Anyone else's fields just not growing?

Kallibear

Kallibear

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It's May, I have 3 good-doing horses, 8 acres and thinking about feeding hay again :(

Anyone else's grass just not growing yet? And under inches of water :(?

Normally by now i'd be restricting grazing. I'm currently worrying they're not getting enough!

I hate the British (or Scottish in particular) weather.
 
Kallibear said:
It's May, I have 3 good-doing horses, 8 acres and thinking about feeding hay again :(
Click to expand...

"Thinking"?! I threw them out 24/7, did the 'no more mucking out in the mornings' happy dance and that lasted about two weeks before they started shrinking and needed stable time to get haylage down them... :o

On a bright note today, the driveway sprouted a bit of grass down the middle... Fingers crossed the field will dry out and we'll see some coming through there... On the plus side, the ponies who lean towards plump are looking in the best shape ever...

I know it's Wales so we're used to rain...but, this spring is taking the proverbial a bit... Bah humbug...
 
I've never had to feed hay in the field only under a foot of snow. My grass is growing like crazy! I've had to put my two on a trash paddock until their track has dried up some more.

Looking forward to some nice hay making this year :)
 
We've got the opposite problem. I started giving mine a small strip of their summer field for a few hours a day with access from the winter field for space. We were on top of that & I was just about to move the fence up another metre, then it started rainining. Both field got completely waterlogged so for a week they came onto a semi hardstanding area, then back onto the winter field. The grass in the summer field has just gone crazy & YO has borrowed some sheep to try & graze it down. Trouble is the sheep are just about keeping up with the new growth.
 
Nope! Just had to move the boy & his field mate onto a paddock that was used by 4 others over the winter as they have both piled weight on over the last 6 weeks despite being ridden 6 days a week including competing & feed being halved since Feb!!! Other liveries have had to get their muzzles out!!!
 
Mine is growing before my eyes, off to buy another muzzle later as iv got fatties coming and with mine I don't won't the grass
 
Yes ours are, which is a relief after no grass at all last summer. Despite the heavy rain being a right royal pita, it has done a lot of good for my land.

Maybe you have just been too cold to get the growth started? I was suprised at how quickly ours is coming through as have not had many days above 10 c, but imagine if/when it gets warmer, the grass will come through even quicker.

Hope yours get's going soon too x
 
We are in NE Scotland, and despite the constant rain the last few weeks the grass is managing to come up. Not much of it, but very rich spring stuff :0

We are having a smaller paddock fenced for lami prone type pony, but I am going to be having to send the sheep in for a few days before she gets in it, and then overnight every night as well. as it is really quite lush. Pony was muzzled on longer grass before but really needs a completely bare paddock kept bare (and she recently got the muzzle off one day and broke it a few days later).

P1020829.jpg
 
mines got an okay amount - i walked up to her middle paddock and its growing hurrah :D


but her back paddock has masses of grass on but its all under water!!!

therefore shes back on her "trash" paddock until it dries up.....she has grass but as its short shes too lazy to try get bits...!!
 
No..we have too much. And as fast as they are eating down the starvation paddock, it is growing up again. (we're in Somerset, but on the hills so have luckily avoided any flooding).
 
Kallibear, I thought it was just my imagination. I've got a very good do-er who I manage on a starvie. However, the starvie had been rested and it's not really enough to sustain for long. I'm in Edinburgh area too - and no way could any of ours live out 24/7 yet (we've got plenty of fields for rotation). I'm happy cos at least I haven't got to muzzle, but it seems to me that the growthi is slower this year. And yes very very very soggy. Had the last two shows cancelled :(
 
I'm sure your grass IS growing, it's just being eaten down so it looks as if there is nothing there. Mine are on 8 acres and the height of the grass is very short, however, if I compare the height of the grass outside my paddocks, they're getting plenty!

Whilst we're discussing grass, why is it that horses don't eat that lovely, lush-looking wide-leaved grass that grows in tall clumps? It must taste foul! :D
 
The grass in Scotland or parts of it anyway is very slow coming thro this year. Normally have to restrict it by now, but this year it is just not getting going. It did start a bit in April then got frosted back and is still to recover. There just isn't enough heat in the ground yet to encourage it to grow.
 
lost said:
The grass in Scotland or parts of it anyway is very slow coming thro this year. Normally have to restrict it by now, but this year it is just not getting going. It did start a bit in April then got frosted back and is still to recover. There just isn't enough heat in the ground yet to encourage it to grow.
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Totally agree, we are really struggling. We have had the wettest winter in living memory according to local farmers and for the first time ever I have had to turn out in rotation during the day using one field which now needs to be completely reseeded. Recently it hasn't been so wet but has been very cold so it's just not been warm enough for the grass to grow.The majority of our fields have been rested since before Christmas and have been rolled, fertilized etc but there is still much less grass than usual so horses are still all in overnight. The fields came through the previous two winters much better despite the long periods of ice and snow which we haven't had this year. My haylage bill has been astronomical as a consequence :(
 
Usually by now I am starting to panic about the grass belly on my cob/thoroughbred mare and muzzling her much to her disgust, this year there is no grass coming through. I have 2 horses and 2 miniature horses on 10 acres and need more grass! Not sure about the drought sitiation but here in wet Wales the ground is still wet! My cob gelding is still coming over for breakfast and tea, although they are living out now but still being fed.
 
Down in the drought stricken South East we are up to our knees in grass. Only just put mine out for 24 hours as been chucking it down for weeks but might have to bring them in again. Also the blasted ragwort has gone mad already.
 
I have 8 acres and way to much grass , its growing quicker than the horses are eating it.:)
heres the resting fields 4 weeks rest so far and look at it

005.jpg


and this is the ones in use
006.jpg


Can I ask to those with grazing not growing do you fertilize it????

MY land guy said * IF YOU WANT THE FIELDS TO FEED YOUR HORSES , YOU NEED TO FEED AND CARE FOR IT.*




.
 
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Leviathan said:
I have 8 acres and way to much grass , its growing quicker than the horses are eating it.:)
heres the resting fields 4 weeks rest so far and look at it

005.jpg


and this is the ones in use
006.jpg


Can I ask to those with grazing not growing do you fertilize it????

MY land guy said * IF YOU WANT THE FIELDS TO FEED YOUR HORSES , YOU NEED TO FEED AND CARE FOR IT.*




.
Click to expand...

Never had to fertilize always had to much good quality grass until this year.
 
Not just me then. Although :p to all tho with too much grass!

Neversaynever: mine has a little more grass but it's also got a LOT more water (it's just rained constantly for 48hrs) and more poaching. It's been so wet that I can't get in to roll or poosweep:(

This is a new field for me so I was thinking it maybe needs time to establish (been left fallow for couple of years) but, having been for a nosey at the field I used to rent, it's not much better. Old field would normally be ankle height by now but it's still close cropped spring grass.

It's still really cold! I can literally count on one hand the days where it's been above 10degrees since the warm dry spelt in March. I'd guess average temp for the last month has been about 5 or 6degrees: warm jacket weather. :(
 
This is our first spring on this field, i must say i expected to see more grass than we have. Mind you all the flipping bunnies dont help. It is very wet in places but most of it is ok, though we do seem to have three ducks on a little lake that shouldnt be there. Great for teaching the horses to jump in and out of water though!
 
Our fields are also struggling - even the fields that have been rested for a year are struggling to come through at the frost/low temperatures are killing off the grass.

Ours are out 24/7 intermittently (i.e. when the weather isn't too horrendous) but unless the grass starts coming through we might have to start bringing in again.

Our local farmer is also concerned about how this will affect hay supplies because most of the farmers are still haying the cows and the weather is going to cause problems for this years hay crops too!
 
my grass is growing like mad! they've been out of the winter field for about 7 weeks and I already need to put them back out there to chomp it down a bit, but will have to strip graze it as they are already getting fat! I do have about 10 arces for only 2 horses now, doh!
 
I've got tonnes of the stuff. Six acres and they are fenced off at the front. Hopefully going to cut the rest for haylage this year!
 
kerrieberry2 said:
my grass is growing like mad! they've been out of the winter field for about 7 weeks and I already need to put them back out there to chomp it down a bit, but will have to strip graze it as they are already getting fat! I do have about 10 arces for only 2 horses now, doh!
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Gosh that is a lot, mine only have 2 x quarter of an acre paddocks this time of year and thats strip grazed ( I have a track system)

Why don't you let it grow and get hay from it, I got 17 large round bales from my 5 acres last year; kept 3 and sold the rest :)
 
Haven't managed to turn them out properly yet and we are still having to feed hay. Our soil is pretty rubbish but even by our standards there is hardly any grass. We have only cut the lawn twice this year too!
 
Not just you. This time last year, I was worrying that my horse was too fat, and that I'd left it too late to split the field (they live out all year round, but in a smaller paddock in summer).

This year, I had to get another bale of haylage delivered yesterday. My fatty good do-er is ribby and his pals are thin. The grass is just not there, and the grass in the next door, ungrzed field isn't growing either so it's not just that ours have eaten it as it grows. The farmers are all doom and gloom about the hay crop, and this is the latest I can remember for the cows going back out.

Mind you, we had summer in March, didn't we? so this is probably autumn again! Forecast for tomorrow is really dire, lashing rain and winds up to 50 mph. Hello, summer!
 
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