Happy to pass on what ive learnt. I had no idea the majority of learning would be about land management when keeping horses! Its fab you have your BTEC course foundational knowledge to apply to your new property.
With any property you’re really keen on, it might be worth getting soil tests done so you know your start point of soil health. You can even buy kits that will do basic npk measurements for the DIY approach.
The great element about the land I bought is that it was severely neglected for decades. It was great because all native grasses grew, many beneficial weeds too, lots of pollinating insects, toads, deer, ground nesting birds....so the land was very healthy and fertile soil-wise and ecologically, with it never ever being re-sown with modern strains of high sugar grasses, or being sprayed with any agro-chemicals. So i started with a wild blank canvas. I’ve kept many parts of it wild to allow the wild species here to remain. The only trouble was water-logging due to high rainfall in my area of over 2 metres a year.....2/3rds of the year rainy days. So drainage has been the majority of the work required and grazing the wetter flat field areas sparingly to reduce poaching.
When re-sowing I've used a mix of native grass species.
If you could buy enough land to make your own forage you’ll relieve one of the biggest headaches of horse ownership - finding great quality forage of mixed species grasses thats preferably, but rarely, organic.
By producing your own, even if you paid contractors to cut, ted and bale it, you know exactly what’s in it, what’s been sprayed, or not sprayed on it etc.
Realistically the average tonnes of hay per acre depends on many factors, but roughly you can guarantee about 2 tonnes per acre of hay per cut. If climate is good, which norfolk is, you could get a second cut later in the summer - giving you another 1.5 tonnes per acre, of native grasses. Second cut is always less yield than first cut in mid june.
Ryegrass leys grow thicker and taller than native grasses giving Hay yields of 4 tonnes per acres, if fertilised and not grazed...hence why ryegrass dominant hay bales are becoming commonplace forage to be sold to horse owners, despite it not being an ideal grass for them to mono-diet on. Some diploid ryegrass is ok, 20% would not harm most horses, but tetraploid ryegrass is very high sugar, very stemmy, and is great for making a horse fat and laminitic, unless fed as haylage where the sugars are fermented and reduced to around 9-12%.....rather than sugars of 25-30% in normal, dried hay.
The average rough amounts of forage required and cost depends on how often they are out grazing. So to help you satisfy your OH spreadsheet requirement! lol.....5 months of the year the grass grows slowly during winter. So for my 2 500kg horses, i need just over 4 tonnes hay for the year to coincide with their grazing which is mostly 7 months out Grazing in summer, with forage at night when brought in, and mostly 90% forage in winter when winter grazing is slim pickings.
You’ll find norfolk a lot drier climatically than where i am so like many uk folk, the horses are grazing 24/7 during warmer grass-growing months and dont need to be brought in and fed hay....so you’ll not need as much hay as i use.
For good quality, mixed species Grass hay i’d call abbott wessex. There’s an old guy who works there who scours the uk for growers producing all types of hay. I was quoted around 80 pounds per tonne for mixed species, lovely, non-mouldy hay. Delivery on top. These people know all about forage and Will source anything you want. I didnt use them in the end as haulage companies quoted me for 4 tonnes of best uk hay 1600 pounds to ireland!
http://www.abbottwessex.co.uk/hay-for-sale.asp?id=10&p=&sc=Organic+Forage
Massey tractors are loved here in Ireland - theyre like a national treasure! 😁 The 135 is perfect size for a horse-stead of up to 10-15 acres.
PTO attachments for the more powerful horsepower tractors are more common and therefore cheaper to find secondhand. It’s been a pain to find pto attachments for my little john deere 25hp tractor, with a mini round baler costing 6k, compared to a small square baler for a 35hp being around 1k secondhand, so worth bearing in mind.
Norfolk/suffolk area i grew up around and its a lovely part of the uk and a perfect climate for horses, gorgeous rural areas 🙂