Paddock grazing help

Birker2020

Birker2020

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I have a paddock that is approx. 260 foot long and probably about 80 foot wide for a 16.2hh horse. I currently strip graze it across the width allowing approx. 1 1/2 - 2ft of new grass every night, the grass is about 4” long in places, but although she eats is ravenously when first turned out she tends to leave it eaten half way down which is why I am keen on reaching the end to leave it for a few days to get eaten right down before moving back. My horse has been on this strip grazing system for about a 7 months now and has had no problems, during this time I’ve brought the strip grazing electric fence back and forwards a few times to cater for weight gain/loss and grass flush. Her weight is good, and has been for some time with ribs just visible and everyone says she looks ‘just right’ although she has the propensity to bloat from the grass at times. I am nearly at the end of the paddock now and I am thinking of leaving it for a few days before bringing it back again to allow for grass to grow throughout the winter but I am at a loss as to how much to bring it back. I am really keen to maintain it well. I know grass will grow whilst temperatures are over 5c so that will take us a part way into November hopefully and the autumn flush is around October time. The strip grazing fencing has to be across the paddock width ways and allow for staff to just open the gate into her field and take off the headcollar without messing around walking her any distance or through other gates. In the winter she will be strip grazed as she has been during the summer – the field is higher ground at the back so is better drained.

Any suggestions to how much to bring it back. Its described as ‘good grazing’. Its pooh picked every day/every other day.
 
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I'm a bit confused about your description. On the one hand you want to reduce the grazing area now to allow the grass to grow though winter, on the other hand you are saying you want to strip graze through winter? Are you planning to use only part of the field during winter and rest another part completely, or do you just want to rest a part for the next two-three months, then strip graze onto it again for the winter?
 
supsup said:
I'm a bit confused about your description. On the one hand you want to reduce the grazing area now to allow the grass to grow though winter, on the other hand you are saying you want to strip graze through winter? Are you planning to use only part of the field during winter and rest another part completely, or do you just want to rest a part for the next two-three months, then strip graze onto it again for the winter?
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The latter Supsup. Ideally I want to bring the field back to probably a third to a half of what it is (not sure how much) to allow it to grow Sept/Oct and then gradually increase it by a couple of feet a day during the winter months (Nov-March). I just want to keep it growing as much as I can so it doesn't get trashed and my horse has something to graze. Obviously I will supplement with hay in the winter when she's out during the day. Its my first ever winter with such a lovely long paddock and the first time I've strip grazed (the last yard we turned out in the ménage during the winter) so with this new opportunity I want to look after it in the best way and was just after some suggestions to maximize grazing potential.
 
If my maths is correct, you have about 0.47 of an acre? That's going to require some very careful management if you want to use it year round. Is the horse stabled at some point each day? You might find you have to section off a bit you want to keep growing for winter, and keep the horse in the other bit, supplying hay as there will be very little grass.
 
If you cut you paddock into 1/3 what is she going to eat between now and when you start to strip graze again?
 
My first thought was strip grazing In the winter has the potential to mess the ground up very quickly. She'll be standing on the same spot all day and you could end up with a muddy mess. I'd think about sacrificing a section for the winter and rest in the spring personally. It's probably a bit ambitious to expect there to be grazing all year I think.
 
TheMule said:
If you cut you paddock into 1/3 what is she going to eat between now and when you start to strip graze again?
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Its actually around 320 foot long by about 88 foot long (or so partner reckons when I asked him the other day after I'd started my post). A third would be 100 foot long give or take and I would take this back in the winter about 2 feet a day of extra grass. The grass is good grazing. She is out overnight for about 14-15 hours until mid October but in the winter as she is old and wants to be in more about she will be out in the day for 6-7 hrs with some hay. Some of the horses in the adjacent paddocks which are the same length are on less than half of what she is and there are two of them sharing a paddock to manage their weight.

May be I am over thinking the whole thing.
 
I think there are two approaches to winter grazing: You can either choose to "sacrifice" a smaller area of the field knowing it will get trashed, and save the rest all winter, or you can choose to use the entire area you have so that the wear on the field is more spread out, then restrict the horse to a smaller area again in the spring.
I think which one will work best for you really depends on the type of ground and the horse (heavy/light, shod/unshod, prone to running around/spending much time in one area/fence walking etc.). We do quite well using the entire field over winter because it's well-draining and we have three light, quiet, unshod ponies on it, and only one heavier, shod cob. We also feed our hay from the ground, spreading it around the field, so we don't get too much wear in one area from feeding. But if you are e.g. on clay with a heavy horse that likes to run about, I think I'd go for the sacrificial corner approach. I'm not sure trying to strip graze through winter is going to work very well.
We split our field in half as soon as spring grass appears, and entirely rest one half until late summer/autumn, and strip graze repeatedly within the other half through spring/summer to suit waistlines. We swap each year which half gets rested for the spring/summer, and this seems to work quite well long-term.
I think what's easy to forget or hard to manage is that when you strip graze, you should really move the back fence in at the same rate as you move the front fence onto new grazing, so that the used area stays about the same, and the eaten bit gets rested. We find that's usually impossible to manage while also providing shade, shelter and access to water to our four, who are split into two pairs in separate pens. So we just move the front fence out onto new grass, but don't bring the back fence in at the same time.
I think if you could manage that on your field, you would optimise how much of the already-grazed area you can rest.
You'll probably have to experiment a bit and figure out what works for you.
 
I've a paddock the same size at my house, and it had super grass when we moved in. 2 years down the line though it really just works as turnout paddock to let them stretch their legs. Once they got through the inital burst of grass, it was impossible to rest/reseed/regrow it to allow it to keep the quality of grass. I ended up splitting mine into 1 part and two small parts. I turned one small part into an all weather bit. The other small part I let the grass grow and just let them in occasionally for a mooch.

The main issue I found with mine when i strip grazed it was that you use huge chunks of it where they wee etc. so you lose a huge amount. You get worn patches at gateways and water drinker, and on a small area like you mention, thats very noticeable. They flew through the grass in each section really quickly. I ended up just feeding hay all year round and letting the be able to have canter/play into the bigger paddock. If you don't have a hard standing area in winter, a paddock that size will get destroyed. I'd imagine having it as a turnout area where they can pick at stuff will be the way it will go.
 
If I have read the description properly, you have a paddock which has been strip grazed and the horse now has access to the full field. Weight of the horse is acceptable.

The grass will not grow very much more this year, so you won't really have anything to strip graze into over the winter. My routine here would be to allow the horse to graze 3/4 or 2/3 of the field over the winter. This will provide a larger area to reduce poaching and provide more forage as the grass growth rate slows.

Section off the other third or so to allow that to rest over the winter (I rest the area of my field which becomes poached during the winter). Come spring move the horse onto the rested section once the grass has some length and allow the rest of the field to grow, gradually stripping into that new growth over the summer.

You may need to supplement with hay if you haven't got enough grazing.
 
Baileyhoss said:
If I have read the description properly, you have a paddock which has been strip grazed and the horse now has access to the full field. Weight of the horse is acceptable.

The grass will not grow very much more this year, so you won't really have anything to strip graze into over the winter. My routine here would be to allow the horse to graze 3/4 or 2/3 of the field over the winter. This will provide a larger area to reduce poaching and provide more forage as the grass growth rate slows.

Section off the other third or so to allow that to rest over the winter (I rest the area of my field which becomes poached during the winter). Come spring move the horse onto the rested section once the grass has some length and allow the rest of the field to grow, gradually stripping into that new growth over the summer.

You may need to supplement with hay if you haven't got enough grazing.
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I agree with this suggestion.

Fiona
 
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