Anyone else worried about lack of grass/weather?

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Tonks

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As a livery yard owner I provide winter turnout during the day, as this is what my customers want. With some careful management, we have always had a pretty good sward into the spring and summer.

However, after an appauling last summer, followed by a wet winter and a spring that seems to be non existent, I have fields that are poached with very little grass. Any grass there is, is of poor quality.

Can't even seem to get to rolling, as the weather here never lets up for long enough to be dry to roll - so I'm constantly looking at unrolled, poached feilds. Unforunately my feilds are clay, on the side of a smallish hill with the occassional spring, just to complicate matters.

Never seen my land like this before. I am now imposing a 'curfew' on the land/turnout during the day (obviously everything is still in at night), and considering not providing any turnout next winter.

Last year all horses were out 24/7 around the begining of April, following a lovely (if not too hot) March but obviously this is clearly not going to be the case this year for us here. I can't see when they'll be out full time, given that the weather man says we're in for a terrible April as well.

Anyone else worried?????
 
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I am starting to worry yes.

My pony is a very good doer so I've kept him in the same field (sandy so minimal mud) all year knowing he will poach it a little and then there will be less grass in spring. However, i'm now starting to think if the nice weather never comes he's going to end up on hay all year. Good for his weight yes, bad for my pocket though.

Then if you add in the bad weather effecting hay and feed production, I think horse ownership is going to get very expensive very soon.

So that said, im worried about my good doer so for everyone with poor doer's I really feel for them.
 
A little we are lucky and have summer and winter fields however normally we would be looking to move over the beginning of April however that side is wetter so it doesn't look likely. The grass is however growing on the rested side although not as much ad it would if it was dry. My mare is very fussy with her hay so i need to ensure I have enough.
 
I am quite worried about when the grass will start to grow & how long my hay will last. Will the two meet ! Hay is like gold dust no one seems to want to part with it. I usually have enough after a winter for stabling & show nets through the summer, now who knows !
 
Well i think everyone is panicing a bit really. It used to be common place for snow in march and April and not all that long ago. The problem is after the last few years we have had warm dry earlier than we should and that's what we are used to.
Last year was too dry and we were all moaning that was too dry for grass to grow, its the British way i guess we love to moan about the weather.
But maybe everything is just getting back to normal and we may have proper seasons this year.
 
Large livery local to me has imposed a 5 hour turnout rule which has been in place since mid Feb. At least that way everything can still go out for a bit but fields last a bit longer.

The poor yard manager is constantly being harrassed about going into the summer fields which they don't want trashed as well. Liveries whose horses have trashed their own fields want the fields of other horses whose owners have not turned out so much.

she has explained that normal turnout will resume once the weather improves. The same liveries are now demanding that she tells them when this will be!

If anyone knows the answer to this question please tell!
 
Dizzydancer said:
Well i think everyone is panicing a bit really. It used to be common place for snow in march and April and not all that long ago. The problem is after the last few years we have had warm dry earlier than we should and that's what we are used to.
Last year was too dry and we were all moaning that was too dry for grass to grow, its the British way i guess we love to moan about the weather.
But maybe everything is just getting back to normal and we may have proper seasons this year.
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Statistics show that this is the worst winter for 50 years in terms of cold and wet so not many of us will recall worse.
 
I think things are abnormal this year. Everywhere is brown, thin hedgerows, bare banks along the river no weeds even, some blossom and leaves in bud, but sparse. I've never know aything like it.
Our hay has gone, thankfully we've access to some decent if a bit pricey stuff. Our fields are horrendous, frankly I've just given up, there's no point planning when you have to continually adapt your plans to accomodate the weather.
I'm praying for some warmth, grass is simply not growing, and will not until teps consistently come above 6deg, not a lot to ask really is it?
 
We are on self managed individual paddocks, I am turning my lad out on the drier days and keeping him in the rest to try and allow the paddock to recover from the last year. However my TB is fat at the min to a lack of grass would be a small bonus to me. But I do hope we get spring soon. IMO there is no point stressing myself over what I can't change I will keep an eye on the weather and manage my horse accordingly, can I afford it? no but that's life we always find a way
 
Thistle said:
Large livery local to me has imposed a 5 hour turnout rule which has been in place since mid Feb. At least that way everything can still go out for a bit but fields last a bit longer.

The poor yard manager is constantly being harrassed about going into the summer fields which they don't want trashed as well. Liveries whose horses have trashed their own fields want the fields of other horses whose owners have not turned out so much.

she has explained that normal turnout will resume once the weather improves. The same liveries are now demanding that she tells them when this will be!

If anyone knows the answer to this question please tell!
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Owww......I empathise with this......
 
It is very bad this year. My fields, which this time last year had lush grass on them, are in a poor state. All I can say is when it does become milder, with all this wet, you will be able to watch the grass grow!!!
 
I really feel for YOs this year, its horrendous and I've got no idea why some liveries are so short sighted and get shirty about restricted turnout. Our YO had to restrict TO about 6 weeks ago. The fields dried out when we had those two dry weeks but after one day of rain they were bog like again. The gateways are knee deep and the horses are just sinking into the ground, its horrible :(

Here's to a lovely summer and a drought ;)
 
I'm not too worried, grass doesn't seem to be growing as much at this time of year as last, but I have 4 out during the day on 10odd acres (with another smaller spare field being rested) and the only muddy bit is around the gate. We needed some practice jumping on grass after madam scared herself in the slippy conditions at an event :( so I put some jumps up in the spare field on thursday and the ground was pretty much perfect! We are lucky as have well draining fields. I would like to see some more grass growth coming through though (not likely now we are buried under snow) and wouldn't be happy if I was grazing at near capacity for the acreage. As it is horses have enough grass so haven't been supplementing with haylage (except when under snow) and we had a really good cut last year so I actually have too much and am selling some to a friend. I feel for everyone really struggling :(, said friend has acres of land but its clay and all was entirely saturated/ flooded earlier in the winter, and since the weather hasn't improved their horses have been on no/very limited turnout for such a long time now.
 
Lots of people are saying it isn't that unusual to have snow this late in March, and it probably isn't but the awful situation this year is due to weeks and months of wet before it.
I'm not normally one who panics about stuff, but if you can get some hay this year - grab it! We are already 1 month late with the crop getting going, and the ground is so wet it will stay too cold for growing for some time to come. June will be light crops, and even much later I can't see being a half decent crop. There won't be much about even if we had dry warm and sunny from tomorrow for months.
 
I've been worried since last summer.the water table is so high, we cant take more.
I think a lot of places will start providing hard standing pens, I plan to put one down for my lot.......
 
We had far too much grass last year and the horses had been out at night already.
This feels like the longest winter ever!
With the terrible wet summer and now the horrifically wet winter that never seems to get warmer I am so sick of it!
All our fields are disgusting and that is with the horses having to be in 24/7 for a lot of the winter.
It doesn't help that they have to stay in for a few days, then get turned out and the crazy tb thinks it would be a fantastic idea to gallop aroud the field 10 times which :(

We have gone through all of our hay, haylage and bedding. Really hope they can go out soon!
 
I am really fed up of the wet, my TB X Welsh who we would by the beginning of April be putting on restricted grazing as she is a good doer and has had laminitis in the past is looking THIN. I have never seen her like this at any time of the year before. I usually stop feeding hay at the beginning of March as the grass has started coming through but I really can't, at the moment, see an end to hay feeding. My fields are bare and when I would usually have a field to move them to for the summer I had to use that field as its the driest and they have now trashed everything. I am trying to be optimistic that spring and summer will come but the rain didn't let up last summer here at all and I really can't imagine another winter if the summer is like last year. :( Moan over, could be worse at least I have got turn out for them to stretch their legs.
 
Ours go out mornings only and fields look quite a mixture depending on what horses are out in them. My older horse wins the best field award as he hasn't really trashed his at all but generally grass pretty non existent. Would like him out more as currently having ulcer treatment but just generally very difficult. Try to lead him out in hand for extra grass.
 
I'm not worried, just fed up :( I'm a YO too, but my liveries have been fantastic and most haven't even turned out much all winter. So in fact, our paddocks are in the best nick at this time of year than they ever have been. We also managed to get all the paddocks rolled and harrowed a few weeks ago, although the ones that are being used now will have to be harrowed again. I just want to be able to get the horses out 24/7 now!

When I opened the yard in 2008, I remember my first livery moved in on 21st April, I was worried the fields didn't have much grass at all........well a few weeks later the grass was half way up to my knee. We just need it to warm up and stop raining :(

We also had snow (quite a lot too) on the 12th April 2008 as I was worrying about our open day.
 
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Not worried, just completely sick to death of it.

Squelch squelch squelch up and down the fields we go....

Am super duper lucky to be on sandy soil, so fields well draining. Have enough grass, and the summer paddocks are growing, just very very slowly. This time last year we were mowing everything once a week to keep on top of it!
 
Which is why I have stopped taking liveries....

The last year has been so stressful trying to manage land, and keep liveries happy at the same time. If I restricted grazing the liveries got grumpy, and if I let them have their horses out as much as they wanted, my land was getting trashed. Only having diy's meant that I was spending more out on re-seeding and maintaing grazing than I was earning!

I now have a part time job instead, and have more land for my own horses, and can manage it as I like.

I think we are sitting on a livery 'timebomb' - more and more people are having leisure horses and there is just not enough land to go round. If our weather continues in this vein the only way forward for livery yards will be to have all weather turn out areas, or expect to pay premium rates for more grazing space.

Hopefully the weather will improve next month and then we can all feel more positive.
 
Sidney said:
Which is why I have stopped taking liveries....

The last year has been so stressful trying to manage land, and keep liveries happy at the same time. If I restricted grazing the liveries got grumpy, and if I let them have their horses out as much as they wanted, my land was getting trashed. Only having diy's meant that I was spending more out on re-seeding and maintaing grazing than I was earning!

I now have a part time job instead, and have more land for my own horses, and can manage it as I like.

I think we are sitting on a livery 'timebomb' - more and more people are having leisure horses and there is just not enough land to go round. If our weather continues in this vein the only way forward for livery yards will be to have all weather turn out areas, or expect to pay premium rates for more grazing space.

Hopefully the weather will improve next month and then we can all feel more positive.
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I completely agree with you.......you have put is so well.

A part time job seems like a very good idea at the moment, as I bit sick of it all to be honest. I am a bit grumpy at the moment having to explain to my customers why and how important it is to restrict grazing as most do want to turn out, even with horizontal snow/rain going up their noses!! To be fair, most are good about it.

But, I will most certainly not take on any more liveries and I would like to reduce the number of animals on the land, as you do with natural turnover of clients.

My dear old dad, who was a farmer, is turning over in his grave at the thought of animals on the land over winter.

Spoke to my hay supplier who stated that he may only get one cut this year, so hay will be at a premium.

We've got to get some sun soon, surely??
 
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Our fields are trashed too, our summer fields are under water. We are on clay soil, the summer fields are usually the wettest so don't use them in the winter but normally starting to dry out now. We have been on limited turnout all winter. We too had a brief 2 week respite and then the rain came pouring back, the gateway in our big 7 acre field and 100 yards into the field is about a foot deep of slushy mud, you can barely walk through it. I'm so fed up of the mud and wet and so are the horses.

Long range weather forecast is suggesting April will be dire as well (wet/cold) however from May onwards its looking a lot lot better. Fingers crossed its right! I can cope with this for a bit longer if the end truly is in sight!
 
The problem is last year tho not actually this winter. Its been relatively dry in staffs at least this winter although cold. Its just from last year all ground is so saturated that any normal winter weather has taken more toll.
Roll on a nice summer to dry the ground and balance the water table out.
 
I'm not a YO, but I do worry about the state of our fields. Our yard only has 10 horses and enough paddocks for each horse to have his own field plus some extras set aside. We have had to rotate in to some of the spare fields because the ones we've been using have been waterlogged. We are only turning out for about five hours a day, and some days not at all. Our school is waterlogged and due to working hours I can't hack out after work...so my horse is getting so very little by the way of exercise. It's not yo's fault so can't blame them for restricted grazing. Hay and bedding are adlib as part of the livery - so it's costing them a fortune!
 
I'm very worried at the moment. Horses have been out of summer field since November and are supposed to be back out in it in May. The field is still poached and the grass is not growing at all. This time last year the grass was around your ankles with 6 weeks to go, this year it's topped with a blanket of snow :(
 
It's going to grow, it always does. We've had early springs for a while so this feels bad but it will be ok, another few weeks and we will be over the worst of it.
 
Our YO has shut his fields and he always does in bad weather :( the fields are in very good condition but we suffer from too much grass ever spring/summer hopefully this year I won't have to worry about my old boy getting too fat!
 
In Scotland the grass doesn't normally get really growing until May so I expect to have them on hay until the end of may anyway. However, it may be even later this year! Our fields have dried out a bit with the wind so that is not too bad. Now paying £40 for a big bale so hoping it doesn't increase further. My good doers are losing weight so restricting their grazing may be less of a worry this year.
 
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