Help and ideas please for winter set up :) pics

cob&onion

cob&onion

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Hi, sorry to mention the dreaded W word..........:D:D:D especially since we are having all this beautiful weather.


Would like some help and suggestions please for my field.

My field is approx 3 acres. The land is clay based and really holds any water. We mole ploughed it 2 years ago which really helped and we plan to do it again this year. We have lots of lovely meadow grass and herbs that grow aswell as a variety of hedges, problem is we have a few docks which i would like to get rid of without killing of the other grasses.
After a bad winter the weather has really taken its toll on the grazing. Its normally waist high by now but as you can see its bald! the horses are still being fed hay. The field has never been so bad in 5 years since we have had neds on it.
In the winter it gets very boggy. I normally seek grazing elsewhere as it gets pretty bad. Living on the field are my 2 horses, a welsh D and a 15.1hh cob. Both good doers.
We are building a house on the top end of the field and this has been fenced off approx a month ago and a new gate has been fitted. OH has also put me in a shed which has been a god send!
This is my set up at the moment.
Where the hay net is am thinking of putting a fence running vertical to the electric pole, and doing the same along the hedge line using some chunky oak posts so i can tie the horses up and then putting down alot of hardcore for a standing area in the winter months if needed. Also an area for the farrier to shoe etc....this will be gated so can be closed off when need be. The small shed and feed chest will stay where they are. Does that make sense?!

2h5oefd.jpg


Here is where the field shelter/stables will be, the back facing the fence and opening out onto the field. Best place and nice and shady all day. To the left of the hedge (on left side of pic) is my shed. The hedge runs down the field and has 2 large gaps where the neds go in and out.


2eplbuv.jpg



Am having a 36ft x 12ft building, with an overhang to the side which will be used to store hay. There will be integrated 12 x 12 stables either end and an area in the middle which will be used as a hard-standing field shelter. (pictured)

kb9gtd.jpg


The hardcore will be the base and there will also be hardcore outside the shelter. The stable on the left will be used as a wash room and have running water and electric for things like clipping and tacking up when its raining also as a storage place to hand rugs etc......
The far end stable will be left open as furthur space for the horses to come and go as they please, hay racks will be installed in here too aswell as the open part of the shelter. Again hardcore based. I will have a gate going across the front of the shelter too which will be left open but will always have the option of using as another stable if need be.

Any suggestions or tips?!
such as best hardcore for shelter for drainage etc

thanks
 
Not much really to say other than I would be tempted to stable them at night in the winter if you can, to save some of your land especially if it is clay soil. I have 3 on around 2 acres but they are part stabled and I have loads of grass. 2 foot high in the half that is currently resting and more than you have in the half they are currently grazing. I don't give them any extra in the field, but obviously do when they are stabled.

This made me laugh though! :eek::p

cob&onion said:
OH has also put me in a shed which has been a god send!
Click to expand...
 
I would suggest to build as big a hard standing area as you can manage and on really wet days leave them on that with some hay to save your grass a little.

If docs are your only real weed then I would spot spray them and leave the rest but just make sure you keep the horses away from the sprayed stuff for the recommended amount of time. If your horses are good doers then I imagine the shorter grass topped up with hay is actually better for them so don't worry too much about grass not coming through.

I moved to my house about 5 yrs ago and had nothing but a field, now have some stables, hard standing area, school, seperate entrance from the road, parking for my trailer. Just keep adding the bits you need and you will have a lovely place.
 
Sounds a good plan. I agree that they really need to come in at some point or you need to rent some grazing elseswhere for a few months to give it time to rest, or you'll never get the field in good condition.

Re the hardstanding, I would do it ASAP while the ground is so dry. I would put a layer of rough hardcore (we got ours free), get someone with a digger or tractor to roughly flatten in, then have a good layer of road chippings put on top. If you don't put a good layer down it will sink on clay. Some people say put a membrane first, but we didn't, and ours is doing well. We probably have a good foot or two of hardcore and another foot of chippings.
 
Thanks guys some good tips.
Yes planning permission for house. Shed hard standing and shelter on skids so classed as mobile :-)

Yes i think i would keep them in and maybe stick to using just half field for winter and rest the other part for spring.
 
Technically you have to move the field shelter around regularly to prove it is mobile, and also you would need planning for the hard standing too. Some councils can be really funny if you do too much without permission. Bear in mind that planners and inspectors will be around your property a lot too signing off things on the house, so they are very likely to notice... The fact that the shelter is such a large structure wouldn't help either.

I would scrape a bit of earth away before you put the hardstanding down, and tip a layer of earth on top afterwards, so it looks like part of the field and isn't so obvious. I would also think of planting a row of trees of bushes to screen the area where your shelter will be. Do as much of this as you can before you start on the house.
 
We are in the process of putting up a stable and barn. I like a hard core area outside my stable so my lad has the option in the extreme weather and does not have to be shut away in his stable.
The key for hardcore is lay a good 4-6 inches of the stuff...otherwise it soon gets churned up. We have laid down 4 inches of 6F2 aggregate (really rough but tough stuff used for the bottom of concrete bases) and will then lay 2 inches of nicer hardcore on top to finish. The hardcore topping will be stuff that binds together so it forms a good solid surface that does not move about.
I think I read that your stables are mobile? Well I currently have mobile stables and have used decent stable mats in the bottom and a normal bed on top for well over 8 years now and they have been great.
 
I would say go for as big a hard standing areas possible. Then if we have lots of snow etc again you can use this as turn-out with hay. Also have you bought your barn yet? Are the stable doors opening into the barn as shown in the photos? I would say this means you are really limiting your use of the storage area. Why not have the stable doors opening to the front?
 
Any importation of aggregate materials counts as groundworks which WILL require planning permission even if the building on top of them is mobile and does not.

While you might get away with the building being mobile and the groundworks by keeping your head down if it were small, the one you've pictured looks of a size thats highly likely to attract attention and the groundworks proposed more than minimal so you are taking quite a risk.......

The only way of being safe is not to do any groundworks and have a mobile building directly on the grass or with rubber mats. (even then they could make you move it periodically and may also demand an app for change of use from agric to equestrian if it hasn't already got that).
 
Had very similar problems to you in the past, so hope some of this helps.

1. Hardcore. My STRONG advice, if you can in any way afford it, would be to get some concrete put down, and not use hardcore. While it of course serves a purpose it is not kind to the horses' feet, not pleasant for them to stand on for any length of time, and smaller bits may work their way into the hoof between the hoof wall and the sole. That happened to one of my liveries' old pony, and he got dreadful abscesses. I've never regretted the concrete track and mini stable yard I put in. The track's about 11 feet wide so the tractor that delivers the hay can get up it to the stable

2. Whatever hardstanding you do put down, make it like a little yard, but accessible at all times. You'll find your horses stand there for preference - it doesn't half save y our ground

3. Re the quality of your pasture, have you tried calcified seaweed? This is a great fertiliser for horse pasture because, a) you don't have to take the horses off the land when it's applied; b) it's a slow acting fertiliser, not like a dairy pasture fertiliser, so it continues to act for a couple of years; and c) your neighbours will love you, as it gives off a strong smell of the seaside (ozone).
If you Google it you will come up with suppliers, and then get a friendly farmer to spread it for you.

Hope this helps. Know how you feel!
 
We had quite a lot of docks and thistles which over a couple of years I got on top of by just digging them out. This way did not have to worry about excluding ponies, geese etc.
If you want to spray them SBK works well and quickly.

As for hardstanding I agree with others ponies seem to like hanging round the stable and barn in bad weather so do make it a reasonable size.
 
As well as keeping them off it unless necessary, adding organic matter helps the problems associated with clay soils no end - if you poo pick, you will have steadily been removing it over time, so spreading some muck will help. Fertiliser will encourage grass growth, but not improve the soil.
 
I too have heavy clay soil and last winter was depressing beyond words!
One thing I would say is site the stables carefully as I've found with one of mine the water runs off the field straight into my shavings bed:( not ideal.
As for planning etc I've got two on skids but they have been in position years and we've even built off the side of one end and never had a problem.
 
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