First time with own land-how do I manage it in winter?

[kgj66]

Due to my horse being unrideable for the foreseeable future my plan is to keep her out for winter which I have never done with any of my horses before so need some advice!. There is a barn for shelter if needs be (hopefully will get stable soon but not definite yet).

There are 4 horses on the land and they live in pairs( I share with a girl who has 3 horses). There are 3 fields, two 2 acres (lets call them 1&2)and one 3.5acres(3) There are also two small grassy paddocks. Currently the largest field (1) hasn't been grazed since Christmas, had one cut of haylage in July and wasn't re-fertilised. The two other fields are pretty much bare.

My plan is to leave the field 1 until October, split it in half and move the 'skinny' horses from field 2 there. Then leave field 2 to rest for as long as possible before moving the fatties from field 3 into it and leaving field 3 for winter/until needed.

Questions- does grass grow at all over winter. Ie if field 2 gets eaten down a lot but not muddy, will leaving it a few months do anything? Should I move the skinny ones now and let the field2 recover for a month- will anything grow on it at this time of year

The good field-does the grass get to a point where they don't like it? Currently it is long is places, but hasn't gone stalky, is just a bit leafy.

Does putting rubber matting by drinkers/gate help with mud?

Obviously we will be supplementing with hay and feed, but just wanted to know what everyone else does.

Sorry for the rambling!!

 

[Max123]

Grass does not grow when the ground temperatures are below 6C. Depending on the part of the country you are in typically there will be no growth from Nov - March. Try not to let any paddock get grazed bare - the ground will get poached easier when there is no cushion. Harrow in the spring to level off ground as it is can cause injury when the ground hardens when poached.

 

[Alyth]

I would run them as a group of 4 and put a track around the perimeters of the paddocks and going through the gateways, they can be on the track all the time and the middles can be sectioned with electric fencing and rotated.....this system works brilliantly for me in a wet New Zealand winter....

 

[JillA]

I would run them as a group of 4 and put a track around the perimeters of the paddocks and going through the gateways, they can be on the track all the time and the middles can be sectioned with electric fencing and rotated.....this system works brilliantly for me in a wet New Zealand winter....

I take down my tracks in winter, they get poached because of the high traffic and very little ground cover with vegetation. I find it best to just let them roam over the largest possible area - watch out for poaching in gateways if you do that, and around water supply. The bigger the area the less the damage, and you can begin to restrict them in early March to save some for growing on. Congratulations by the way - nothing beats having your own land and making your own decisions - and footing your own bill!!

 

[Polos Mum]

Trial and error I'm afraid as everyones land is different and everyones horses act differently too. It'll take you a few winters to work out what is best for your circumstances.

I don't move mine onto their winter field until Christmas, this means they go only a field that hasn't been grazed since march, they seem not to destroy it so much this way, less lugging hay out to fields as they take a good few weeks to eat what is there.

Grass usually has a good spurt in September, so I take them off the spring/summer fields nowish and rest that one, it grows an inch or two now, then it starts growing really quickly in March so I can get them off the winter field quickly. I've found with my fields that if it's eaten right down before winter it takes ages to get going in the spring.

Usually I'd put them on the fields I've taken hay off around now (so called the autumn fields) where they would be until Christmas. I've sheep in there this year trying to thicken it up so split my summer field into two and using half of that as an autum field.

I've always found a supprising amount of growth in the autumn fields once the horses are off at Christmas - they green up a little certainly over Jan and Feb - I know they shouldn't but you can see that they do!

 

[kgj66]

Thanks for the replies so far- my horse has had to be in small sections all summer due to an injury and due to this her field has been stripped pretty bare. Currently I have them on the outside perimeter in a desperate attempt to save the middle for the wetter times.
That's good to know grass will still grow a little even when it's cold. I think I will move them to the big field in a couple of weeks, and kept it split in half so I can rotate.
We will hopefully be getting stables in which case problems will be solved but its not definite yet!

Has anyone used rubber mats at drinkers before? Is it better to put them there now, before it gets muddy?
Unfortunately they can't all run together as two of them would be alpha mares and would fight! My mare is an accident magnet so don't want to risk it!!

 

[honetpot]

The general advice is to move the hay piles so they do not poach the ground but I am on clay and I make a straw pad out of straw heston and keep adding to it a feed them there. It means that they stay most of the time on the 'island' cuts down the amount of time they are on the rest of it.
In good years the grass grows a bit in October and then from then to March there is no growth. I put a low nitrogen fertilizer on in September to help the grass recover and start feeding early so the do not graze in to the roots. In spring I put them in one area ( I have 3 on 2 acres) and harrow and fertilise and get rid of all the poo, rest it and clean up the other section. By this time the grass should be growing and you have to start dividing for spring.
If you are having to do any ground work do it now before it gets muddy because even a mini digger causes some mess.