Best way to rotate grazing

[xxcharlottexx]

Hi. A friend and I have just started renting a few stables with some land.
For the first week we've let them have the full 2.5 acres. At the weekend we have split it in half with electric fencing.
Is it better to rotate them frequently say every few days - a week so that the land doesn't get too bare straight away but not really enough time to recover or say every 2-3 weeks so that it has more time to recover but will be grazed more at a time?
The land in the area isn't the best as it's moorland and clay so we fully expect to have to supplement with hay/ haylage when needed but just trying to get the most out of the land. Thanks
Edited to add that there are 2 horses

 

[Hawks27]

I have 1 medium sized ned an 1acre of good grazing it is split in 2
Field A is used in winter and summer, Field B in spring and autum (When the grass grows) so Field a never looks as good as field b as it is used in worse weather conditions but means he gets 24x7 grazing spring to autum I never run out of grass and he comes in at night in winter when the field is most at risk of being trashed and he is running low on grass, I do give him a couple of leaves a day in hay manager in field in worst of winter but on the whole this has worked well for me for the last 5years and my paddocks always look good and have grass.
It will depend on soil type, natural drainage etc all paddocks are different depending on the land I think am lucky to have nice sloping well draining paddocks but do get a bog at the gate in winter as this is where it drains too lol

 

[CBFan]

It really depends on the land and the horses but with clay soil, I'd be inclined to let them graze half of it from now until autumn/ winter, then when it starts getting wet, open it up so that they have the whole lot - they also have a load of grass to keep them going through winter. then, once the spring arrives and the ground starts to dry up (beginning of march usually) split in two and rotate for the summer months as necessary.

 

[Exploding Chestnuts]

I would not worry too much about summer grazing, but would prepare the field for winter by using the highest and dryest area for feeding hay, and also water of course, so these areas could be prepared by improving drainage and adding a gravel, or other hard surface. If they are barefoot in winter it will be easier as the feet will keep free of stones more easily, pea gravel is used by many barefooters.
They will need to shelter from the cold and the wet, so the area they will use will get poached, if you can have hay feeding and shelter near the field gate area, this is the best for you to feed them, but it may not be the most sheltered area which they will frequent.
Did you consider Paddock Paradise, ie with a track round the outside in summer, the middle is only topped and in winter all the field is opened up.
If you split in two, I dont see much benefit in swapping over every weeks, but if you leave it too long then they may gorge when changed.
Best thing is to get a few summer sheep [friendly farmer may need grazing for his 2/3 tups] they are the best companion grazers, keeping worm burden low, and grass evenly grazed.

 

[supsup]

I think it will depend much on whether the horses need their intake restricted. If not, then I'd probably graze each area pretty short (you don't want the horses to only eat the tasty bits, and leave the long, stemmy stuff standing), then move on before they damage the roots and ground too much. So, more than a few days. If they need restricted access then proper strip grazing (move fence forward on one side, bring it in on the other) might be a good option.
With clay as a surface, I think you'll probably have to make a decision in winter to either sacrifice/trash a smaller area and allow the rest to recover over winter, or open up the whole area in the hope that this will prevent too much poaching. I'm guessing you won't know until next spring if the area is large enough/ground resilient enough to cope with two horses and come out okay next spring if you allow access to the entire area.

 

[xxcharlottexx]

Thanks for all your input.
My horse is putting on weight nicely but he did struggle at the previous yard (hence the move) so definitely don't need restricting.

The gate way is concreted so we can feed from there in winter and we will probably leave the yard gate open so they can come onto the front of their stables if they want a bit more shelter.

I think the land is going to be wet, it looks as though there is a culverted watercourse through part, so it will drain, but prolonged rain, it may flood so we will sacrifice a section so they can go out during the day.

Think we will head towards keeping then in one half for as long as possible then. Then switch one it gets too short.