Oak trees

[kidsandponies]

Has anyone any experience of grazing land surrounded by Oak trees please? We are currently desperately house hunting due to losing our current rented grazing and have potentially found a lovely house which would work for the family but, surrounding the paddock are several large Oak trees (growing on the boundary lines). I know the acorns are poisonous to equines but have just read that some horses will actively seek out the leaves too which are also poisonous. I can envisage it being a constant worry and spending hours out there raking acorns. Unfortunately fencing off the trees wouldn’t be an option, the plot is long and narrow and with trees on both sides it would significantly impact on the amount of land available to graze. May be this isn’t the house for us!! Any experiences would be gratefully received!

 

[Abby-Lou]

Not fun picking acorns up, we used to tape off the areas before we bought our own land which thankfully is oak tree free. I have heard of people using nets on the ground to make it easier. I do see land where horses graze amongst oak trees, but for me its not a good idea. Good luck hope you find the perfect home for you and your horse family.

 

[Muddy unicorn]

A horse at our old yard died from acorn poisoning so I would be very wary

 

[Tiddlypom]

Sadly I can't see it working as there is not enough land for you to be able to fence off the oak trees. I fence my oak trees off from the very first drop of green acorns in maybe late Aug through to New Year.

 

[Ownedby4horses]

If you don’t have enough space to fence off the trees, then for me, it’s too big a risk to take. I do see people over here graze their horses in paddocks with oak trees and don’t seem to worry about it but personally I wouldn’t risk it.

 

[irishdraft]

My summer fields have oak trees as a boundary but I do have them electric fenced off mainly because one horse will scratch on the trunks but definitely need to at acorn time some years there is a massive drop .but my horses do still reach up for the leaves occasionally .

 

[meleeka]

The bottom section of my field is bordered by oaks. I fence it off until the acorns have rotted, usually around Christmas time.

 

[Hallo2012]

my boundary has 3/4 that over hang and i pick up acorns daily. couldnt do it with a full border of them.

 

[Prancerpoos]

If you cannot fence them off then don't risk it. One of mine would make a bee line for the leaves if she got out, and hoovered up acorns if given the chance. I put a post and rail fence all the way around the inside of the boundary and electric fenced off the one huge tree that dropped acorns over the fence in the autumn (the leaves were too high to reach). It was not cheap!

 

[kidsandponies]

Thank you everyone, you’ve confirmed what I thought, we aren’t going to pursue this property so it’s back to the drawing board!

 

[kidsandponies]

A horse at our old yard died from acorn poisoning so I would be very wary

I am sorry to hear this and this is what worries me, I couldn’t effectively fence them off being that they literally surround the field and knowing my lot who make out they are permanently starved (they aren’t!!) they would actively seek them out as easy pickings instead of their restricted grazing and hay in trickle nets. We have decided not to do a second viewing!

 

[AdorableAlice]

We have some ancient and beautiful oaks, the shade they cast is fantastic in summer. Acorn production is variable but when they have a mast year there is quite literally a 2inch carpet of acorns. We rake and fence, luckily they are on fence lines so I can link the wire to the mains on the main fencing to keep the horses away. When we were battery powered there were a couple of break throughs into the acorns. Some horses seem to be addicted to acorns. The trees are now at an age where they need a safety check judging by what happened a couple of days ago. Field was empty thank god.

 

[Follysmum]

I would be really careful my aunty lost 5 small ponies from a neighbouring field that had an oak tree. They picked the acorns up as much as possible that blew over but they were incredibly unlucky.

 

[kidsandponies]

We have some ancient and beautiful oaks, the shade they cast is fantastic in summer. Acorn production is variable but when they have a mast year there is quite literally a 2inch carpet of acorns. We rake and fence, luckily they are on fence lines so I can link the wire to the mains on the main fencing to keep the horses away. When we were battery powered there were a couple of break throughs into the acorns. Some horses seem to be addicted to acorns. The trees are now at an age where they need a safety check judging by what happened a couple of days ago. Field was empty thank god.

Wow, that was a fair sized limb for the tree to lose, glad no one was hurt, human or equine.

We have decided against the property which is a shame, we are really struggling to find one but, I can’t risk the ponies out there and the land is just not wide enough to fence off the trees each side. Thank you for replying!

 

[kidsandponies]

I would be really careful my aunty lost 5 small ponies from a neighbouring field that had an oak tree. They picked the acorns up as much as possible that blew over but they were incredibly unlucky.

Just devastating, I’m so sorry to hear this. We have decided it’s not going to work, just can’t risk the children’s ponies out there.

 

[dorsetladette]

We have oak trees on 3 sides. We fenced so that we have a small field with no overhanging trees. We use this from the end of Aug until October ish. If they need extra we give them the next paddock which only has 1 tree overhanging and can be electric fenced off and raked easily.

We did loose a sheep last year to acorn poisoning after a strange storm in late summer knocked all the green acorns from the trees and took us by surprise. They are pet sheep and they seem to copy everything my older cob does. He eats acorns like sweets if he gets a chance.