Help with muddy field

[Pc2003]

I'm on diy and my horse is out with another in a paddock of about 4 acres. There are 3 other paddocks of similar size and for some reason this year mine is absolutely trashed. It was mainly just a muddy gateway but recently its spread like wild fire and covers the first 3rd of the paddock. We let our 2 have the whole paddock this winter as thought that would be best but not sure now?
The other paddocks are all strip grazed and are looking great ( I thought little paddocks/fence lines etc would just create more mud??)
Most others have little ponies which I suppose makes a difference but our 2 are only 15.2 so not exactly massive.
They don't even stand at the front so not sure why it's getting so muddy and they are only out for 5/6 hours a day.
Appreciate not much I can do now but would I be better next winter splitting the paddock and rotating?
We use the same paddock all year and it is clay soil so wet. We end up with too much grass in summer so I strip graze it then but most seem to strip graze all year but I would have thought that would be worse for mud??

 

[Fiona]

I must admit we strip graze all year round, and it certainly helps to keep fields looking nice and no muddy gateways.

Our ground is lowlying peat rather than clay but similar principles I'd say.

Fiona

 

[Pc2003]

Do you actually move the fence daily/weekly etc or do you spilt the field and rotate?

 

[Pc2003]

 

[Pc2003]

You can see the paddock next to mine is nothing like ours mud wise!

 

[monkeymad]

Are your 2 shod and the others not? Your paddock does look a lot more trashed!! As long as you can get it harrowed/rolled it will recover, at this time of year it is always depressing to look at the state of the fields.....

 

[Pc2003]

Are your 2 shod and the others not? Your paddock does look a lot more trashed!! As long as you can get it harrowed/rolled it will recover, at this time of year it is always depressing to look at the state of the fields.....

Other way round actually! Ours are barefoot and others shod! They are a bit bigger and they are proper 'boys'. They do have a right hoon about sometimes but I wouldn't say they were awful!

 

[Slightly Foxed]

Your paddock might just be worse b@@@@y clay than the next door one. My fields are clay, my next door neighbour's ( just a fence between us) are lovely loam' grrr. Different parts of the same field can vary so much.

I would strip graze all year and just accept that your winter paddock will be trashed, it will recover remarkably quickly though, especially with a little help.

Is that electric fencing dividing permanent paddocks? I hope you don't mind me saying, but it doesn't look terribly safe.

 

[Pc2003]

Your paddock might just be worse b@@@@y clay than the next door one. My fields are clay, my next door neighbour's ( just a fence between us) are lovely loam' grrr. Different parts of the same field can vary so much.

I would strip graze all year and just accept that your winter paddock will be trashed, it will recover remarkably quickly though, especially with a little help.

Is that electric fencing dividing permanent paddocks? I hope you don't mind me saying, but it doesn't look terribly safe.

It's post and rail at the very back but the sides is electric fence. Fence is the responsibility of whoever is in that paddock so depending on who you have next to you the maintenance can vary!!! I agree tho not ideal.

 

[Fiona]

Do you actually move the fence daily/weekly etc or do you spilt the field and rotate?

We move the fence about every 4 days... Using a tape gateway if necessary. ..

I was going to blame the shoes too, but I see in above comment that I can't lol.

We also have a living out small pony who unfortunately has to wear shoes, and I can definitely see the difference in her two paddocks between last year and this (only shod in front ).

Should have strip grazed her too, or put more stone in the gateways..

Fiona

 

[Hipo]

Mine looks pretty much like yours. It was doing really well until the last 3-4 weeks. I did fence off about a third though in December so they do have a decent area for when it dries up a bit. This is our first winter there. Big pony is making it worse by chasing little pony as soon as he sees me, doesn't do it if anyone else goes to bring them in.

 

[Achinghips]

Harrow and that will come back lovely and lush ready for next winter. However you must now make plans for summer. Separate that other better third off now so it can rest for summer grazing. And keep them off it until it's suitable. Harrow the trashed bit in April, which will come back lovely for next winter. You may have to resort to more stabling between harrowing and putting back in recovered summer grazing, unfortunately. It's best if you dont put them out on the whole lot again and think about individual grazing by splitting the two acre winter paddocks for next year.

 

[meleeka]

I was amazed how much more mud I got when I added a 14.1hh cob. My others were 12hh so I think size does make a difference.