land experts - fertiliser requirements help please

Bosworth

Bosworth

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Joined
10 February 2006
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5,268
Location
devon
www.ballhillequestrian.co.uk
We bought this property 18 months ago - it had been overgrazed for about 20 years, little in the way of maintenance. Since we have owned it we fertilised last spring with 20:10:10, we have spread muck in Autumn and in Spring this year and this month I have had my soil analysis back. We are at 5.2 - 5.5ph so will be liming in autumn and spring to address that. but we have also had the P K Mg results back for the land and we need to fertilise as our fields are extremely low in nutrients , however The trouble is the company cannot give me the index numbers for horse pasture only agricultural soil. So does anyone know what figures I should be looking at for good equestrian paddocks.

thanks
 
I recently went and spoke to YARA regarding horse paddocks, and picked up all the relevent information to pass on to my clients, but I have left all the brochures at OH's house.

You can use the yara 'n calculator' and set it up for beef and sheep (they don't yet have this set for equine, but I am told it is the same)

http://www.farmline.com/yara/yara_beef_sheep.asp

I do have a number for a fertiliser specialist, who (should) be able to give you all the advice that you need.
 
Thanks for that - trouble is beef and sheep don't have the same requirement as horses - they can take much higher level of nitrogen than horses. I have not been able to find a fertiliser expert that understands horses needs as they are all involved with creating fantastic dairy grass/silage grass.
 
thanks will try them now. You would think you could find a decent table of equine requirements on the web but am failing miserably at the moment. So i have a full soil analysis and am not able to work out what I need - how frustrating is that. Luckily i have got a few months as until I get the Ph up by liming the fields there is absolutely no point in fertilising the fields. So 2 loads of lime in the next 6 months then another soil analysis and then see where we are and by then I may have been able to track down some equine soil analysis figures.
 
Anyone that works with fertiliser (as in reccommends it, does analysis etc) must be FACTS approved, and they should be able to put you in touch with someone that knows the equine side of things.

I guess they are all geared up to the arable sector- most equine places either just throw on NPK without getting it analysed first, or use their muckheap.

Still, it is interesting that there are no widely available tables. I know YARA do one, but cannot find it at the moment.
 
managed to track down a person at a company called Humber Palmer who supply fertiliser to loads of companies - also resold under the Dodson and Horell brand. He knew his stuff and straight away said absolutely not you should not fertilise horse land in the same way as farmland. it is far too high in Nitrogen and missing the essential minerals needed. So we are going with lime this autumn, lime in spring then re test soil to ensure Ph is up to 6 - 6.5 which is the optimum pH for grass. Then when we retest we will know which fertiliser to use based on the soil analysis. he will be able to recommend a specific fertiliser to us something along the lines of 10:8:11 10 being potash, 8 being potassium and 11 being magnesium including the trace minerals such as copper which are vital.

So although I have not found any specific soil analysis tables I have found a man who knows. scarey though that people believe that horses can eat cow grass and be fine on it. Also he was telling me that he has so few enquiries from horse owners about managing land he is horrified with the level of ignorance out there. How many horses have major problems because they are on dairy quality grass. and how many are fertilising with the incorrect fertiliser.
 
I am afraid that I do not have the figures you require but the centre of excellence for equine grass management is the Univerity of Aberstwyth in North Wales. They will be able to provide you with the information you require.

I do not believe in adding any fertiliser to grassland that is to be grazed by horses. It is asking for trouble and I have seen to many horses become ill because of it.

As regards top dressing with mag-lime etc that is o.k. if total kill of the grass has been carried out and the field has been ploughed and cultivated ready to receive new grass seed.

I tend to keep horses off newly seeded grass land for 3 years so that it can establish itself and absorb all the nutrients thrown at it during it's initial growing and establishing itself stages.
 
I struggle to see how adding fertiliser to pasture land for horses will be wrong - surely you are replacing the nutrients that have leached out through bad management over the years and are simply replacing what should be there. THe paddocks are not fertilised with any animal on it - they have 6 months off any land that is treated so it will have been absorbed into the ground. some trace elements are essential - ie copper and a deficit can have serious consequences for a horse. it

Why do you feel it is necessary to kill off the grass before adding lime - i have never come across that before and it is not practical for the majority of landowners I would have thought.

THe only time it is asking for trouble is if it is fertilised in ignorance with the wrong fertiliser - a specific fertiliser for horse grazing decided upon by soil analysis is the most scientific solution available and far safer than continuing to graze a horse on a horse sick field or an ex cow/sheep field that has the incorrect nutrients in it.
 
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