Achinghips
Well-Known Member
Doesn't look like I'm going to get my hay cut this year now. How does everyone manage their foggage? What about those on clay soil ? Strip graze or let them at it?
Thanks
Thanks
Foggage/ standing hay
- Thread starter Achinghips
- Start date
Tiddlypom
Carries on creakily
I couldn't get my hay cut, either. I've got about 3 acres of foggage and I'm going to strip graze mine. We have a bit of a bunny problem so I don't want the horses moving onto it all at once, in case they find a concealed rabbit hole.
Moving the electric fence posts daily knackers my back, but hey ho, it's only pain.
ETA I'm on loam soil, not clay.
Moving the electric fence posts daily knackers my back, but hey ho, it's only pain.
ETA I'm on loam soil, not clay.
cobgoblin
Bugrit! Millennium hand and shrimp.
Ours are eating standing hay at the moment, strip grazed with electric fence. They do tend to trample quite a lot though.
We're on clay soil, it doesn't make any difference.
We're on clay soil, it doesn't make any difference.
MyBoyChe
Well-Known Member
Tiddlypom, thats exactly what I do. I have to check the hedge line each day as I move the fence back, for concealed rabbit holes. I can be seen each evening, poking in the undergrowth with a big stick. More than once, Ive put my foot in one and can only imagine how much damage it would do to a fetlock 
Im on clay but as Ive only got 1 pony on this particular bit I have to strip graze, otherwise he would just stuff himself senseless!
Im on clay but as Ive only got 1 pony on this particular bit I have to strip graze, otherwise he would just stuff himself senseless!
brighteyes
Pooh-Bah
Borrow sheep over winter and keep horses in.
Pen
Well-Known Member
We've just bought a scythe mower for cutting our foggage to feed to yarded horses. We are on heavy wet clay and one paddock has hardly been grazed this year so this will avoid trashing it.
Gloi
Too little time, too much to read.
Ours get a yard a day moving the fence.
Achinghips
Well-Known Member
for those strip grazing on clay, as they work their way up the foggage, do they leave behind a churned mess or if they are given access to the lot, does it mostly get trampled down and wasted?
cobgoblin
Bugrit! Millennium hand and shrimp.
If you give them too much at a time they will trample quite a lot and waste it, so it's a question of moving the fence frequently.
I don't close off the area after they've eaten it down, I just work down the field until eventually they have the whole area then eventually move them to another field. I always graze my fields this way and they don't get churned up except in the gateways, which are a boot-sucking bog of clay.
I don't close off the area after they've eaten it down, I just work down the field until eventually they have the whole area then eventually move them to another field. I always graze my fields this way and they don't get churned up except in the gateways, which are a boot-sucking bog of clay.
MissMistletoe
Well-Known Member
We are on clay and we tend to strip graze, moving the fence every day.
Agree with ^^^^^ if you move fence too far, they trample in most of it, especially when the herd bosses move everybody around it gets poached too. Whereas if you just move it about 3 feet (so they cant get all 4 legs on it), you get less waste.
You will find that the as you strip graze, the stripped area looks somewhat yellow and brown, but the more you open up as you go along, the less the horses will be concentrated on that area, and the ground will start to green up a little.
Agree with ^^^^^ if you move fence too far, they trample in most of it, especially when the herd bosses move everybody around it gets poached too. Whereas if you just move it about 3 feet (so they cant get all 4 legs on it), you get less waste.
You will find that the as you strip graze, the stripped area looks somewhat yellow and brown, but the more you open up as you go along, the less the horses will be concentrated on that area, and the ground will start to green up a little.
Achinghips
Well-Known Member
Thanks. Do you move the fence when it's mud or when there's still a bit of growth? Ie., how long is the grass before you move the fence?
MissMistletoe
Well-Known Member
It's moved 3ft every day. The foggage we are stripping onto is about 16inches long at a guess, the bit that they had the day before is pretty much eaten down to ground level, so hasn't yet got muddy/had the chance to get a bit of growth.
Hope that answers your questions- not sure if I've quite got what you asked for!!
glamourpuss
Well-Known Member
I strip mine. I don't move the fencing every day, but every few days. I move them down as well to stop gateways becoming muddy. I then strim/cut the trampled grass off. The grass that's coming back after this looks fantastic & will be grazed again next spring.
Prince33Sp4rkle
Well-Known Member
we have been strip grazing 2 on part of it it all summer and the 4 winter paddocks are just left to grow and grow.
about end of Sept they move over on to the winter paddocks and the 1 know laminitic is strip grazed again all winter, the one that has never had lami is muzzled until about xmas as he is very hard on the land and strip grazing trashes it(as he will walk back and forth on the new strip repeatedly). He has never had lami and drops off quite nicely in winter so i dont have to to worry about weight.
the other 2 dont have to be restricted so they are just let loose on their entire paddock.
i dont have to worry about wastage as we always have too much grass all year round, we are on sandy soil and ex dairy pasture so it grows like crazy. They do push the very long stalky stuff down and not eat it, but that protects the soil underneath. they spend all day rooting around for the nice bits and even in snow would rather push snow off the grass to eat it than eat hay so it saves a lot of £££ over winter
about end of Sept they move over on to the winter paddocks and the 1 know laminitic is strip grazed again all winter, the one that has never had lami is muzzled until about xmas as he is very hard on the land and strip grazing trashes it(as he will walk back and forth on the new strip repeatedly). He has never had lami and drops off quite nicely in winter so i dont have to to worry about weight.
the other 2 dont have to be restricted so they are just let loose on their entire paddock.
i dont have to worry about wastage as we always have too much grass all year round, we are on sandy soil and ex dairy pasture so it grows like crazy. They do push the very long stalky stuff down and not eat it, but that protects the soil underneath. they spend all day rooting around for the nice bits and even in snow would rather push snow off the grass to eat it than eat hay so it saves a lot of £££ over winter
DD
Well-Known Member
strip graze and move the fence daily or at least 3 times a week if daily isnt possible.
MotherOfChickens
MotherDucker
Life's too short for strip grazing and I've found even if done regularly it knacks the ground somewhat. I have in the past opened up 1/4 acre at a time but currently they just get the lot-they tend to trample tracks through it but the rest is fine-if they have enough ground they tend to graze different areas as the new grass comes through. Ponies are muzzled as required but usually not at all from the end of october.
Meowy Catkin
Meow!
I found a photo that shows how I manage standing hay in the summer.
I have taken them off this field now and put them on a small paddock as I want the bottom, grazed section of the field to grow a bit before winter. When I put them back on it I will give them a third which will be done with the electric fence going up the hill, rather than across it as in the photo. I will then later move the fence to give them 2/3 and then finally take it away and give the the whole field. This is a good compromise as the land is quite clay-y, so thin strip grazing like I do in the summer, isn't such a good idea due to poaching.
I have taken them off this field now and put them on a small paddock as I want the bottom, grazed section of the field to grow a bit before winter. When I put them back on it I will give them a third which will be done with the electric fence going up the hill, rather than across it as in the photo. I will then later move the fence to give them 2/3 and then finally take it away and give the the whole field. This is a good compromise as the land is quite clay-y, so thin strip grazing like I do in the summer, isn't such a good idea due to poaching.