How best to manage small acreage

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Scot123

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Hello. Would appreciate your help please. Have done a lot of reading about this, but would like to hear your thoughts about my specific setup and how you think I should manage it (or if you think I'm mad!!).

Currently I just have one teeny good-doer of 9hh so the land I have is hugely ample for him. But will hopefully be getting him a new friend soon - 14.2hh max and aiming for another cobby/native good doer type. Both will live out 24/7.

I have about 1 acre in total. West coast of scotland so constantly wet!

It's split into 1 paddock of 1/4 acre, 1 paddock of 1/2 acre (which sheep also have access to) and 1 area of grass (used to be a lawn) of 1/4 acre which I've further split into 2.

I was thinking of keeping the 1/4 acre paddock unused from spring to winter and then having it as standing forage and letting it get muddy and then recover the rest of the year.

Also planning on moving them to livery for Jan/Feb to stop things being totally mangled!

Don't have access to harrow or roller (though think that might just compact the already wet ground even more?) but poo picking twice/day.

So... does this sound sensible? How would you rotate? Should I further split the larger paddock or should I keep a 'full' 1/2 acre to let them have a good size to gallop about in (or is that even big enough?). Should I fertilise or will this just mess up the natural acid-loving plants/grasses we have here? Hints & tips?

Will it be possible to keep the 2 ponies on this without it turning to swamp??!!

Thank you!
 
Stick terram down and tons of stone and make a hard standing for winter with a small shelter on, be strict and in wet weather keep them on hard standing/shelter! If second pony shod it will chew up ground more! I had 2 15.3 ish on 2 acres, ground was clay and became e poached v quickly.
 
No such luck! It's not my own land so no chance of putting up shelter and no hardstanding! Just a couple of months off it in the very worst of the winter....
 
If you are on the west coast, surely you can rent some rough grazing? Frankly, I would worry on that acreage on the west unless you have excellent natural cover and are happy to poo pick every day. The worst thing for livestock is wind and rain combined -- and that is pretty much the norm in your part of the country. Also, you don't mention two important elements, soil type and drainage. I suspect you will embark on your project, then discover mid winter that it doesn't work and your ponies will have a miserable time while you sort it out in a panic. Sorry to sound harsh but we are talking animal welfare here. To those who don't know, the rainfall here on the east is 27 inches a year. At Fort William, on the west, it is SIX FEET (1800mm) a year! I kid you not!
 
Thanks. Yup, I think unless you live here you wouldn't realuse just how wet it can be! But at least it's relatively mild and hardly ever snows (have to be a bit positive!).

I've kept native ponies out 24/7 on adjacent land (which I've now lost) for several years and with appropriate rugs and they've been fine as luckily there's lots of natural shelter so am not too concerned by that.

Do you think then that with daily poo picking it might just work? How would you rotate or manage the land? Luckily the 1/2 acre and main 1/4 acre areas have very good drainage but the other 1/4 acre doesn't and they're typical peaty soils.

If things are looking ropey then I've already arranged that I can take them to livery so don't worry, they won't be standing in 2ft of mud all winter! But I'd love advice on the best land management so that it CAN work! Thanks.
 
Scot123 said:
Thanks. Yup, I think unless you live here you wouldn't realuse just how wet it can be! But at least it's relatively mild and hardly ever snows (have to be a bit positive!).

I've kept native ponies out 24/7 on adjacent land (which I've now lost) for several years and with appropriate rugs and they've been fine as luckily there's lots of natural shelter so am not too concerned by that.

Do you think then that with daily poo picking it might just work? How would you rotate or manage the land? Luckily the 1/2 acre and main 1/4 acre areas have very good drainage but the other 1/4 acre doesn't and they're typical peaty soils.

If things are looking ropey then I've already arranged that I can take them to livery so don't worry, they won't be standing in 2ft of mud all winter! But I'd love advice on the best land management so that it CAN work! Thanks.
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If you wanting me to say it can work and how you can do it, I won't because it won't!:)
 
I think you just have to stop think of the land as grazing, its just an exercise area and have to feed all year round, for amount of animals its not feasible to feed them on it.
I used to live on the edge of a flood plain and most winter my 3/4 acre turnout area would be flooded and most of the time water logged, so basically it was just a mud bath so it was just used as a turnout area.Every spring before it would get too hard I would rake over and spread grass seed so at least for the summer it did not look too bad.
We are on clay and in my other field I created a straw island out of large bale straw and used this area as a feeding station so they spent less time walking on the rest of the paddock, so what grass grows gets a chance. You have the problem that the temperatures are so much lower so grass is slow to grow, so when it does grow you want to be helping it with some fertiliser, something like Suregrow which will beef up the plants.
This explains stocking units.
http://www.accidentalsmallholder.net/smallholding/grassland-management/livestock-units/
 
Truthfully yes, I suppose I am... Do you think, then, that I could manage it if I just got another shetland to keep mine company or in your opinion is even that pusing it? Thanks!
 
Sorry, just another thought. Would you think that would be enough in summer if they were off it for more than 2 months in the winter? What would you reckon?
 
Thank you! Please don't be sorry! I know that I was hoping for a 'yes you can manage it', but I would rather have honest opinions.

But... little shetland is being kept so I have to work round what land I've got!

Therefore I need a companion so I guess give up the ideas of a riding pony and get another little 'un instead. Then also give up the idea of keeping them there year round and put to livery, what - Nov to March?? I guess just see how it goes with what sort of winter we have?
 
I'm SE Scotland and have 2 acres that gets pretty wet in the winter whent he water table rises from underneath but dries up and water just runs off during the summer. I have 2 fell ponies out 24/7 all year round but they go elsewhere onto a 30acre field from Jan-April, this year I think I will take them at the beginning of December instead to save the ground a bit more and maybe get them home earlier. I think it might be possible to keep your prospective 2 on that field in the summer but no chance in the winter, they will just be in deep mud, no grazing and pretty miserable. If you can livery them for 4-6 months of the year then it may be do-able, with the addition of hay to support the grazing.
 
i was in the exact same boat with a weanling and a 9hh pony on one acre and it doesn't work as 'grazing' no matter what way you rotate paddocks. I started out moving around in small paddocks, but they get through the grass too quick. Ended up making a hard standing paddock of about 24 x 12 metres using rolls of cheap grass mats that I got off the internet. Any sign of rain they went into that and it works really well. Kept them mud free over any bad weather and stopped the rest being poached. I ended up just leaving the rest as a bigger paddock so they could a hooley round, but it really is just a turnout area. I have to supplement with hay all year round.

I cannot stress enough how much you need some kind of area where they are out of the mud. The grass mats were the cheapest option I could find.
 
Thanks both. Yes, I was wondering about putting lots of grass mats down. I've got about 10 sitting waiting to be reused so that would be a start anyway. Did they hold your field together enough, then? Have you had this set-up for a while or is it a fairly recent thing? I'm already resigned to feeding hay on an ongoing basis!
 
yep i had very cheap grass mats and they definitly did the job. I put them down last october and they got me through the winter no problem. they sink down an inch or so, but kept both ponies mud free. i even ended up putting my two 16hh horses in for a while and they held up ok. My land isn't very hugely boggy though, so not sure if that would make a difference.
 
Sorry it's been a few days, hope you're still here for advice!

There's been much discussion with hubbie... He's agreed that if it would help, to build me a shelter for the ponies. It would be on concrete (about 12ft x 12ft) with an external hardstanding of about 8m x 4m. I could pen them here in any extreme weather, I know it's not large but we're wondering if this might make things more do-able?

Am I still being over hopeful?
 
Oh I so hope so, I know it's not very big but it's the largest we can manage. I want to have to use it as little as possible as they're not used to being cooped up.

What do you think's most sensible - to use it routinely through the winter eg overnights? Or do you think it would be enough to just keep then in during particularly wet times? Or a few hours a day? Or to just play it by ear and see how little I can 'get away' with using it?

I think the honest advice on here is great - not always what you want to hear, but helps you avoid some big blunders!
 
It depends how wet your paddock gets. If it's very wet, then to prevent the churning it up, you could keep the on the hard standing until it dries a bit. On the hardstanding at night and out during the day is probably a good starting point though. You'll have to see what works by trial and error really.

It would be nice if you could find a small pony that's chunky enough for you to ride, but you are going to be restricted due to the size of your hard standing area.
 
rent some grazing, horrid for ponies to be on postage stamp fields in knee deep mud. I am in the Southern Uplands, on the western edge and over 1300ft up and we do get some (wet and windy) weather. I have my own couple of acres but can't use it in the winter much as its gley and becomes a bog. I have two ponies and a 15.2h horse and stables but they get turfed out for much of late december through to end of March. It took a little while but I found a horse friendly farmer who rents me a 35 acre hill field over the winter-I rent another field off him in the summer but that is also too wet in the winter (5 acres).
 
I wish I could! I've tried EVERY (not an exaggeration) landowner within travelling distance and no luck. So just having to work with what I've got. Whatever happens, they'll have an least a couple of months of happy winter turnout at livery - huge hardstanding paddocks that I can only dream of!!
 
thats a shame, I know that nothing (ie stock) winters out much here except sheep and farmers don't like the idea of ponies/horses much. I would keep asking around every so often, you never know.I got flat out refusals and then a local put in a good word for me and I then got offered quite alot although some of it was too far and I didnt have transport at the time.

I have used those interlocking plastic grids before now, and covered them with heavy rubber matting-the type they use on quarry belts (it's non slippy and does not budge) which worked for me short term as an area for them to stand on when I first moved.
 
I had a 13h and a 10h foal on 3 acres when I was living in Scotland and that wasn't enough. The land ended up horribly poached and I purchased a couple more acres.the poaching wasn't too bad as it was my own land but I can't imagine someone renting it out would be happy to have their land trashed - it cost me £500 just to reseed mine
 
That's my approach! I leave it a few months and then ask around again! Hopefully one day something extra will come up.

Arrgh - now I don't know! I thought the shelter/hardstanding had cracked it but obviously most people think this still won't get us by...
 
So even with the small hard standing area, maybe only diddy ones would be possible? Plus being quite tough about keeping them off the paddock when the ground is soft.
 
Scottynewbie said:
I wish I could! I've tried EVERY (not an exaggeration) landowner within travelling distance and no luck. So just having to work with what I've got. Whatever happens, they'll have an least a couple of months of happy winter turnout at livery - huge hardstanding paddocks that I can only dream of!!
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Highlands? West coast? Have you tried rustling a £ note? A neighbour got his foot in the door by stating he had Highlands. Apparently, they don't count as being equines.... Try the oblique approach. Get friendly with a local councillor? Join the Freemasons? Free kirk?
 
Freemasons - now that's one I hadn't thought of!! Gumtree, yup, Facebook, yup. Local landowners, farmers, property developers, estate agents, people with enormously big gardens, friends, the vets, farriers, advert in newspaper. Just the Freemasons to go... ;)!!
 
I suspect you are going about this the wrong way. Join horsey groups on Facebook, join local riding clubs, Pony Club, BHS, visit local horse owners, go to shows and meet people, etc. Local auctioneers? Do not ask, "Can you lease me any grazing?" as that will get you an knee jerk "No". Ask for advice. Get friends. Good move posting here. Think the oblique approach. Oh, and smile!:)
 
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