Grass kept horses.

pistolpete

pistolpete

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Anyone in the south of England not feeding hay to their grass keeps t horses? We’re on seven acres but it’s all burnt off now. Farmer who delivered hay said plenty been harvested in Cornwall but his crop is low and virtually no straw off the spring barley!
 
I know a few people (I'm south east and its actually raining today!!) but they all have large acreage and good doers. Everyone else is having to supplement.

Mine are getting a small amount am and pm when they are in their stables but the fields they grazed through from March onwards and are now resting look much the same as when the horses came off them. Usually I'd rotate back onto those in Autumn but the grass is going to have to really shoot up for that to happen this year.
 
I think it will take everyone by surprise if we have a few days of rain followed by some hot sun.

Its been raining today on site in the centre of brum. Hope it's like this a few miles down the road in my paddock.

Very fortunate to have a large strip to hand graze the horses in, in front of our paddocks.
 

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I have made a track around my boys summer fields so its like a figure of 8. I sup a small amount of hay out in the evening but they are managing quite well at the moment. I am trying to save the middle of the fields until later in the year so that i can strip graze them before the boys have to go into their winter field. I'm happy with a grass free track and supplementing with hay though, my 2 life of fresh air!
 
No grass here North Essex. Fine for the lami prone one but not ideal for the others :(

Feeding copious amounts of hay and barley straw in the field to keep some fibre going through them.

Winter fields have been rested since 1st March and not looking great either.
 
At the moment you'd need quite a lot of land per horse or a field with unusually good grass (as in normally too wet!). I've put the 8 that need more on a 6 acre paddock that has good grass and is in a hollow by the river, and they are doing well. The others are fatter and I am not haying at the moment but will have to if it doesn't grow soon. Judging by poo and condition they are finding something to eat although it doesn't look like there is anything.
 
I'm looking at feeding Hay from next week. The shady field the ponies are currently in is a dust bath, but the field we have on the other side of the village with grass has little shade and the flies are like something out of Jurassic park! So for now it's hay in the dust bath and hopefully the ponies go back to the grassy field in the autumn for a couple of months.

It's a juggling act for sure!
 
Amber's paddock is strip grazed, and she's got about 1/3 left untouched. The bit that she's on looks burnt and short but she's still carrying more weight than ideal so she's getting something from it.
The same for the others at the yard. We are very lucky though; they all have different paddocks for spring summer and winter. The winter paddocks are worrying though as they're not growing anything back since they came off them.
There's a chance YO might have some extra paddocks temporarily due the solar farm getting ready to go up so that could help too. I'm hoping the areas that have good hay harvests negate the lack of it locally. YO is fab, she's already got the hay barn full ready for when its needed.
 
Thanks for all your replies. My native would cope but he is always chunky no matter what I do! The others look ok but we’ve started hay again as the fences were being heavily challenged!
 
Dartmoor 1000ft and far too much grass. Not that much rain and no idea where it is coming from. The lawn (same grass as the fields) is growing like mad and has never stopped, I have given up strimming some areas as grass and greenery has taken over and just too much to strim.

I have never got on too well with foggage but I am praying they are going to make that work to get it eaten idc. Was going to cut some grass to give to the ponies but they are still fat on nothing and I should be looking at further restriction.
Whilst others are struggling with having to feed hay to keep them fed I am struggling with restriction to try and deal with the fatties. :D:D
 
I have nearly all the sheep, 24 ewes + lambs and our 3 ponies out on our 14 acre field. Only some unpalatable rough grass left and thistles. Ewes could do with more condition but lambs are good and horses are fat. No hay fed, horses just get tiny feeds with their supplements. Thistles are getting topped Sunday (hopefully) and everyone will move to the other two smaller paddocks. Praying for sensible rain as we need grass to grow for the winter. We usually graze foggage all winter and don't need hay unless it snows.
 
My older horse is in a field of four and they are currently being fed more hay than they were in the winter. Their summer field is sparse anyway but had lots of shade. Despite feeding more and more they were fighting and hurting each other. We’ve now tied up multiple hay nets as well as loose hay to keep them occupied and that seems to be working. But as a result of mine being constantly kicked and bitten I’m now moving to another field. They’re feeding a round bale in there. I just hope he settles 🤞.
 
In the north east rather than the south but we have had no rain ether and our grass is burnt off too. However, we are lucky enough to be allowed to manage our grazing as we see fit and are ours are not getting hay. Instead, we have rested half the field since winter and used the other half, strip grazing it. They finished the grazing half last night and are now strip grazing the other half, which we estimate will last them until mid/late September. The other half will be rested until around November in the hope that we get a September flush to allow it to come back for winter. What they have is sparse and stalky but they both look well on it. They are being weighed by the vet on Monday and I will be interested to see how it compares with last year.

For context, mine is an ulcer prone TBxWB who needs a reasonably amount of forage and my friend's is an IDxcob who really doesn't. Because mine is a bit of a bully, he gets most of the strip and moves her around constantly which is good for her waistline. We think we'll probably need to hay when their summer grazing is done in September but hopefully only for a while or a small amount if we do get an autumn flush for some foggage for winter..
 
6 horses on 13 acres split into 1 big field (winter field - approx 7 acres) and 2 smaller fields (summer fields - approx 3 acres each) in north Oxfordshire. They have been back in the winter field for a few weeks as all we have is burnt off grass and dust. I am feeding close to winter levels of hay (horses in during the day and out at night) and this is the first summer in nearly 50 years of having horses that I have hayed the field in the summer. Usually at this time of the year I am strip grazing the summer fields as there is too much grass.

We have had precious little rain as we seem to be in a microclimate that the rain just skirts round.

I had some hay delivered today and my hay supplier advised that they will have run out by Christmas so now trying to source some more hay ......
 
South East. Feeding hay twice a day. Fields brown with a sprinkle of desperate green. No respite this year. The number of checks needed, might as well be winter. Thank goodness for my hubby who brings water via a hand pulled trailer.
 
I am strip grazing and feeding hay to top it up but we've now had some rain so it will be growing again so I will increase the grass:hay ratio as I have saved quite a bit of grass. Very, very glad things are looking more positive for more rain next week.
 
Mine are having soaked hay at night and a strip grazing fence move in the morning. Their field looks like a dust bowl with weeds and hawthorn suckers but the welshies have been getting fatter- so now on a smaller fence move.
 
Our field is bare, completely burnt and empty. Apparently our particular area has had even less rain that everywhere else is the south, which is just fantastic.
They’re getting 3 lots of haylage a day. Can’t see us getting any grass growth any time soon.
 
Mine have been on adlib hay for 3 weeks now. The rested winter field did them for 3 weeks but nothing is growing and everything is just brown. Stuck them back on the even more wrecked summer grazing in the hope the winter field will provide grass at some point. If it doesnt then they can stay where they are and will overseed and fix it next year.
 
Have nearly 4 acres with 2 on. Very bare to my eyes, but they're still finding something to eat. However, last week started feeding small amounts of haylage dotted around in lots of small piles so they have to look for it rather than pigging it in one go then being hungry.
 
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