No rain and no grass

I'm also not that far from Oxford and I can count the decent days rain since March on my fingers. My winter field - which they came off in March - is just growing weeds. Not helped by us muck spreading when rain was promised so that probably helped thistles rather than grass (the rain didn't happen!)

Its supposed to raining right now, but its a sort of light mist. 33 degrees next weekend forecast too.
 
We are making our second cut of haylege as soon as the rain forecast for the weekend passes through. Although it has been hot and dry we seem to have grass and the hay although a little less ,( last cut ,35 bales usually 45 large round bales)
Its quite nice to be able to plan getting hay/haylege cut as often struggling to get enough dry days to get it done.
Lots of hay and haylege being cut around us.The way things are going we will likely get a third cut early September as July is early for us for a second cut if we do then will have made up for volume lost.
We very rarely get a third cut.
 
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poiuytrewq said:
I wasnt too worried until we went to Wales for a few days amd I saw green grass! Coming back here was a huge shock, I didn't really realise how bad things were. I don't need a huge amount of grass over summer but some would be nice, my big worry is winter. I usually have a field resting that by now looks pretty good. Now they are all scalped. :(
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I live in Wales - it was a huge shock when I drove to Norfolk the other day.
It got progressively browner then finally burnt to a cinder near Norwich.
I must admit, I was quite envious of the dry fields.

My fields are still very wet in places - it's better than last year when it rained solidly for 18 months though.
I'm just heading out with the dog, it's a wellies and waterproofs day, it's so grim.

We used to get defined seasons didn't we, now they just seems to swill about.
 
I'm in a really fortunate position of being able to put Lari in a tiny paddock for 20 mins each day before I turn him out in his own. It's long but old grass so up to his cannon bones. Before that he had the paddock next to him for 20 mins but a new horse has that now. There's the paddock on the other side of him but I'm hoping I can save that for my next horse.

I've strip grazed his own paddock and he only has about 15ft of decent grass left. I'm haying him every night in the paddock too. His grass is ridiculously dry and crunches underfoot.

He's not starving by any means but he is getting hungrier, his ribs just about show and he gets two fairly big feeds a day of linseed, speedibeet and mollichaff still.

We are lucky because we have a very large area in front of our paddocks we call the strip and there's loads of grass in there so if push comes to shove I can hand graze him in there too.

He's about this weight now although that photo was a while ago.
 

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Archangel said:
I live in Wales - it was a huge shock when I drove to Norfolk the other day.
It got progressively browner then finally burnt to a cinder near Norwich.
I must admit, I was quite envious of the dry fields.

My fields are still very wet in places - it's better than last year when it rained solidly for 18 months though.
I'm just heading out with the dog, it's a wellies and waterproofs day, it's so grim.

We used to get defined seasons didn't we, now they just seems to swill about.
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Dry fields have been nice. I’m definitely not complaining about the lack of mud.
Problem is the mud is going to be horrendous come winter because there is just no ground cover so it’s going to poach entire fields!
 
I usually run an Equicentral system, but none of them have reached beer bottle height at all this year. We had a dry winter ( which was nice at the time!) but there was nothing to start the grass off, then late frost even into May...My hay farmer said at least one of his fields wasn't worth the fuel it would use to cut it, I another he got 25 instead of the usual 140. Am seriously worried, and would be taking Lyle's advice and stocking up on all feedstuff, if only I had somewhere rat proof to store it. I've seen loads more wildlife around, desperate for water, and leave bowls of varying sizes out for those that can't manage from the troughs.
 
Jus like to add that I'm in West Wales, and we are very dry here, so not all of Wales has lush green grass! And we are clay, so once it's baked hard it's gone and done. Luckily we have had fallow fields to cut hay, so we are going like the clappers whenever the weather is good to get it all done
 
A friend with an isolated 5 acres and 3 stables and barn relies on rainfall to fill her under ground water tank of 1500 gallons. This week she has paid for a delivery of water from a tanker. As it’s almost empty. It’s costing a fortune. But her solar batteries are full each day😎😎 little consolation she knows, as it’s summer and hardly need electric on at moment. But she made use by clipping all 3 horses more than once. To keep them cool.
Never thought I would wish for rain. But I do.
 
Starting to despair of it all. No proper rain that has done any good in this bit of Berkshire for ages. Field looks like the Sahara ☹️ so parched although the boys are managing to find a fair bit if the poo picking is anything to go by. Forecast is for some rain today, but it's so windy I think it'll blow over and we won't get any. Next week is looking dire too with another heatwave mid to end it.
 
We’re out of grass in the summer fields and I am feeding hay. We’ll have to go to the winter fields soon (which have regrown) and I have the option of some land further away that is currently empty and therefore has grass but is miles from here. If we have to, we will do that for the winter. I cannot see there will be much hay about.

It was really dry three years ago - the grass grew in the autumn and we did make it through the winter. The following spring the sycamore deaths were terrible though, my vet said it was to do with higher levels of the toxin in the seeds due to the drought.
 
sport horse said:
For those of us old enough to remember it is beginning to get like 1976. That year farmers were cutting and baling the grass verges - even when each verge only yielded 2 or 3 bales.
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This year is fficially hotter and drier than 1976.

Tips on managing grazing in drought from Aus.

If things are properly bone dry and nothing is growing, rather than continuing to rotate or move on to new ground. Pick a sacrifice area/field and feed hay and let them turn 1 area into a dust bath.
Rest everything else so that the grass is able to respond to any moisture we do get, a passing shower or heavy dew. It will bounce back much faster when it does rain.
It seems counterintuitive but it is the best option. Then once weve had rain and other areas pick up move them off the sacrifice area, scatter a bit of grass seed and leave till Spring if possible.

While nothing appears to be growing and in theory hooves can't do much damage to rock hard ground, they do and will be stressing the grass, slowing recovery when it does rain.

If you look at the growth and colour of grass verges, it is dry but uncompacted soil is managing to hold more moisture and respond better to the little bit of rain we have had.
 
A friend and I rotate 4 paddocks between us - one of our rested fields has pretty much nothing in it and that's after about 3 months of being empty! I don't mind there being no lush green grass, they were never designed to eat that way after all, but everything being dusty is horrible and we're feeding as much hay now as what we were in the winter!
 
Beware of Sand Colic, it’s a real risk a livery yard nearby by had about 9 cases and 3 or 4 deaths during the last drought.

Im feeding Sand Out (psyllium husk based) in a really sloppy mix and luckily can still let them into some longer grass for a couple of hours a day, but damp hay (doesn’t have to be soaked) also helps.
 
One of my “rested” fields (been rested since around April) has grass but not a huge amount. I’m moving them into it this evening to give my bigger field rest. We’ve had odd showers but it’s barely enough to even dampen the soil, we have rain forecast this overnight and tomorrow and then back to dry all week from Monday 😫 we did have a fair amount of rain last night but again it wasn’t enough.

I’m not wanting a wash out, just a few days of solid rain to help the grass!
 
In contrast, after a very hot and dry six weeks in April and May, it’s been both warm and rainy here in the Borders and the grass is wild. My mare is muzzled for the first time ever and we’ve had to turn sheep out with the horses to keep in under control.

Nearby, several farmers have taken a cut off fields that had sheep in til end of May. Others are on second cuts and growing for a third. The bigger concern is the crops because it was so dry in late spring - but so far things seem to be bouncing back ok.

We haven’t cut the grass in our garden this year (because we hadn’t thought through that our garden is across the road and the plug-in lawnmower doesn’t reach that far… next year we are getting pigs so buying a new mower seems redundant!), and it’s about four foot high and peeking over the fence. And it’s not a lawn, just fenced off field. So there is plenty growing.

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West devon has plenty of lush grass. Had the first decent summer since the covid year. Its been pretty much perfect here, plenty of dry weather to do stuff, but enough rain for stuff to grow.
Had to mow my winter field twice so far & now leaving for foggage for winter.
Dairy farmer friends just over the border in cornwall have just completed their 2nd silage cut, with normal yields & their feed crops are growing normally.
I think we have pur own micro climate 🙂
 
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Nudibranch said:
Horse wise we would manage as I have natives who genuinely don't need decent grazing but the sheep need something.
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Same here, the horses (a cob and a baby Connie) are fat as butter on practically nothing, but we were haying our handful of sheep right up to the start of summer because it just wan't growing. The old pet ewe was so ribby I was worried about her. All looking good now but we need it to keep growing.
 
East Anglia here and it is extremely dry. Any rain we do get promised often doesn't materialise. We're on sandy soil anyway so what little rain we get just drains right through. The 'grass' is just brown. I'm on a livery yard and the fields are overgrazed and stressed. We're not allowed to feed hay in the field - they did relent on this 2 years ago when the summer was really hot and I wonder if they will have to again soon this year.

The majority of horses are out overnight, some from 3pm to 9am and no-one else seems that worried. I have mine out from about 6pm to 9am and have a (forbidden) small bucket that I am filling with straw chaff every night so he has some fibre to chew on without getting too fat.
 
Widgeon said:
I think you might win "understatement of the year" there 😆 How exciting, what kind of pigs?! (Sorry, I've been distracted now from grass related worry)
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Just a bit 😂 we are getting Kune Kune pigs, which are good grazers so that grass growth won’t be an issue next year! Shocked I managed to convince the husband but he seems very keen - I’ve tried convincing him of goats, chickens, a cat, more horses etc and he has always said ‘no’ so his enthusiasm for the pigs is unexpected but appreciated! Looking forward to having the land well cleared and a nice full freezer later in the year.
 
khalswitz said:
Just a bit 😂 we are getting Kune Kune pigs, which are good grazers so that grass growth won’t be an issue next year! Shocked I managed to convince the husband but he seems very keen - I’ve tried convincing him of goats, chickens, a cat, more horses etc and he has always said ‘no’ so his enthusiasm for the pigs is unexpected but appreciated! Looking forward to having the land well cleared and a nice full freezer later in the year.
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They are wonderful , but such time wasters! You will be slave to the belly rubs in no time 😄. It's a bit of a myth that they don't root though, but it's not as deep as other breeds. Mine start if it rains and there's not much grass left, so paddock rotation is worth it.
 
PoppyAnderson said:
Been raining in Cheshire for the last few hours but even prior to today, we've had an abundance of grass and I know there's been no issue with getting hay off the fields. Ours are all fat as pigs and I've been hoping the grass growth would slow down.
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Yes I’m in Cheshire too and we have far far too much grass and it’s just covered in clover . it’s an absolute nightmare as have two metabolic horses .
I have halved their paddocks twice and am radically limiting turn out time ….
 
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