Cost of reseeding grazing

[MistletoeMegan]

Evening all,

I was wondering if anyone could give a rough estimate of the cost (per acre?) of reseeding grazing for horses? The land in question is horse sick, and aside from fencing and sorting the water out, needs a lot of work in the form of harrowing, fertilising and reseeding etc to get it back to a decent state.

Also, if anyone has done this before, how long did it take to get the land back to a state sufficient for good grazing?

Thanks in advance x

 

[martlin]

Oh dear, I might have to write an essay... where do I start?
Are you thinking of doing it yourself?
If not, you have an average price of man+tractor at £15-£20 an hour.
Harrowing and rolling works out at about £15 per acre.
Grass seed differs greatly in price but roughly for horse pasture you are looking at £25 - £30 per acre.
No idea on fertiliser as I use manure and my own livestock produces it for free so to speak

As to time, if you start from scratch you are looking at drilling or seeding grass about August(ish) time, leaving it over winter, taking a cut in May/June and then you can start grazing, but would be better to have more established lay.
If you harrow and overseed, you need to give it at least 8 weeks to improve and establish.

 

[NeilM]

I don't know the costs, but a local farmer has done exactly that with 5 acres of land that had got seriously run down.

He started last summer, ploughed, harrowed and re-seeded the whole field. It started to grow almost immediately, but the cold winter and odd spring have slowed things down. I went past the other day and the field is looking superb now, so I guess it would take around nine months minimum, depending on when you start.

 

[MistletoeMegan]

Thanks guys

Work would have to be contracted out, but even with that it seems cheaper than I was imagining, although still a reasonable sum overall

 

[JS65]

Cotswold Seed do a fab pony herb paddock grass.
I did a 3 acre field last september and the grass is fab!
No ryegrass in it and lots of natural herbs. It's designed for horses in rest and laminitics, my horses have been on it for over a month and none have had runny droppings or bad bellies, which i would think i would expect on a new root, so am going to do my other 7 acres with it over the next few years.
It's more expensive than other grass though, worked out a £76.00 per acre but well worth it.