Help - too much rich grass!

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Patchworkpony

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We have far to much rich grass - even our sheep are struggling to make even a slight impression on shortening it. Question is do I get a lot more sheep, mow it and pick up cuttings or severely restrict future grazing? The trouble is the land was farm land originally and has had years of nitrates put on it. Does anyone else have this problem? We never had grass like this at our previous properties.
 
Picking up cuttings would be a right pain, can you leave some to make hay or old fashioned 'standing hay'.

If you can borrow more sheep (or even cows) then great (assuming you get the odd joint in compensation).

I like standing hay, mine go into a field in early Jan that has 2 foot of grass, - yes loads gets trampled but it gives them a good mid winter boost and saves putting hay out for a good couple of weeks.
 
Polos Mum said:
I like standing hay, mine go into a field in early Jan that has 2 foot of grass, - yes loads gets trampled but it gives them a good mid winter boost and saves putting hay out for a good couple of weeks.
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Same here.I've got about 4 acres of winter grazing which is rested from May -Jan. I didn't have to feed hay until mid March this year - cheapest winter ever!
 
Another vote for standing hay, i stripped grazed mine so it didn't get trampled and it was a great help in the winter - real saving on the hay
 
You don't need to do anything to get standing hay, other than keep the horses off the area from now until January (worth some electric fence if you can)

Cut and baled hay, I agree tricky to get farmers to do small areas which is why standing hay (ie alive grass just left until it dies in winter) is so good from small land owners
 
Re standing hay I did an equine nutrition course recently which stated that mature grass is not good for horses as it is not easily digested and can have a high sugar content. This came as a bit of a surprise to me as it is how we feed our horses over winter too. I think more research is probably needed on this though as I wonder if our rainy climate means that a lot of the sugar is actually washed out before it is eaten.
 
Merlin11 said:
Re standing hay I did an equine nutrition course recently which stated that mature grass is not good for horses as it is not easily digested and can have a high sugar content. This came as a bit of a surprise to me as it is how we feed our horses over winter too. I think more research is probably needed on this though as I wonder if our rainy climate means that a lot of the sugar is actually washed out before it is eaten.
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I wonder if you picked that up wrong: after the 22nd June [approx] the grass will increase in fibre and the digestblity reduces, correct, but it is the DE, digestible energy which reduces. The sugars in grass are highest when rapid growth takes place which is why horses gorge on it and why they get laminitis in spring and in autumn.
The digestiblity of the grass as far as the horse is concerned is fine, his system can cope with high fibre [low DE grass] he will break down the fibre, it is what his system is designed to deal with.
The sugars in grass are inside the plant, they do not wash away. When we soak hay to remove sugars, this cut hay is not the same as standing grass.
Try chewing on some hay and compare it with chewing om some fresh green grass, you will know which is which even if blindfolded, the hay is less sweet than the grass.
All the work done by nutritionists tends to talk in terms of the standards used in cattle feeding, the analyses talk about DE and ME, metabolisable energy, but rest assured grass left standing will not stay like spring grass, it will mature.
 
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Hi, it was stated that mature grass can have a higher NSC content as the grass is still subject to photosynthesis but the conditions are not good for growth so there is a build up of NSC. As I say it was a surprise to me. There are various papers on the subject. Also the lignin in mature grass is hard for them to digest.
 
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