No rain, no grass, no hay to cut and concrete ground = very unhappy horse and jockey! I feel so sorry for the dairy farmers, no grass at all! Unsurprisingly I'm in Somerset.
I think south wales must have missed summer. It rained in July for at least 24 days of the month and not just a small amount. This is the third year running that July has been a wash out! As for a heat wave, it may as well be autumn. Although the past 2 days (august) we could be in danger of experiencing summer. But we do have great summer grazing and plenty of grass.
No rain for weeks here in South Bucks except for the tiniest little occasional spatter. I've got absolutely no grass left and my fields are rock hard (baked clay) without the tinest bit of "give".
Please can you northerners send some of your rain down here, pretty please?
We've had so little rain in cambs for the last couple of months that we're seriously worried about having any grass for the horses this winter! The winter fields were so badly damaged by the wet winter last year that in spite of being harrowed, fertilised and rested since May they still haven't recovered. Also the ground is so hard here that even though I do most of my riding around fields my boys shoes looked like I'd done 6 weeks of road work when the Farrier took them off this morning!
Ground like concrete here in Wiltshire. I went to a dressage competition on sunday on grass and I might as well have been riding on the road. Very unhappy horse. All the fields are brown. Looking at the replies it looks like there's a line from Somerset to Norfolk with everywhere to the right of the line as dry as a bone and all to the left soaked!
I've had to start feeding my "winter" hay as there is NOTHING whatsoever in the fields. I'm starting to get seriously worried. The fields are in such a mess now with the horses having ripped up anything that remotely resembles a blade of grass, they are going to need so much work with seeding and fertilizing that there'll be nothing until late next year (assuming we get rain at the right times). I haven't had grass for a couple of years now. I had to start feeding hay in September last year (and fed until the end of May when I ran out and couldn't get any more) because the grass didn't grow with the lack of rain; then the ridiculously wet winter meant the fields were churned 6 inches deep in mud. I seeded and fertilized in the "spring" (that we never had) but the seed didn't take as it was then so dry (I did try watering but that didn't work either - there is still seed sitting on the ground!). I'd like to be able to leave the fields empty for a couple of years and work on them but can't afford to pay the rent for the existing fields AND for somewhere else (assuming I can find somewhere locally)
It definitely was for me! I'm west coast of Scotland and I honestly don't think we got a single dry day throughout July. Maybe a couple of hours here and there but it rained almost constantly! I keep hoping August will be better but so signs of improvement thus far
Ahh faithkat the spring reseed!!! we have the most impressive crop of sow thistle with the grass seed still lurking around, luckly it is only 2 acres but it is my winter paddock. Still no rain here in dorset. this is going to be an exspensive winter 180 bovine mouths to feed.