Anyone else's fields just not growing?

[lachlanandmarcus]

have to be vv careful with fertiliser on horse grass, ours is completely unfertilised and pony still got lami on a bare paddock last autumn :-((

We use the sheep to fertilise, a lot gentler and cheaper than bagged stuff and they clear up a lot of worms etc too from the pasture (we poo pick daily tho as well).

 

[rhino]

Ours is coming through slowly Horses have been out 24/7 for a couple of weeks now, most are still coming in for a haynet and a decent feed but the good doers (like mine ) are doing well on just the grass

 

[Brightbay]

have to be vv careful with fertiliser on horse grass, ours is completely unfertilised and pony still got lami on a bare paddock last autumn :-((

Excellent point - I worked hard to find a field that wasn't fertilised - other than naturally . Farmers love grass - they are generally wanting lnger grass that cows can eat, and tend to overdose the land with nitrogen and potassium... great for cow grass, but very risky for laminitis prone horses.

 

[NeverSayNever]

yeh i dont fertilise, sec d and shetland really dont need much more than there is thankfully!

 

[Crugeran Celt]

we dont fertilize either but could do with them spraying the stinging nettles every now and again, my legs are killing from a few stings today!

Have found the only way to clear nettles and ragwort is to hand pull it, hard work and back breaking but it works. We have cleared our 10 acres that way, did take a few years and we still go out each spring to pull any we may have missed last year. The horses love the nettles when they are cut and drying out. Our new problem are ferns, never had them before last year and looks like they are coming back this year. They are not easy to pull up either!