Can someone tell me about fertilised fields

shannonandtay

shannonandtay

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Our fields were fertilised a few weeks back, and now ponies are out on all day turnout. I've never had a pony out on fertilised fields before (as far as I remember) and having looked it up there seems to be a lot of conflicting advice about fertilised fields and laminitis. What are people's views on this, is it something to worry about? I have no idea what exactly was used.
 
I used some left over fertiliser on a small field that didn't have much grass. It was a standard nitrogen/phosphate/potash mix, known as NPK - I spread it according to manufacturer's directions, and let the grass grow for a couple of weeks before I used it.

Two of my horses then became laminitic on it, after quite a short time - one was overweight when she came to me but the other wasn't remotely fat, so do be careful.

You need to keep feeling for a digital pulse - do you know how and where? Ask the yard what was used as well, as it might not be NPK type stuff.

It does depend on many things - how poor the grass was to start with, how many are out on it, what the weather is like (you can get quite a growth spurt after rain with NPK) so don't panic just yet but do keep an eye on yours.
 
The only fertiliser I would put on land using for grazing non TB stock would be the muck heap.

I remember the local Welsh cob stud putting nitram on their fields and having a huge number of mares go laminitic shortly afterwards.
 
The grazing has been quite poor but has suited my good doer, since the fields were fertilised there has been quite a spurt. Today was the first day out all day, the previous week has been short spurts but I felt uneasy and was thinking maybe I should have him bought in after a few hours. Yes I have felt for a digital pulse but nothing so far and he is barefoot so I'm assuming I should see the early signs. Thanks for the advice I will try to find out what was used.
 
AdorableAlice said:
The only fertiliser I would put on land using for grazing non TB stock would be the muck heap.

I remember the local Welsh cob stud putting nitram on their fields and having a huge number of mares go laminitic shortly afterwards.
Click to expand...

That's very worrying, I was a bit concerned but didn't realise it could make that much impact.
 
just remember the point of fertilize is to encourage growth of luscious and nutricous grass for farm animals ie. cattle

just restrict the horses turnout eg. size or tine and keep an eye out and they'll probably be fine.
 
I fertilised today and reduced the dosage on the paddocks and put the majority on the hay fields. The lads are in for 2 days now (to allow the fertiliser to soak in and for worming) and they will now go on to night-time only turn-out (less time out and less rich grass, plus they are not full of grass when I want to ride).
 
In my limited understanding if you are fertilizing, the type used should be chosen and spread according to soil analysis. Soil ph is also a very important factor.

Any concerns then I would monitor your horse closely for subtle signs of laminitis and act accordingly. There isn't a one rule for all as all situations are individual.
 
I absolutely never ever fertilize fields that will be grazed by horses. It is asking for problems. Even if we take over a new field and seed it for grass and use fertilizer to get the grass going we do not put horses on it for 3 years as it is just too risky.
 
I have been at my yard 15 years and the same farmer has fertilised it for me every year, he knows it used for horses. i always leave at least 2 weeks before i reintroduce the horses to the fields and do it gradually, then they eventually go on grass at night and off in the day.

In all those years (touch wood) i have had various breeds from cobs to tbs and never had one with laminitis! i think u need to be careful how u manage your horses and be aware of any signs. i try (try being the ultimate word) to keep my lads weight even and if he starts to look a bit weighty he stays off till he is back to how i like him.

xx
 
Our fields are fertilised every year and *touches wood* we haven't seen any laminitis cases in the 10 years we've been there. The Sec A/B broodmares and the Sec B stallion stay in unfertilised paddocks, however there are all sorts out on the fertilised land inc cobs, Sec Ds, ISHs, Warmbloods and TBs. The soil is tested and the correct fertiliser used, but no idea what it is (YO does it all).

The hayfields are also fertilised and I recently had the haylage analysed (having won a competition doing a survey that was on here) It was really quite low in energy, far lower than I thought it would be. The guidance that came with it said anything under 10 was suitable for laminitics and ours was 7.4. I was really surprised by this, but I suppose seeing as the haylage is made on the farm that explains the no laminitis. Neither do we have any skinny horses though so it must be just right.
 
AdorableAlice said:
The only fertiliser I would put on land using for grazing non TB stock would be the muck heap.

I remember the local Welsh cob stud putting nitram on their fields and having a huge number of mares go laminitic shortly afterwards.
Click to expand...

I even had laminitis in some of my horses following spreading with well rotted muck so avoid anything now, it does depend to some extent on the ground, my wet clay just seems to cope with little help other than rolling and harrowing each year despite being well grazed.
 
I spoke to really nice chap called Kieran at Agrigem who advised that using one 25kg bag of 20-10-10 NPK is ideal for maintaining a grazing paddock for horses, no risk of laminitis at those rates and worked out much cheaper than using Suregrow!!! Not sure if I can put the website address on here, but google Agrigem and it will come up!
 
ollie20041979 said:
I spoke to really nice chap called Kieran at Agrigem who advised that using one 25kg bag of 20-10-10 NPK is ideal for maintaining a grazing paddock for horses, no risk of laminitis at those rates and worked out much cheaper than using Suregrow!!! Not sure if I can put the website address on here, but google Agrigem and it will come up!
Click to expand...

I am not sure anyone should ever categorically state 'no risk of laminitis'. sometimes you have to fertilise, especially if you poo pick-otherwise non-desirables such as clover take over. caution is needed obvs.
 
The vast majority of yards around here fertilise their land, hence why I avoid them like the plague! My mare cant graze fertilised land, because it is so rich she ends up with year round explosive diarrhoea and is the size of a house even with being restricted.

I now rent a field and have chosen not to have it fertilised (but don't poo pick for 4-6 weeks before it is harrowed), she is much much better now, and it is still growing but just steadily not like a thing possessed!
 
Yes - don't turn horses out in them!!!!

Sorry but horses are not designed to eat lush grass and would never fertilise any of my fields, and would rather provide additional forage if short of the green stuff.

Hopefully your horses will be fine but I would keep a close eye...
 
We fertilize our fields with 16:16:16 or sometimes 20:10:10 but only at half the recommended rate of the latter as it
s high in nitrogen
 
The modern school of thought is that laminitics are safer on longer fertilised grass but this rather depends on the weather after the application of the fertiliser if it has been wet and sunny the long growth will be low in sugars if the weather has been dry and cold then the grass will have a lot of sugars and will be much shorter. Long floppy grass is ok for laminitics apparently will find the relevant research
http://www.hoofrehab.com/SpringLaminitis.html here you go
 
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