Field management - help please!

[karenjj]

Hi,
I have moved up to a little bungalow with 2 acres (1 ours) 1 rented just before winter. We have 1 New Forest, 1 New Forest x TB and a shetland. Over winter the TBX was at livery so I could use a school and the other two were in one half of the paddock with hardly any grass and round bales of hay. The farmer has let us have an acre and we have brought the TB back and put him in half of it.. Problem is the grass is too long to put the other two on so they're in the other half of the winter paddock which desperately needs resting and the TB is eating the longer grass down to nothingness! I've been bringing them all in at night. The farmer seems to think I should be letting them roam over all of it and cutting it into sections ruins it.. all I can see is it being June soon and us having no grass at all anywhere! What would any experienced field management people suggest?! Hope this all makes sense!

 

[angiebaby]

Can you section some off for your tb to eat down, then put your shetland and NF on it?
You should be able to manage on two acres; I would keep most of it for winter and just use about half an acre for spring/summer; ( I have 4 acres for winter) I have a Sec D a NF and a shetland and they manage on less than an acre from April until October, I don't feed any hay as I strip graze.

It shouldn't get ruined this time of year, and if it does get wet it will recover quickly: I would not put them to roam on all of it,unless you want very large ponies!

 

[Shazzababs]

First you only have just enough grazing for your horses, so you are going to need to manage it carefully or it is going to get sick very quickly.

Here's what I would do.

1) Divide the fields into 4 fairly even paddocks.
2) 1 Put the TBX on the one that hasn't been grazed yet, and move the 2 ponies off the winter paddock and onto the one the TBX was on.
3) Top, spray and tidy the winter paddock as required (maybe fertilise, but its a bit late now).
4) Over the year, probably about every 4 weeks (depending on how fast it grows\gets eaten) move the horses so that the TBX goes on a new paddock and the other 2 go into the one he has just vacated. Make sure you time your worming so that it coinsides with the paddock moves. This means that each paddock gets 8 weeks off. In the winter when there is less laminitus worry you can put them all out together so you are only grazing one paddock.
5) You will need to continue to bring in every night, and poo pick every day or the grass will goto nothing.

 

[karenjj]

Thank you that's really helpful, I just don't want to run out of grass by August again! I've been reading other posts that say about putting them out at night and bringing them in in the morning, would that help at all?

 

[guido16]

Concur with above. You dont really have enough grass for 3 horses. Would the farmer rent you another acre?

Definately fertilize it. Its not to late and it will give it the extra boost it need.

Doesnt really matter if they are out at night or day, they will still eat the same amount. For lami ponies, the suger content in your grass is at its highest first thing in the morning and last thing at night.

You may need to substitute with a bale of old hay or straw for them to eat.

 

[H's mum]

Hi there - you may find this leaflet of interest

http://www.greenarc.org/archive/HorsePastureManagement.pdf
Kate x