Anyone turned out 24/7 yet?

My field has held up surprisingly well in all honesty, and that's with me making a few mistakes with having them graze a part of it for a bit too long x I still have a ton of grass towards the bottom and over the hill of my field, but I gotta be careful with my two as Baggs is retired and prone to laminitis, and Rabbit my 3 year old has a mega sensitive tummy x

I'll probably look at switching them around to turnout by night by the end of April, but I might also try 24/7 turnout if I can get my hands on some more electric fencing posts....
 
ihatework said:
Yes, I only let them out on fresh spring grass on days I’m around. Will generally do 2-4-6-8 hours on consecutive days before 24/7

I reckon I’m a month off using the summer field still
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Yep, I threw them out on winter fields for an hour last night and will do the same for the next few days.
 
Heavenly - this morning I was able to walk out across gelding field - in my walking boots, not wellies 🎉 , to meet Chief marching towards me ready for breakfast (this was the pony we thought might be hard to catch🤣😂)
 
Mine are out 24/7 at the moment, but I'm supplementing with hay as they're stuck in the home field until Pippin's gelding wounds are all sorted. It's a bit of a shame as the grass is going wild and it's dry so they could enjoy it and give my poor home field a rest, but they (and I!) will just have to be patient.
 
Ours live out and have fared really well over winter, despite the easterlies and the mud. The easterlies have made the insides of their shelters wet and at one point the mud was so bad elsewhere that we had to lay a track of mud mats to be able to get the barrow in with hay and out with poo.

They have been rug-less 24/7 since Monday, despite it being chilly at night. I took a photo of my boy this morning to show my fieldmate the hair sheeting off him and sent him with a comment about his big tum! This is a horse who weaved and sweated constantly when in and had ulcers and frequently colicked so the slightly feral life he leads now clearly suits a lot better.

Their field is split in three and we rotate two of the three parts (the other is where the shelter and trough are) but unfortunately we're not seeing the type of growth that others are seeing on the rested part. I think last year's drought is still affecting the growth. So we are still feeding exorbitantly expensive hay twice a day to keep them going which is painful, although I am not blaming our supplier who has been great but is having to buy in from a long way away now so the price for the last two bales has been "ouch". But, on the other hand, we save a fortune on bedding!
 
Rapidly drying here!

I’m going to harrow the summer field this weekend and if it stays dryish for next 2-3 weeks then 🤞🤞🤞

I also spent a lot of time last night in my pick up flattening out the bottom wet/trashed bit of the winter grazing! Happy days!


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Traks said:
Just contemplating turning out 24/7 next weekend is anyone else out yet?
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Not yet for us, still very wet in some places and more rain to come. I’m on a livery yard now though and the farmer has been in the fields with the tractor this weekend. (I think with the seed but I’m not clued up on farming)
 
Mine are out 24/7 and I’m already considering bringing them in during the day 🙃 their summer field has finally dried up enough to move them … but I think they’ll have to come in when they move as cob is already a balloon. Winter didn’t do its job this year ☹️
 
Mine have been 24/7 for 4 yrs now with hay fed am and pm .

As my oldies have aged they seem so much better not being stabled . Surprisingly the fields are actually better as they are not fence walking waiting to come in.
 
Mine were all turned out last week 12 hours during the day, then we had a massive storm friday and the fields are wet again.
Hopefully next week. I hate the chopping and changing :(
 
Yes ours were all turned out last week onto the summer grazing, timing was perfect as friend had 2nd hip replacement last Monday and whilst I’m off for a fortnight(Easter hols in school) so am up there 2x daily im back in again on Monday. Humans are Defo enjoying the less work and the 4 legged friends the extra freedom and grass.
 
Just gone out into the winter fields 24/7 with hay before we move up to summer fields in a few weeks at our yard! 🥳🥳
 
Just giving our paddock a couple of weeks rest, (one EMS good doer and one OAP) not much grass BUT what is the current advice re grass/sugar levels etc, I am intending to let them out overnight, probably 10pm to 8am , and on yard during the day. I will probably stick with this as it suits my routine
 
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