of the rain that falls in an average April this month. There's a little predicted here for Wednesday and the weekend, so I hope that helps the grass a bit.

Even on the paddocks being rested, there is not a lot of obvious grass growth, so wherever horses are grazing it is very short.

We are struggling a bit for hay at the moment, so a very dry summer could be a problem.

 

[MidChristmasCrisis]

Me..I need rain and some is coming tomorrow and Tuesday....my paddocks are dry lots and my mares are eyeing up the hayfield next door. They must be eating everything though as it pops up as the hayfields are becoming lush and the recently sown wheat and barley has germinated and is growing rapidly. Just rain overnight please as I’m enjoying the lovely days.

 

[Goldenstar]

Yes we need rain the grass is suffering and although we had a lovely time not worrying about the horses being out we do need rain it’s getting very hard .

 

[The Xmas Furry]

I'm in the patch with no rain...
We've had 1.49mm before 15th March, nothing this since and Feb was pretty dry too.

 

[southerncomfort]

Yes we need rain the grass is suffering and although we had a lovely not worrying about the horses being out we do rain it’s getting very hard .

Agreed. Much as its been lovely not having to restrict my mini shetland's grass intake, I desperately need it to rain now.

I've actually rigged up a super long hose to the water trough and tried watering a couple of the smaller paddocks but the ground is so hard that the water just dries on the surface and isn't absorbed.

I have no grass at all now, everywhere is bald apart from the larger of the summer paddocks which has a very short, very sparse covering with lots of bald patches.

It looks like we will get the odd light shower this coming week but not sure it will be enough to make a difference, and the cold nights aren't helping either.

 

[TPO]

Yes but just a steady fall of warm rain overnight please.

No flash flooding or downpours to turns the fields back into lakes ?

I'd still like the warm and dry during the day so that the grass starts to grow.

 

[GSD Woman]

I'm sorry that Great Britain is having drought issues. And then some people deny climate change. Insert eye roll here. We've had enough rain here, so far. However, we had frosts last week. I'm hoping my vegetable plants have made it.

 

[Spotherisk]

Good God, all the rain in the world must have been dumped on my corner of Ireland then. I have no grass because my fields were until very recently a sucking, squelching, slimy mess of black mud I couldn’t even walk on. They are now a forlorn mess of crusty mud with stubborn puddles and tiny islands of grass. It started raining last June and I think there has been 15 mostly non-consecutive dry days since. Drying out now and my young friend will be over next week to harrow, fertilise and reseed if it doesn’t rain again in the interim. It can rain from a clear blue sky here. They call it a wolf’s wedding. I’m still bringing very reluctant horses in at night and will be for another month in all probability. The only thing I miss about Devon is my reliable year round grazing and modest hay bill. I’ve a lovely set up here but the ground is hopeless for horses most of the year. I knew it was wet when I bought the place but I thought all the ditching I had done would solve it and honestly if you haven’t experienced it you simply can’t know how bad it is. Apparently it never used to be like this so I suspect global warming is the real issue.

It is a dust bowl here, and six or seven on your old land.

 

[PurBee]

Good God, all the rain in the world must have been dumped on my corner of Ireland then. I have no grass because my fields were until very recently a sucking, squelching, slimy mess of black mud I couldn’t even walk on. They are now a forlorn mess of crusty mud with stubborn puddles and tiny islands of grass. It started raining last June and I think there has been 15 mostly non-consecutive dry days since. Drying out now and my young friend will be over next week to harrow, fertilise and reseed if it doesn’t rain again in the interim. It can rain from a clear blue sky here. They call it a wolf’s wedding. I’m still bringing very reluctant horses in at night and will be for another month in all probability. The only thing I miss about Devon is my reliable year round grazing and modest hay bill. I’ve a lovely set up here but the ground is hopeless for horses most of the year. I knew it was wet when I bought the place but I thought all the ditching I had done would solve it and honestly if you haven’t experienced it you simply can’t know how bad it is. Apparently it never used to be like this so I suspect global warming is the real issue.

Same here, mid west coat - im loving the dryness, fields finally drying out.

Found an antique 100% iron horse-drawn hay cutter buried in ivy when i bought the place - needed a landrover to move it, its so heavy - there’s no way youd be able to use that on the lands anymore as its far too wet, so must have been a much drier climate at some point.
Huge ditches help drain off the worst - mild improvements, mole-ploughing helps between the ditches.

However, id have loads of grazing/hay if the wild deer herds didnt think my land was their pantry!
I have an allotment area deer-fenced, within which i’ve got 3 foot timothy growing - but where i sowed 2 acres of it last year, i’ve got barely 1 inch blades of grass, thanks to the deer!

Fencing the whole perimeter next year.

 

[BaronSamedi]

Apparently we have only had something like 10% of the rain that falls in an average April this month. There's a little predicted here for Wednesday and the weekend, so I hope that helps the grass a bit.

Even on the paddocks being rested, there is not a lot of obvious grass growth, so wherever horses are grazing it is very short.

We are struggling a bit for hay at the moment, so a very dry summer could be a problem.

Snap

 

[millikins]

Another desperate for rain, for 3 years in a row I've rolled, harrowed and reseeded then watched it shrivel and die. My fields are just not catching up again now. I moved to my yard in April 12 years ago, there was thigh high cow parsley and grass then, cow parsley hardly showing so far this year.

 

[littleshetland]

It's like the Atacama desert here.....