Field maintenance

Bri

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I'm after some advice on field maintenance/management please? We've just bought a place with 8 acres of land after having horses on livery for past 15 years. At the moment the land is immaculate- it looks like a lawn! Just wondering what I need to do to keep it this way & what equipment we'll need? From what I can gather it will need rolling, harrowing, topping? But what about fertilising/re-seeding/weed spraying? And at what points in the year do we need to do all of this?
Land is split into 1 4 acre field & 2 2 acres. We'll have 2 horses on it & a Shetland but they'll be in at night during the winter.

Any info greatly appreciated- at the moment the land is fantastic & would like to keep it that way as much as possible! Thanks :)
 

djedgley

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Hi Bri lots will depend on what sort of land you have, ie clay, chalk etc. I have about 10 acres, split into 2 fields and that is then split into 5 paddocks with electric fencing. The horses have summer turnout then move onto winter grazing so each field is well rested. There is always ample grazing & I have never fertilised. An old farmer friend once told me "never fertilise when there are grazing horses" and in my opinion he is right. Even my vet advised me against fertilising as the grass becomes to rich. My grazing is perfect to keep them moving. I do get problems with docks and buttercups however and have spent many an hour with my backpack sprayer which works well with the docks but not so successful with the buttercups. I have the fields professionally sprayed every other year. If you are turning out all year then it is enivitable that weeds will grow where the paddocks get cut up. We also have our own topper which has proved invaluable and I top the resting field regularly throughout the summer. Both fields are rolled and harrowed in the spring. I did try re-seeding but to be honest its easier to keep the gateways in the same place and have no grass on those patches. Poo picking is done every day. I'm sure there are many more scientific rotas that could be used for perfect grazing but this works for me. Good luck
 

Miss L Toe

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I like mixed grazing, if you could ask local farmer to put half a dozen sheep on, they would keep grass nice and level, poo picking on eight acres is tricky, I would go for resting one field and using another, sheep could graze all areas as they will go under fencing, unless it is sheep netting which is NOT good for horses.
Weedkilling is done when weeds are small, in spring.
If it is immaculate it may have been used for taking off haylage, horses do tend to make a mess of fields, but you can manage it by topping. Horses don't want lush grass, so if you want you can look at overseeding with Horse pasture mixes in spring, you really need to find out what type of pasture it is, ie old unploughed grass or "leys", usually rye-grass seeded for fattening cattle and sheep.
http://www.meadowmania.co.uk/default.cfm/loaddoc.159
 
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Honey08

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If your land is so lush, and your horses are good doers, I would put the 4 acre aside for haylage. Then alternate the horses between the two other fields. Keep the best of the two fields for a winter field. It will get cut up, but if you harrow and roll (and fertilise if you like) in Spring, you will be amazed how quickly it comes back once rested over the summer. Our winter field is about 1.5 acres that 3 horses go out on once or twice a week, and it is bare and churned after winter, but always comes back really well. Once the haylage field is cut you could graze the horses on it for a month or two, so that the other, summer small field gets to come back a bit.
 
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