Livery Life - Do you get your fields maintained?

[Tarandes Bear]

Stuck at DIY livery yard for the moment. Not all honey, but not that bad either, so will refrain from moaning too much. I have erected 5 semi permanent paddocks within my allocated field, (I'm lucky enough not to share a field), for my 2 horses. While 3 of the paddocks are not too bad the other 2 are just FULL of thistle, dock and weeds and at this time of year are pretty c**p. Whilst my yard owners are lovely people they will only roll and harrow the field if pleaded with! Nothing else will be done to maintain good grazing. I am desperate for these 3 paddocks to be treated but unfortunately my words will fall on deaf ears. The paddocks are quite large and I would never manage to hand pull / deal with the weeds manually. Any suggestions please? Moving yards? Buying a tractor and spayer? Lol !

 

[MerrySherryRider]

Move yard. It's difficult to find good livery, but decent grazing is pretty important. Generally I've preferred yards owned by farmers because they understand how to look after the land -and have the equipment to do it.

 

[twiggy2]

I maintain my own fields same as you the fields get rolled and harrowed but that is it, I just use the back of the poo rake to chop the thistles down-the horses love them once they start to wilt-I do a few each day and the horses eat them-I do the same at work.

 

[L&M]

Although your yard is not perfect, to have your own grazing is a bonus imho.

You have 3 options:

- Ask permission to hire in a contractor to kill the weeds

- Spray the worst areas using a knapsack, not too expensive too buy.

- Go out with a strimmer to tackle the weeds - if you do it every summer they do eventually die off and not grow back (I do this with my docks and have less and less every summer).

As your field is already divided you can easily rest and treat the bad patches, and at least the YO roll and harrow - some don't even bother to do that!

 

[Suffolkangel]

I'm very lucky on my yard... The YO harrows, rolls and sprays twice a year...

 

[AnyChance]

Our yard rotates, rolls, cuts, sprays and hoovers the poop, best management I have seen. That is for a mix of livery types

 

[Suelin]

I would just do my own. Small hand sprayer on wheels about £30 and some selective weedkiller. Do one patch at a time and rotate as each paddock is ready for use. I have my own land but this is how I do mine. Did 2 this morning, took me a couple of hours. Good luck with it.

 

[Tiddlypom]

How big are the paddocks? A knapsack sprayer can deal with a fair sized area, certainly an acre plus. Section it out with electric fence posts and cover it methodically.

Seems a pity to move if that is the only thing wrong with your yard.

 

[Orson Cart]

I have the same set up as yourself at my yard - nice field all to myself to set up as I please. Once in a blue moon, my field will get topped, but as a general rule I take care of it myself. Or rather my nifty little cordless strimmer does. I get 20 mins of strim time per session - enough time to tackle a few of the little patches or make a start on a big one. I had to do it every couple of days last year to get on top of the entire field - this year much less has appeared. I find it very therapeutic - that's what having kids will do to a woman! chuckle.

 

[WhyTheLongFace]

Stuck at DIY livery yard for the moment. Not all honey, but not that bad either, so will refrain from moaning too much. I have erected 5 semi permanent paddocks within my allocated field, (I'm lucky enough not to share a field), for my 2 horses. While 3 of the paddocks are not too bad the other 2 are just FULL of thistle, dock and weeds and at this time of year are pretty c**p. Whilst my yard owners are lovely people they will only roll and harrow the field if pleaded with! Nothing else will be done to maintain good grazing. I am desperate for these 3 paddocks to be treated but unfortunately my words will fall on deaf ears. The paddocks are quite large and I would never manage to hand pull / deal with the weeds manually. Any suggestions please? Moving yards? Buying a tractor and spayer? Lol !

we we're in the same situation as you, i went out and bought a push strimmer. was the best investment we've had in a long time for Max and when weighing up the options it worked out cheaper and easier then putting him through the stress of a move