OOH So Excited!!!

ABC

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Just signed a contract to rent a 3 acre field! :D

Can't wait! :D Needs a lot of work on it, but within a month it'll be ready for my horse and a companion :D

So, when do I tell my witch of a yard owner Im moving off? ;)

A couple of questions,

Is this worth baling? The landlord/farmer suggested I should but I dont think so?

IMG00347-20110821-1554.jpg


IMG00348-20110821-1554.jpg


If I dont make hay/haylage out of it, what should I do with it ?

Any help appreciated! :D

(Sorry photos are on there side, I have rotated them on photobucket :confused:)
 
It might be worth making hay with it to clear all the long stuff off the field it does not look as if it would make horse hay but a farmer might do it cheaply if you gave them what comes off.
Good luck with the field it's great to have your own space.
 
That's what I call vertical hay that will get munched over the winter, my boys would turn that into a lawn by spring perhaps yours will do the same. Might save you loads on hay. Or you could bale it & sell it for cattle.
 
hiya!
strip it - without actually seeing it - i wouldnt like to advise on whether to bale it or not. I would use it to help reduce hay costs over the winter! xx

as for your yard owner give her least amount of time - i would just tell her the day you are leaving, depends on how safe you think your stuff and horse are on the yard.
 
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How is the ground, looking at the pictures my OH would not be happy to bale that.

As others have said though, you would probably be better to just graze it off.

Congratulations on your new field
 
Thanks :)

The ground is good, not boggy at all, all the water drains off down a hill. I'll try and take some better pics tomorrow :D

Someone is supposed to be coming to advise me what to do but I want if I'm going to cut it then I want to do it soonish!

I'm going to move all my stuff of the yard a week before I'm planning on leaving and then I'll tell the YO. I don't trust her with my stuff at all so if all my stuff is gone that's another worry off my mind!

Thanks guys, I'm sooo excited :D
 
Lucky you!!!

I wouldn't bale it, the longer grass over muddy winter months will help to prevent the ground from getting poached.
 
looks too weedy to do hay. i would strip graze it, another couple of feet per day horses will soon eat it off come the winter. as to your notice to your yard owner .. well that depends on your contract. if no contract do you pay weekly or monthly? if you pay weekly then a weeks notice will do, if you pay monthly a months notice will do. i would advise honesty at all stages, you have gone public now, your YO will/may get wind of this. so pay your dues, thank her, and go quietly without fuss. dont forget you never know when you may need to go back, or need help or advice. good kluck with the move.
 
I'd leave it. We turn out in the winter in fields with longer grass than that! No need to feed hay then, unless deep snow obv but even then they just dug to the grass.

In fact our winter field this year has been rested 18 months and the grass is obscene..... luckily my YM is a gem and will let me mare stay put while her mates go and eat it down a bit first!
 
as others have said - leave it.

I put 2 Fuzzies (immensely different in size) on a paddock like that - or probably longer, but no dead weeds - at the beginning of November last year & strip grazed it overnight with them.

It had been rested up for over 2 yrs :rolleyes:

Saved on not giving out any hay till the new year - apart from when it had snowed lots in late Nove/early Dec & then of course they had hay.

In jan it was their trash paddock & has since been rested completely since early feb - ready for this winters strip grazing & trashing :D
 
Yeah there is a load of docks, only bad thing :p

I pay a month up front but I'm going to give 2 weeks notice just incase. I think that's fair enough?

I think I'll strip graze it as most of you suggested, and then when all the docks have died in winter pull them up :)
 
If you pay a month upfront, I think a months notice is the correct thing. I might be wrong but its what I have always done - or at least paid the month.
 
If you pay a month upfront, I think a months notice is the correct thing. I might be wrong but its what I have always done - or at least paid the month.

I will be paying the month, I'm paying on friday for 4 weeks, which is to the 23rd Sept, but Im planning on leaving on the 10th or 17th... tbh most the people on my yard have just upped and left so I think two weeks notice is plenty...
 
I rent a 3acre field with similar grass, it soon gets eaten down if you strip graze it. I've never had ours cut & the ground is fab all year round - even in winter the boy will not touch his hay when turned out , just keeps finding grass to eat!!!
 
Ahh tis all good :D

Am going to strip graze it, at least that way he'll eat the grass :D

Any advice on what to do with the docks? :rolleyes: :D
 
From my personal experience with the dreaded docks, they look like they will need digging up, they can be bu**ers to pull up when they mature! And I would try to be-head as many as possible before the seeds take off or there will be 100x as many next year :( When they start to grow next year pull 'em up when they're young ;) little blighters :D

Spraying is of course an option but probably too late now and I usually go the manual/labour intensive route :)

Fairy
 
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