Has anyone grass matted a large area of field? Did it work?

[catembi]

I am really struggling with my clay fields atm. The horses are *still* on the yard. The entrance to the field has lots of mud control mats which the grass is growing through, but if I were to grass mat (using the 8 ft by 4 ft more flexible mats) a large area of field & let the grass grow through it, would I end up with a stable field that would be useable in winter or would the whole lot just sink once it started getting wet? O/h estimates that the cost of grass matting would be £20k... Worth it if it works as WTF is the point of having land if you can't use it, but NOT worth it if it doesn't!

 

[maya2008]

Yes…and sort of. The mats sank, but where they were, it now only gets ankle deep not knee deep in winter. Plenty of people mat with mud control mats though and it looks like that works a treat. Could you do a smaller paddock with those?

 

[HappyHollyDays]

Instead of grass mats try Jelka mats. They are more flexible than mud control mats and better designed for the job than grass mats but you might have to hardcore underneath them in gateways.

 

[mavandkaz]

I grass matted outside my field shelter, didn't survive a winter. They sunk and several of them rip apart (I am on chalk, so slippy on top but only a shallow layer of top soil before hitting chalk/flint, and very quick draining)
I then laid hardcore, and placed grass mats on top. They have still ended up under a layer of mud, even with just two Shetlands

 

[tda]

I think it would work well and look lovely.......as long as you don't let any horses on it

 

[Palindrome]

I am on clay, I tried grass mats (just 2 of them) and they broke in several places. They can't withstand the horse's weight if it's muddy underneath.

ETA: how did you get grass to grow in your mudcontrol mats? Mine have soil in the holes but no grass growing.

 

[rextherobber]

I'm on light sandy soil and the mats sank in places, rucked up and tore

 

[Sossigpoker]

Grass mats will sink into the mud. Also on heavy clay here and tried it.

 

[blitznbobs]

What about draining it better ? If you are thinking about that kind of investment get a drainage guy to have a look they can come up with some amazing results

 

[catembi]

Thank you for all the comments. We had a drainage guy who also put in the arena and who understands clay. Dredged our main ditch, put in more slit drains… The fields would be trashed as soon as the little darlings had a hooley…

Re mud control mats… We just laid them on top of grass/ mud, didn’t fill them with anything and the grass just grew through them! I will get a photo tomorrow.

Sounds as if it’s not worth spending the hypothetical £20k that I haven’t got on grass mats, then!

 

[SEL]

Proper mud mats would be ok I think. There's a livery yard near me that has a large area covered in them. They were ok with it being grass free but after a few years the grass is growing through so the horses have nibbles when they're off the fields.

A surfaced track might be a better investment though if you're spending money you haven't got!

 

[Squeak]

I don't know about grass mats but this winter has been fairly extreme in terms of the length of time that the fields have been muddy and saturated for so if you've managed to cope for other years this year might not be the best to go by (hoping by all hopes that future winters don't turn into the same never ending downpour).

 

[Errin Paddywack]

Grass mats are a waste of money in most situations with horses. Only place they have worked for me is on my lawn to stop the dogs churning it up too much. They have been useful over a hard cored area too.

 

[MissTyc]

Mud control mats are the best bet, but I feel your pain

 

[catembi]

I think we have about 200 mud control mats. They are all well & good, but it's harder than you'd think to slot them together because they are completely inflexible and you have to slot in two sides simultaneously where the hard plastic lugs need to do things that are mutually exclusive! Only people who have ever tried to lay them will understand! Before the prices went up, I costed the amount that would be needed to cover a 20x40 arena & that was £20k as well...

Plus we are 'lucky' that our fields slope & have interesting contours & they cannot follow these contours without popping apart as they are completely rigid.

H'mm seems as if my options are 1) move house, 2) fit the horses with snow shoes to spread their weight out a bit better or 3) errm...I don't think there's an option 3!

 

[catembi]

Photos… In one, the ground looks cracked but if I poke it, it’s actually soft like modelling clay!

 

[cauda equina]

I agree about grass mats being useless anywhere where there is mud; I don't know how many have sunk without trace in my fields which aren't even particularly wet

If you're considering spending in the region of £20k what else might that buy? It might be worth looking at all weather turnout with some sort of surface and possibly drainage

 

[SEL]

Could you not put a hardcore track around the fields? A friend on Shropshire clay only has 2 acres for 2 and she manages by having a track around her fields (started life as an access track until she realised how useful it was and extended it). When the fields are sodden they have access to that, the stable yard and a small sand pen. It keeps them moving and she can open up fields as / when weather permits.

 

[Errin Paddywack]

I can sympathise, our field is heavy clay too, dig down and is yellow clay. It was also ploughed for over 20 yrs and only put down to grass in 88/89, a 3 yr lay which has now been colonised by other grasses. It has taken all of the 29 years we have been here to develop a decent sward and learn how to stock it best.

 

[PurBee]

If you’re able/willing to use a budget of 10k+ - why not address the issue head-on with remedial soil amendment methods? You dont have to do all your acreage, just a couple, 3 acres, depending on costing of 1 acre - you can then use those fields for winter turn-out aswell as your dry-lot area.
Best use remedial methods on slightly sloping fields than totally flat fields, so that the rainwater soaks through and can run-off still.

The advantage of clay is that it is full of nutrients, but because there is a lack of air and drainage, and its so dense, many grass species can’t root deeply into it. Horses weight and frolics easily decimates what shallow-rooted grass there is, when conditions are wet.

Clay soil needs lots of organic matter mixing in with it to improve drainage and break-up the clay pan. I would wait until the preferred winter fields topsoil are dry, and then plough them 8 inch depth. You’d need to almost match the ratio of organic matter to clay, so add a layer of at least 5/6inches of organic matter and plough the 2 together.
I’d scour everywhere for large 14 tonne truckloads of organic matter from industrial composting sources direct. Buying it in 1 tonne bags is the popular gardening option but waaaay too expensive for this job. You’d need a supplier who is the source of the 1tonne bag retailers. Also worth contacting woodchip companies to see if they have mountains of rotted down bark and tree dust from making woodchips. Maybe even tree surgeon companies, they usually have a yard of woodchips and some rotting chipper mixed organic matter.
A note here - dont use actual woodchips, as they will slowly rot down, and will rob nitrogenic bacteria from the soil to rot down, so you’ll find your grass lacking in nitrogen. There can be some woodchips in your mix, but you dont want more than say 20% unrotted woody matter.

Another angle to improve drainage is to use shale/stone - again a quarry huge truck load would be cheapest to get loads. We can get a 14 tonne load for 120 euros of shale. That mixed into the clay and organic mix can add drainage and stability/strength to the soil matrix. Grass roots will grow deeper when there is space in the soil.

A farmer locally revamped 1 large field by adding grit and sand with stone so he could get more from the field and use it practically all year round.

If you dont have a tractor/plow/roller/tipper trailer etc - Hire of equipment/or men operating equipment will be fairly costly - so you’d want the soil amendment materials delivered to coincide with them being on the job, if not delivered prior waiting to be used to make co-ordinating the job easier. It can cost you hundreds per day waiting around with expensive machine/men hire waiting for materials to be delivered.

After plowing the materials together, then it would need tiller rolling so you can then spread horse-friendly grass mix seed. Then roll flat and smooth after seed-spreading and pray for rain
The grass roots can grow deeper than any other clay field and can actually uptake the nutrients that clay soils often lock-out due to them usually being alkaline. It would be a very nutritious field for minerals, with organic matter mixed in.

Its a big job to do but worth it to have winter grazing fields. It’s just as big a job as laying hardcore tracks, which i’ve done too on the worst fields of my land. If movement is what you want more in winter, rather than good grazing, and you have an excellent hay supplier, then i’d be tempted to build hardcore track system. But if you have oldies with teeth issues that do well on grass, i’d revamp a couple of acres topsoil with amendments.

You could speak to the folks at Cotswold Seeds about your soil and if they know of contractors who specialise in soil amendment of fields. They are not just a seed company, they do field trials of plants and are very much into soil health. Would be useful to get their perspective as they work closely with many farmers.

 

[SantaVera]

Probably cheaper to move to the Caribbean

 

[Not_so_brave_anymore]

My compromise was a small "yard" area of mudcontrol at the top by the gate, and then a single track of mudcontrol round the outside of my "trash paddock" which is approx 25m x 35m. I've only got little ponies though, you might need two mats wide for proper horses. I've got water in one corner, a shelter in another, and a hedge on the opposite side, so they've got a "reason" to visit the whole perimeter.

This trash paddock also doubles as a lami paddock, so it's practically grass free, and therefore gets very muddy very quickly. My ponies always choose to mooch round the edge on the mudcontrol rather than slog through the mud when it's wet.

 

[HappyHollyDays]

I am on heavy clay but with mostly bf horse so the field holds up well, however the gateway is usually knee deep in mud. The past two years we have added about 10 tonnes of free sawdust from a local supplier and it’s been brilliant. It soaks up the water, isn’t deep at all and the mud doesn’t rise to the top. It will rot down eventually but as we have a never ending supply it isn’t an issue. In summer it keeps the Sahara dust at bay. Might be worth trying to find a supplier and try a small area to see if it works.

 

[catembi]

My four are all b/f! I have two ex racers, a Dartmoor & a Shetland. I don't suppose you've got any photos of what the sawdust looks like down? Does the grass grow through it?

It's so annoying to have fields which are pretty much ornamental for half the year, but if I turn them out, they will go skidding about & carve it all up. Perhaps I will get a field maintenance person to have a look at it? From PurBee's post (thank you for writing all that - much appreciated) it seems that I am getting beyond the capabilities of me & my bad tempered quad...!

 

[maya2008]

My friend who is on clay gave in and got an all weather paddock put in. For the money, that might be a better solution.

 

[catembi]

Very luckily, I managed to get a very large area of limestone hard standing put in, dug out properly, membraned etc, so they can stay on that when it's wet. There are 6 stables with full hay nets for them to wander in & out of. I have an arena as well so they are allowed to have a play and a roll one or two at a time.

I have saved the fields all winter & they are looking good, so I am trying not to cave too soon & undo all my good work! I also have a teeny tiny 'paddock' where I can allow one horse at a time or both littlies to have some grass. I want them up the field though so they can be horses & stop eating so much bl**dy hay! Grass is free & hay is very definitely not, & the ex racers really can put it away.

 

[millitiger]

Could you hardcore instead of using mats?
Make a small, dry, area for winter.
Much cheaper than mats.

 

[PeterNatt]

We are on clay soil and installed drainage in to our fields. We hard cored all the field entrances. No more mud problems.

 

[Hallo2012]

i wouldnt bother ploughing etc you will NEVER get clay to stand up to horses in the same way natural chalk or sand does.

spend your budget either making a surfaced track or a big area of hardstanding.

my clay sounds similar in that it doesnt go sploshy and soupy it goes like semi congealed rice pudding-lumpy and sticky and slippy! after 5 years here i just accept they are in pens jan/feb/march.

 

[catembi]

Yeah it’s a pain, isn’t it! My last house was on sand so too well draining and when they were on grandad’s farm before that, it was chalk so the clay has been a rude awakening. OMG the first winter here, with no facilities, almost finished me off!