Field/Grass Management - advice needed!

[RachelFerd]

I rent a 3.5 acre field which I have been keeping my two thoroughbreds on since mid october. It had been cut for silage only about 3 weeks before this, so although there was grass cover, it wasn't exactly established pasture.

The field has survived winter fairly well - there is some poaching around the gate and around the corner I have been haying the horses in, but other than that it looks ok, albeit the grass is nibbled fairly close to the ground in most places (but if the horses make a bit of effort they do still have something to snack on)

I poo pick daily, although am on a bit of a catch up programme at the moment!

I was intending to split the field into two sections in the next fortnight, and restrict them to the already slightly muddier half until the other half grows.

Now, at what point in the year would you experts think to swap horses into the fresher paddock and rest the muddier paddock?

And how/when should I be thinking about getting the field fertilized (I am assuming this would be neccessary, correct me if I am wrong!)

Any other top tips on how to improve the grazing over the coming year or so?

 

[rossiroo]

have you thought to ask the' nice friendly local farmer' his advise? he will have access to good fertilisers and weedkillers ect ,if you dont have such a person there is a purpose made fertiliser called" suregrow" that is specially made for pony paddocks. they give instructions on the bag as to how much and when

 

[RachelFerd]

nice friendly local farmer is nice and friendly, but is also massively overworked and has a list of jobs as long as all his legs and arms by the sounds of it...

 

[The Fuzzy Furry]

If possible, I'd try to split it into 3 (but thats me! ) - only because I like to have 1 in use, one 'just vacated' and one growing on for use soon for much of the year from March to October.
From late October to Mid March whilst its hard/frosty they have the run of it all & then when very wet they are shut off in the 1 to trash.

Mine came out of the 'trash-patch' 3 weeks ago - it is now very level again (spent ages treading in divots) and has drained the wet in much of it - and there are green tips coming already They will likely be back in there before the end of the month it it doesn't get too wet. The trash-patch is rested from end August every year, so it always has a good 'cover' on it when I want to slam them in there when the clocks change in autumn.

As said above, worth popping into your local farmer to ask about fertilising & note what he uses - its it good for horses too?

 

[KarynK]

I would change them over when the grass starts to grow well when the frosts start to decline.

Cast some seed over the poached area chain harrow and roll it and rest it. That is a smaller acreage and you have TB's so you can fertilize as they will need good grass, so a slow release fertiliser is best as things like 20:10:10 will give you a flush where as a slow release will give you a steady growth throughout the season. There are some organics as well like slag (mining waste that is slow release and full of minerals) and calcified seaweed pellets but they can be expensive, especially if they have a horse on the front!!!

You can buy bigger push spreaders in the garden centre or tow along ones like I have and I tie it to the tow strop on my little car and pull it round!!! I bought mine on Ebay for £40 and it takes a whole sack of fertilizer.

I maintain all my weeds by digging pulling or spot spraying not generalised sprays as they will also kill all the broadleaved weeds that horses enjoy and that give them a good variety of nutrients, but it can be hard work!!

 

[misst]

3 of us have 4 horses on approx 5 acres. It has been split into 2 paddocks which are split again into 2 with each half paddock taking 2 horses. We have been there since last April and have managed well until now. One paddock has been rested since the end of October and is fabulous, growing well, and the other paddock is split at the moment into 2 and is in a bit of a state but is already recovering, even with the horses on it. We do ad lib hay/haylage and it is fairly well drained.
The plan is to move onto the rested paddock mid March for about 12 weeks and then do 2 monthly swaps between the 2 until next winter when we will trash the paddocks we are in again. We pull weeds by hand but with 3 of us doing it daily it is easily controlled. We also poo pick daily.
Our friendly farmer thinks this will work well without his assistance but he will roll and spray and top as and when needed. I would just "suck it and see" and see how things pan out if I were you.
I think the secret is to give alternative forage when needed and to allow a good resting period for part of the year at least. It depends on your drainage really I guess.