Ideas for too much grazing for a lami watch cob? sheep?

cob&onion

cob&onion

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Well i hate to say it but i have far too much grass - 3 acres of lush, thick meadow type grasses. Field has been rested since december and with recent rain its flourished.
With a big fat cob on lami watch and a native welsh d yearling its rubbish. The cobs are at rented land on 12 acres of the stuff (granted its poorer quality than my stuff) there meant to be moving back to mine for the summer but the grass the way it is and my cob being the size of a baby whale there is no way they can come back till the grass has gone...........
I was thinking of asking the farmer if he wanted to graze his 20 odd sheep on there for a couple of weeks to crop it down alot. If its cropped down then i will be able to mange it better by sectioning off and a grazing muzzle for fatty.
Bearing in mind i am renting the 12 acres so its costing me every week plus farmer wants field back to make hay - although they have been very kind in saying i can section the baldy bit off for my horses for as long as needs be.
But i really want them home!

Are the sheep a good idea??? what do you think? what would you do?
 
i would stip graze it and use a muzzle a few hours a day to reduce the intake slightly. I read somewhere the other day that controlled longer grass is better for lami's as the sugars are more dispurtsed, whereas shorter grass the sugars are much more concentrated.
 
china said:
i would stip graze it and use a muzzle a few hours a day to reduce the intake slightly. I read somewhere the other day that controlled longer grass is better for lami's as the sugars are more dispurtsed, whereas shorter grass the sugars are much more concentrated.
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The cob is already HUGE and has a thickened crest and warm hooves, the farrier is coming to have a look at her tomorrow evening, and am going down first thing to restrict her grazing and get a muzzle on her.

Just concerned about my field and how long i should keep her on restricted baldy part - its just dry and dusty with very little scrub - with hay for?
Or whether she can move back to my field with strip grazing and a muzzle?
:confused::confused:
Am paranoid about laminitus and cant believe i have let her get fat :( shes only 3, she does a 30 min session in in all once per week which includes a 7 min walk each way to the menage and a 10 min long reining session and maybe 5 min walk with me riding her.
 
If it helps, Shy is out at night with his muzzle on, and then in during the day, with some "old" hay to munch on. Plus I try to ride or loose school most days. If I didn't have the option of stabling him, I would definitely section off an area of poor grazing, and leave him in that.

As long as horses have fibre moving thru their guts, have access to water, and they are in good health, they are much better off on a severe regime than getting fat.

As for using the grass, making hay sounds an ace plan, or otherwise the sheep would be a good move. It's so hard when you have a good-doer, I don't think peeps realise ;)
 
shysmum said:
As for using the grass, making hay sounds an ace plan, or otherwise the sheep would be a good move. It's so hard when you have a good-doer, I don't think peeps realise ;)
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We made hay last year but had trouble storing it! think i will go with the sheep.
thanks :)
 
Could you fence off part of it and graze with a muzzle, and use the rest for a cut of hay??
Even if you don't want the hay you may be able to do a deal with a farmer, and get some money for it.
Unless you are going to charge someone for grazing sheep, it seems a shame to let it go for nothing.
Can you tell i am tight with money. :D
 
What about making haylage ?? Then you could store it safely wrapped up - outside !!! Shy and his shettie pal did really well on haylage last winter, and their weight stayed fine on it.
 
I borrow sheep for my paddock and it works a treat, the grass is now very low, but I still need to keep my mare restricted, I use a track around the field in combination with being turned out in a muzzle alongside feeding soaked hay.

The sheep do help with weed control too, (and free fertiliser!)

Personally I find that although longer grass is theoretically safer, in my mare's case it is just far too risky as she can consume far more of it in a shorter time. It also means that if she escapes from her electric fencing or muzzle she can't gorge and give herself colic and laminitis.
 
Hi I also have the same problem with too much grass - not been grazed on for a while - I was thinking about a goat - I have seen posts about taking a cut of of hay daft question how do you do this ?? Sorry if this sounds stupid but I have never been anywhere that this has been mentioned before probably because there has never been much grass !!!!
 
pansy said:
Hi I also have the same problem with too much grass - not been grazed on for a while - I was thinking about a goat - I have seen posts about taking a cut of of hay daft question how do you do this ?? Sorry if this sounds stupid but I have never been anywhere that this has been mentioned before probably because there has never been much grass !!!!
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we had the farmer do our hay last year, just need to leave your grass for a while :) we where charged £1 per bale and got around 120 bales off around 2 acres, unfortunitly we had no storage for it other than tarpaulin, used about 80 bales and the other went to waste :(
 
Sheep are great for your land, both in eating down the grass and the natural fertiliser they provide - Golden Hooves!! Only problem is if the grass is already too long for sheep preference when they arrive - only know this because the contract shepherd who used to graze my land told me so. But overall they're great, and leaves the pasture in good heart for autumn and winter.

Know how you feel about lamis!!
 
Having good doers myself, I understand your problem. I have both not enough grass and too much grass.

I have 2 small paddocks which I put them in on alternate nights, these are now really bare. They are in during the day, with small amounts of haylage and Hi-Fi through the day.

I have 2 fields laid up for cutting. Sheep, cattle and the other horses in the other fields which have more grass than the paddocks but still too much for the fatties.

I have an old leather basket type muzzle which I put on them so that they can go out with the others for a couple of hours. I love this muzzle, but it's about to give up the ghost, so I've bought one of the modern ones...they hate it, just stand or wander around looking miserable, won't try to eat with it on.

So I think to myself, is it better to carry on as I am with the fatties in by day/eating haylage/out at night on stressed grass OR out in the field with more but rougher grass (about 2-3'') but no sweet grass???

It's a constant worry.:confused:
 
elderlycoupleindevon said:
I have an old leather basket type muzzle which I put on them so that they can go out with the others for a couple of hours. I love this muzzle, but it's about to give up the ghost, so I've bought one of the modern ones...they hate it, just stand or wander around looking miserable, won't try to eat with it on.
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Hi, I had this problem too, but I found that cutting the hole in the bottom of the muzzle slightly larger worked a treat, they can get a bit opf grass through but not enough to cause problems.
 
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