For those with less than 4 acres and more than 1 horse on it...

[Jericho]

Would be verrrry grateful if you could share your experiences of how you manage your grazing... I have 2 horses out 24/7 in c4 acres and am trying to decide what is the best way of managing it. Currently they are just in the 4 acres and I poo pick daily but its going to get much harder come winter.....

Soooo here are the questions:

How do you manage your grazing?

Do you / how often do you poo pick?
If you dont poo pick do you harrow? How often?

Do you section off the field? If so into how big an area? How often do you rotate?

Do you fertilise? When?

Many thanks

 

[Cazza525]

i currently have 2 ponies on 3 acres. I have split field into 4 but can honestly say that i have'nt touched 2 of the paddocks in 12 months. I tend to swap them round about every 3 to 4 weeks. I poo pick daily. I will use the 2 paddocks i haven't grazed over the winter as i won't have to feed them at all if i do.
I hope that helps

 

[Cazza525]

ooohh and i haven't fertilised anything yet. Only bought land last april!

 

[Enfys]

You may have read about this:
http://www.all-natural-horse-care.com/paddock-paradise.html

It can suit some owners/horses very well, the horses get to stay out and eat, but the land is still saved for spring etc.

I know that Honeypots, and others on here use this kind of system.

It depends on your land. You have options:

You could create a smaller sacrifice paddock for winter.

You could turn the horses out on 2 acres which is probably big enough for them not to poach it (if you feed somewhere different everyday and/or have some sort of footing in the gateways/feed/shelter areas)

You could consider an outer track, which will get muddy but you'll still have grazing come spring time.

Loads more I am sure.

 

[TGM]

I currently have three on 2.5 acres (one 16hh, one 14.3hh and one 14hh). During the worst of the winter when the ground is really wet they come in at night. During the heat of the summer they come in for a few hours during the day. I do have to feed supplementary haylage for a lot of the year.

I don't poo pick, I harrow. Having experimented with dividing the area in half with post and rail I found that too inflexible - one side got poached before the other had recovered. I now use electric fencing and portion off about half an acre at a time to fertilise and weedkill. I fertilise spring and autumn when the weather is wet but still warm.

Land is sloping and on sandy soil so reasonably well-drained and never gets really deep and muddy in winter, but downside is dries out quickly in summer which restricts grass growth.

 

[ofcourseyoucan]

i would use electric fence to divide up, and rest some. pooh pick every day. you can then fertilize and spray resting paddocks as req. it really is a personnel thing to suit you, the type of land and grass, and the type of horses you have, and whether you feed bucket and hay in field or yard.

 

[CazD]

We have FOUR on 2.5 acres - although admitting they are really ponies. We have a heavyweight 14.3hh, a 14.1hh cob, a 13.3hh cob and a 12hh pony.

We section the field into about four areas and then strip graze each area most of the year, moving the electric fence about a foot in front and behind them every day. We do have a hardstanding area which we feed hay on in the winter and for the really wet part of winter we just sacrifice one quarter of the paddock.

We poo pick morning and evening every day as the ponies are restricted to a smallish area each day.

Hubby chain harrows the field about twice a year to level the poached areas and break up the top surface.

We fertilise a different area of the field each year, usually around now, and that area is then rested for the whole of the winter. We also grass seed bare areas about once a year.

It is a lot of hard work but it does work OK. We only feed hay in the winter and we struggle to keep the ponies weight down in the summer.

 

[Honeypots]

At home I have 4 ponies on an acre...I use a track system and let them poach that which saves on the rest.
The track runs round the main part of the field which leaves two small paddocks (the middle and one to the side of the track) that can be rested all winter and used in summer when its dry. Like this:

This works well for me as I have laminitics so I let them trash the track and feed soaked hay.
In a bigger paddock however, it is possible to keep the tracks in good condition by making them wider/longer.
I poo pick everyday and never fertilise (laminitis/native ponies).

Up the road I have (currently) 2 horses and a 2 ponies on 5 acres. They have the run of the lot all winter and the ponies are sectioned off in summer. I only poo pick the ponies paddocks in summer. The main field doesn't get poo picked at all but we do have sheep sharing our grazing.

 

[pottamus]

I have two and a half acres for one horse and I do not even use most of it. He is on half to one acre all year round as he is a good doer and can put weight on in winter if not careful. I am on solid clay but even in the heart of winter, whilst the field is sopping wet it is never churned up or muddy even though he is out 24/7 all year.
I feed hay just about all year round so that he is on the least possible grass and is strip grazed. Any areas that do get a bit poached of grass soon grown back in the spring and summer. I have far too much grass in the summer and the rest of the field is made into hay once a year.
I harrow in spring to get rid of the ruts, keep control of the docks with spray and poo pick daily even in the winter - with a head torch!
I would split your field up a bit and rotate them round, leaving a paddock ready for the spring whilst the others re-grow a bit. But in the spring and summer you only really have to wait 3-4 weeks at themost for it to be rested and re-grown.

 

[Jericho]

Thanks for that - the track system is a really interesting way of doing it. The only downside is that I would need a lot more electric tape and posts!

I think I might section the field off into two and try it that way, still poo picking daily - figuring that if there is less field then it should be quicker to do.

Many thanks for all your eplies - very helpful!

 

[MagicMelon]

We have I think 4 1/2 or 5 acres and I currently have 2 ponies and 1 horse on it, although have had up to 2 horses and 3 ponies on it in the past. We've split ours up into 3 smaller paddocks and 1 "big" bit. We left the bigger bit as this is what we cut hay from in the past although gave up on that since we ended up with too many horses at one point to spare the grass!). I tend to use the paddock closest to the stables the most and the main bit of field. Its useful to split them up as I leave the furthest paddock to grow all winter and spring so that I can strip graze it in the summer if required. And I can leave the gates open between them if need be so I can limit/give more grass whenever I like.

I dont poo pick very often. We tend to do it all in a one-er every nown and again! Its much better now Im back to the current amount of horses I must say.

 

[Magicmadge]

I have 4 acres and 2 mares both with foals at foot, an oldie and a 2 year old. I have divided my paddocks in to 4, 2 slightly larger for the mares with foals, i rest 2 graze 2 on a 2 week rotation. They come in for about 6-7 hours a day and are fed hard feed and hay/haylege as their condition dictates. Soon when the grass stops i will gradually open up the whole field up until about December when they will have the lot, but they will be all in at night before then. They will be only on the grass for about 8 -10 hours a day so as not to ruin it. This has worked so far as i have never had so many on it before but there is not a lot left now to be honest.

 

[catembi]

I have 2.5 acres with a 16.1 ISH & a 14 hh aged mare. They are out 24/7 with a field shelter all year round. The ground is sandy so drains very well, & even in the depths of winter, only the gate area gets wet.

We harrow twice a week when the weather allows, & I spray the nettles/weeds in spring using a backpack sprayer. I have 2 paddocks, so I do one & then they go in the other one for however long it says on the bottle of stuff, then we swap round & I spray the other one.

We've been here 4 years & the fields are improving every year. I feed hay + hard food all year.

 

[Clodagh]

QR
I'm surpised how many of you fertilise. We have old pasture that has never been fertilised, my 3 neds have 3 acres split into 3 fields. The grass is lovely, not too rich and full of herbs and bits and pieces, proper old ley.
I poo pick the field I can see from the house and we harrow the other two after use in the summe rand then they are rested for 4 months.

 

[TGM]

[ QUOTE ]
QR
I'm surpised how many of you fertilise.

[/ QUOTE ] Why? We have proper old pasture too, but it needs a helping hand to support three horses. There are many different fertiliser options available - you don't just have to use a chemical one that stimulates lush growth!

 

[bounce]

To those of you that fertilise, what do you use and what time of year do you fertilise. I want to fertilise my field but don't want a load of lush grass in spring. No where seems to do the seaweed pellets I used to use many years ago.

I have 1 horse on 3 acres and struggle to divide it into seperate paddocks because of the various footpaths which cross it. I have too much grass in the summer and spend a lot of time cutting it to keep it looking good and occassionally fence small sections off for weed spraying and resting and leave it all open in the winter. I'm trying to fence half off for the winter at the moment so that I can open that part up in January as I find Jan and Feb is when I have to feed hay in the field to keep him occupied. By the end of March I've got plenty of grass again. The paddock used to have up to 4 horses on it but it did get regularly fertilised and we did use to rent a seperate field for winter to give it a rest.