Maintaining fields without a tractor

kat2290

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Our field is becoming increasingly muddy and I'm starting to get a bit worried as there is no way to get a tractor in to roll it. It is quite a steep slope and the largest vehicle we can get in would be a quad.

Is there anybody else in a similar situation and how do you deal with it? I have recently built a stable so that is helping to alleviate the problem slightly as I am feeding their hay in there so they spend a large part of the day off the grass, however they aren't shut in and still mooch about the field.

The majority of the field is ok but the muddy areas are becoming worse and getting larger each day. It is only a 1acre field so grass is at a premium anyway and I'm starting to worry as without a tractor I'm not sure how I can sort it out.

I'm waiting to hear back from somebody in the village about a field which might be up for rent. Would be good if I could get that and be able to rest our field properly for a decent length of time rather than sectioning it off with elecy fence which is what I do now.

Good job I only have two teeny mini Shetlands with tiny hooves and not an actual horse, I'd really be in trouble then!

Any tips/advice/experiences would be greatly received!
 
I use a roller on the back of my quad to recover our hill field - do you know of anyone that could do this for you?

Everyone's fields are suffering atm but you will be amazed how they recover come spring. We kept two shets on 1 acre and although it always looked trashed at the end of winter, by May they always had too much grass!

Just keep dividing it up and rotating for the rest of the winter and try not to worry.
 
It's not a good idea to roll or work land when it is wet.
You could consider having a nice little "dry area" made , with drainage, gravel topped with coarse sand or pea gravel and a "four winds" shelter in the middle.
 
Thanks for the replies :)

Oh no I'm not thinking of doing anything with the land now, just pondering what I'm going to do come spring. At present they do have an open stable in the field and a small area of hard standing which I'm going to be extending shortly but it won't be huge - about 2m x 4m

Having a roller on a quad is a possibility, I don't have either but may be able to get my friendly farmer to help me. If I roll I assume I'll also need to seed, how long does it then need to be left? I know the longer the better but minimum?
 
There is a quad paddock maintenance man in my local area so its worth seeing if yoi have the same

I use a chap with a tractor but where the job is small or he has no time so cant get here i use my car or a hand roller

My car can pull a garden roller or a harrow (sheep hurdle weighed down with breezeblocks) and is surprisingly effective
 
My field is 1.7 acres and I maintain it without a tractor:

1. As I walk the dogs round it or poopick, I tend to tread down any divots when ground is drying out (not when ground is wet as it just soupifies).

2. In early spring when it dries out to that sort of plasticine-consistency, I spend 2 hours driving up and down and round and round it in my Fourtrak, which rolls it beautifully (wide-ish tyres, no roller).
 
My field is 1.7 acres and I maintain it without a tractor:

1. As I walk the dogs round it or poopick, I tend to tread down any divots when ground is drying out (not when ground is wet as it just soupifies).

2. In early spring when it dries out to that sort of plasticine-consistency, I spend 2 hours driving up and down and round and round it in my Fourtrak, which rolls it beautifully (wide-ish tyres, no roller).

This is exactly what we do with a landrover usually when we get a heavy frost. We have 5 acres and no tractor or quad. Over the years though we have added hardcore to the gateways and tbh although sloppy and muddy its no longer that deep - pull your welly off- mud.
 
We have our own 6' wide chain harrows and now a 5' ballast roller.

For years we used our old Montego estate (an MOT failure) to do the harrowing, and now we have the Shogun we use that instead and got the roller as well. The advantage of having my own equipment over using a contractor, is that one field in particular dries out at different rates, and when the driest part is ready to be harrowed, the wetter parts are still too boggy.

I now can do the fields in sections over the course of about a week as they dry up. I use the roller only in the spring, but I harrow several times a year.
 
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