Grazing Gone Already :(

[alison_oliver]

Been on my yard since October.
Was just two of us renting whole yard. Land Owner got greedy insisted we found 2 more to move on. Found 2 lovely girls with a youngster and a cob. So now we have approx 2.5 footy pitches worth of grass (dont ask me acres!!) Winter paddock is being rested, coming back ok, but fighting with dock leaves at the mo. Summer paddock is bare, except one qtr!! We have a 16.1hh/15.2hh/14.3hh & 12.3hh baby. All still on hay costing us a fortune due to time of yr and poor crop last summer. Q is what do i do with the acre and a bit that is bare.. whats best? Currently bringin in when wet too to avoid it getting swamped and nothing growing back..
Sorry its so long, hot chocs all round!

 

[Ashtree]

If the ground is bare - usually where the horse have muddied it - grass will not come back on its own. You'll need to loosen the top and reseed - there are some good seeds about now that will take much more wear but they do need a while to establish. Best way to sort docks I have found is to spray with Grazon 90 but you have to keep horses off sprayed areas for a week.

 

[quirky]

We have 13 acres and 12 horses, we're in the same boat. Being fed haylage in field and they've been in a week because of the rain.
I'm quite fed up with it all. I have never been on such poor grazing in 20+ years of horse ownership.

 

[1275gta]

Grass is just not gowing very well at the moment, we needed some rain and now we need warm sun and not this horrible cold wind.

 

[alison_oliver]

The docks are in the winter paddock so wont be grazed now till sept ish so will be getting some Grazon 90 to sort them out, we're just digging up worst patches. May have to reseed there too.
We moved yards because of poor grazing and have ended up in same boat/worse. In talks with local field owners see if we can borrow some nearby so we can rest ours as final resort.
I know what u mean Quirky.. we're meant to be able to enjoy summer and save some pennies to see us thru winter, this rate i'll be skint all year round!!

 

[angiebaby]

2.5 footie pitches is around 5 acres, so really you should have plenty. I have around the same amount for three native ponies and I have too much!!
We have had copius amounts of rain, and my grass is going bonkers!
You may come and have some!

I use around an acre from March to October, then they go on the whole of the rest in winter; they live out 24/7 and only ever come in when we have really bad snow, so about 4 times in a year.

 

[Flicker]

I'm in the opposite position. I want a nice bare paddock for my laminitic boy, but his is full of lush grass. Got another horse on it grazing it down during the day now, but he's still only going out for a couple of hours a day at the moment, poor fella.
Anyone want to swap, lol!

 

[alison_oliver]

Oh gosh, my idea of a footy pitch is very diff to yours.. my OH thinks we have around 2.5 acres. So now not only am i bad with acres i'm bad with sport too! lol! there's no hope! I'd love us to have 5 acres, then we'd have plenty, an acre each and a spare one!!

 

[angiebaby]

An average sized footie pitch is 1.8 acres, yes I've done lots of pub quizes LOL
Now I see what you mean; you have around 2.5 acres!! a lot of difference.

 

[loulabelle]

I'm in exactly the same boat, we have around 3 acres for our 3 horses and no seperate winter/summer grazing. In winter its one big bog in summer hard as stone. We are on clay ground that just doesnt drain.
We feed round bales in the fields usually 1 lasts 2 weeks for our 3 horses and cost £15 a go (£20 if you get them delivered) They are out the best part of 10 hours a day and in at night.
It is really frustrating but the field and stables only cost us £80 a month and cant really afford to move elsewhere at the mo.
We rolled and reseeded last year and rested the field for 6 months, started to grow lovely but winter came and was all churned up again so it seems pointless. We move the bales round hoping to reseed at the same time lol.