paddock maintainance advice please

[Magicmadge]

In December we bought a house with 4 acres of land that had not been grazed for years (finally can have my horses at home). The grass had been cut for hay in the past and some left on top. A mat has formed in places and there are quite a few rubbish weeds in there too. I have dug out several ragwort plants this doesn't seem to be widespread though. We have invested in a rideon mower that collects it all and the field has been harrowed in the spring. The horses are leaving large areas long as a toilet, but we are keeping these areas cut down. When is a good time to spray for the weeds, fertilise etc. I would also like to introduce some clovers as there are none at the moment with the intention of cutting my own hay in a few yers once the quality has improved. The horses are doing well on it but it looks terrible with all the long tufty ares they leave. Any advice welcome. Thanks.

 

[KarynK]

Autumn and spring for fertilising, but you have to be careful what you choose if you are grazing on it.
Calcified Seaweed is a good one for grazing as it produces steady growth and has a long effect. 20-10-10 is really for hay crops and not good for the average horse as it produces a short period of fast growth.

Spraying for weeds needs to be done ideally at the rosette stage before they start to flower, if you spray or top most weeds in flower they will still produce seed, so its an idea to cut off docks thistles etc by hand at this time of year and burn them.

The tuffts of grass is usually a species that horses do not like, who's name escapes me at the mo, but you need to control it so it does not take over, which your are doing. You need to chat up a local farmer to drill your paddocks in the Autumn with a meadow seed mix, which will have clover and horse friendly species in it. The drill will put the seed in the soil without the need to kill everything and start from scratch.

I don't spray generally but use a spot spray only when I absolutley have too, it's a lot of work with 10.5 acres some times but I now have all the natural species comming back that are often killed by broad leaved weed killers, and horses love a lot of those species. I do let some common thistles grow as the horses eat the flowers and the cut stems, but only a few!!! The farmer across the road Napalms everything that doesn't move and he does not have the wildlife that I do.

Hope that helps!

 

[henryhorn]

I would get your local ag merchant rep out to analyse the soil and advise.
We did this and used the recommended mix of fertiliser and the grass has improved tremendously , but with 107 acres we can only do a bit at a time.
Putting sheep on from a friendly farmer is a good idea, as they get it right down and you can then spot any weeds coming up easily.
The local contractors can seed with a machine that sort of injects the seeds into the ground from the tractor, this would be a good way to improve the quality of the grasses.
Just keep topping it for now, we are about to do that as ours has loads of thistles this year, it's been perfect weather for weeds..

 

[jrp204]

Its called 'direct drilling', you could also chain harrow some new seed into your existing ley in the autumn.