Grazing field 6 weeks after harrowing & reseeding

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The fields at my yard are completely trashed after winter. YO just harrowed and re-seeded the summer field with a seed mix aimed at horse pasture, and the horses will be moved over in 6 weeks. Does this sound like sufficient time for the field to recover? Keep in mind this is in Scotland, where the weather is quite cold, so grass not likely to grow particularly fast.

Last autumn, my mare got mud fever after having been knee deep in mud in said field for weeks. I am concerned that the situation could become even worse this year, if the fields do not sufficiently recover. I don't want to move and hear other yards have the same problem with mud, but have a sinking feeling about how the fields will be come autumn, and it does not help that some additional horses have been added to the yard in the last year.

Does 6 weeks without horses sound reassuring, or will it get churned up because the grass is not yet well established?
 
it needs to be over 7 degrees for grass to grow- they said today the cold weathers in for another month:confused:
 
Has she 'over-seeded' or done a complete re-seed?

When I have over-seeded poached areas and the growing conditions are good ie warm and wet, it is possible for grass to grow within 6 weeks, but if is a complete re seed, should be rested for much longer.

Seems a waste of time to me as far too cold for it to take atm.....will be intersetd to see what others think.
 
Oh no... I was hoping someone would tell me my reasoning is all flawed!

- it is too cold for anything to grow just now, tough the seeds just went in
- 6 weeks won't be enough to etablish grass mat
- fields will be worse next year since they are starting off worse
- and will also be worse because there are more horses

Technically i think the field is over-seeded, it was not plowed or anything.. But... It was really trashed
 
The newly seeded areas won't have put enough root down in 6 weeks. The horses will just pull the seedlings out of the ground and churn it up.
 
They will be little more than seedlings after only 6 weeks and the roots won't be well enough established to stop them being pulled out. When I reseeded one of my fields it was done in autumn (could have been spring) then left and mowed for hay and only grazed on the hay aftermath, in around July/August. And that year was a "normal" spring _ wouldn't be thinking about grazing new seeds now until late summer, if then.
She'll probably have to do it all over again next year, unless she has overseeded so that existing grasses have enough roots?
Growth is when the soil reaches 5 degrees as I understand it, and at the moment it is so cold at night even if the days get up to 8 or 9 the soil is still too cold. Not sure about germination but I would have thought at least 5, maybe more. Then at least 3 months IMO - less to mow it because that would cause les root disturbance. HTH
 
Im going to say it will be absalutley fine,presumably there is some grass left & the new shoots will just come up alongside.It amazes me every year how quickly the grass recovers when you think it's not possible.Just fingers crossed for a bit of warmth & some of that bloody wet stuff which im sure you probably get your fair share of up in Scotland! x
 
New grass needs time to establish a good root structure and 6 weeks I am afraid is just not enough time.
The reason why fields get in to a bad state is because they are over-grazed. The long term solution is to reduce the number of horses.
Another improvement would be to install new drainage pipes in to the field so that any rain water drains off quicker.
 
It really depends how the seed was sown - was it broadcast (scattered on the surface) or direct drilled (machine slices a cut in the soil and drops the seed in)

Scattered seed takes a long time to establish, several months whereas the direct drilled grass establishes in a shorter time.

Ideally reseeding is done in autumn and is usually ready early summer following a hay crop.

Help keep the mudfever at bay by ensuring your horse has sufficient Copper, Zinc and Vitamin A in its diet.

It's frustrating but many livery yard owners get greedy and overstock leaving the poor horse owner to pay for a mud space rather than a maintenance grazing.
 
To be fair, in a lot of yards YO greed may be nothing to do with it this year, the weather over the past 12 months has been exceptionally unhelpful by all measures.

Also TBH in the home counties with land and other costs so sky high there is no way at all for any DIY yard to make any money without overstocking, until/unless liveries are prepared to pay significantly more for livery each month.

I say this not as a yard owner at all but while there are some bad apples I really dont think we can blame YOs for the state of the nations livery fields right now without looking at each case on its merits and also assessing whether the livery charges are sufficient to make lower stocking possible.
 
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