Grass quality vs time of day

nikicb

nikicb

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Quick (if a little strange :o) question as I have three good do-ers and although I like them to be out for a reasonable amount of time each day, I have to be careful with their grass intake at this time of the year.

Does anyone have a chart/table which shows when it is at its peak and when it starts dropping again? I don't really want to turn out at night for various reasons, but as they are at home I can be flexible and bring them in just before I go to sleep. I also understood that even if they are out at night, you have to bring them in pretty early to avoid the early morning 'sugar rush'. :)

Thank you. :) x
 
www.safergrass.org has a peak time chart but I can't link you straight to it because the website seems to be down

Also, if you have an iphone theres a laminitis app thats brilliant - screenshot;

 
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kellybee said:
www.safergrass.org has a peak time chart but I can't link you straight to it because the website seems to be down
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Thanks that's perfect - well it will be once I can get on to the site. I think everyone else is probably thinking the same thing at the moment. :rolleyes::)

ETA - just seen your addition re phone app - will look into that. Thank you. :)
 
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I was going to try to link to Safergrass.org but the site seems to be down.

It's not exact as it is dependent on light, temperature, time of year etc.

Basically grass sugar is lowest in the morning after the night but once the sun comes up, the levels start rising, peaking at about 3 or 4 in the afternoon.

So one option is to turn out at night but if you do this you need to turn towards sunset. Alot of livery yards turn out at 3 or 4 in the afternoon.

If that is not possible, then turnout at early as you can in the morning and bring in towards lunchtime.
 
criso said:
I was going to try to link to Safergrass.org but the site seems to be down.

It's not exact as it is dependent on light, temperature, time of year etc.

Basically grass sugar is lowest in the morning after the night but once the sun comes up, the levels start rising, peaking at about 3 or 4 in the afternoon.

So one option is to turn out at night but if you do this you need to turn towards sunset. Alot of livery yards turn out at 3 or 4 in the afternoon.

If that is not possible, then turnout at early as you can in the morning and bring in towards lunchtime.
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Thank you - that's very helpful. I'm thinking then that I could turn out at 7 when I get everyone up for school run, then bring in around 12 ish, then maybe pop them back out again from around 6 for another few hours. That way I can just give them a small amount of haylage in the afternoon just to keep them ticking over (as well as overnight obviously), and also my horse who is a big wimp can be in when the flies are at their worst. It only takes me a few minutes to turn out/bring in so I don't mind doing it twice a day. :)
 
Providing there are no other limiting factors such as a cold night, drought or lack of fertiliser,grass sugar level steadily rises throughout the daylight period.After dark it slowly falls as Non structural carbohydrates are converted and used to produce structural carbohydrates.Dont turn out in the early evening.The sugar level is at maximum
 
Mike007 said:
Providing there are no other limiting factors such as a cold night, drought or lack of fertiliser,grass sugar level steadily rises throughout the daylight period.After dark it slowly falls as Non structural carbohydrates are converted and used to produce structural carbohydrates.Dont turn out in the early evening.The sugar level is at maximum
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Thanks for your response - do you count 6 as early evening? If so, I guess they could go out around 7/7.30 pm for a bit and then in again around 11 pm. Would that be better? :)
 
Sorry but I think the whole afternoon evening thing is a bad idea. Cobsgalore is pretty spot on in my opinion 3 to 4 hours up to 10 am.
 
I have the same worry with one of mine. Ideally i'd like her to be turned out at 3am & back in at 10am, just need to find someone willing to do the 3am!!!!!!

Sure i once read somewhere about a guy who had his stable doors on a timer for just this reason, of course that would only work if they had direct access to the paddock :-)
 
nikicb said:
Don't be sorry, I was looking for advice. :) I just prefer to see them out as much as possible but not to the detriment of their waist lines etc. Thank you. :)
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Completely agree. My good doer doesn't get along with muzzles, so he is out at night on restricted grazing with two other good doers, and in his own little patch of even less grass during the day.

This little patch will eventually be strip grazed along to make a track and he will be on it 24/7 if he starts putting on weight.

I don't know whether you can exercise your good doers, but I have found exercise to be the key. He is worked 6 days a week with lots of canters :)
 
I like my girl out in summer (not 24/7) although because she is greedy & a good doer she wears a muzzle. It doesn't stop her eating but reduces her intake. I hate them but better than alternative
 
Our two fatties go out between 10-11p.m. and come in between 7-8a.m. during spring and summer, which I think is a good compromise between having them out as much as possible and not letting them pile on the pounds!
 
Thanks everyone! It's hard to believe I have this problem, as I have 3 of them on two acres, but I just have too much grass!! :eek: I do strip graze, and to be honest it's only really a problem at this point in the year. 2 of them are in work, and I try to fit in what I can with the Sec A, but it's not always easy with a family. I'm just about to get an outdoor school put in and will be using that for turnout as well for the ponies to get around this problem. I really thought my field had been so trashed over the winter that I wouldn't have enough grass, but it's all growing well again. :rolleyes::)
 
do you count 6 as early evening?
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The reason I said around sunset rather than give a time was that as it's daylight dependent, it will change depending on the time of year.

Mike007 said:
Sorry but I think the whole afternoon evening thing is a bad idea. Cobsgalore is pretty spot on in my opinion 3 to 4 hours up to 10 am.
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The problem with doing such a short stretch is that when restricted heavily like that, there is a danger of gorging and eating as much in those few hours.

Personally I'm a fan of muzzles in that they slow them down and make them work harder for the food and move around more. But they don't work for all.
 
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