Paddock Paradise V Strip Grazing

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suzyqet

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Cor, I havent been on here for a while, then suddenly I'm starting 3 threads in as many days. Lol.

Anyway, I have been thinking about setting up a sort of Paddock Paradise system, where the horses would graze around the outer of the field with the middle fenced off then gradually moving the fence in towards the middle until all grass has gone. It is going to take alot of electric fencing (5.5 acres) to set up so am also considering just straight forward strip grazing.

Who has tried both and which method do you think worked best and made the grass 'last longer' iykwim?

Thanks to all in advance.
 
Surely with a Paddock Paradise, however small, the horses would at least move about more than on strip grazing?
 
jinglejoys said:
Definately not just strip grazing with corners if done properly :)
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I agree. If you intend to move the fence in gradually I'd just strip graze, much easier.:)

PP is designed to reduce grass intake greatly and increase exercise. The track should be fairly narrow (min 12ft) and when the grass is eaten down hay is fed. the centre is not grazed at all and is used for a hay crop or winter grazing etc.

Have a look at the videos http://www.paddockparadise.com/

Yes, a small track will increase exercise but moving the fence to access grazing is not the point if you see what I mean. It's a way of managing horses weight, dietry intake and exercise to increase wellness and basic fitness.
 
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We use Paddock Paradise tracks and much prefer it to strip grazing. The horses definitely move round a lot more and it has made a massive difference to their weight and their fitness. We do open the middle up post by post as the grass is getting eaten down rather than feeding hay, then we close the bits that are well grazed and open up posts another side and so on. It has worked really well for us, I can't imagine ever keeping ours any other way now.
 
Strip grazing, done properly is a lot of fiddling about moving posts. You need a fence behind to allow the grazed area to 're-generate' and obviously the fence in front.

As strip grazing is supposedly done to limit the intake of richer grass the system rather shoots itself in the foot as every day the horses gorge themselves on the couple of feet of fresh grass made available to them.

Of the two systems I would go with a pemanent track system any day, it encourages horses to move and gives you an area to cut hay from, use as a schooling area, graze other horses on, whatever. You don't need a huge area either.
 
i use the pasture paridise method in the summer only, keeps them moving and is better than strip grazing imo. what i find is that i do move the fence sometimes so they have acces like a strip grass, but i remember to remove the same amount of given grass from the track, so the fence wibbles around all summer. better than just putting in a stravation pen. i would like to do it the more traditional way for PP but i think my farmer would have a fit.

no system will be perfect but at least with the PP they go round and round and round. also if you move the fence when they are in the far corner then they run :) sneaky exercise
 
I guess it comes down to do you want your horses to move about more, vs doing less work yourself ;)
 
I'd choose Paddock Paradise over strip grazing, and will be doing so as soon as I've managed to fund all the post and tape I need to do my field.
 
ISHmad said:
We do open the middle up post by post as the grass is getting eaten down rather than feeding hay, then we close the bits that are well grazed and open up posts another side and so on. It has worked really well for us, I can't imagine ever keeping ours any other way now.
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I never thought of that. ;) Good idea for horses who can tolerate grazing.
 
Naturally said:
I guess it comes down to do you want your horses to move about more, vs doing less work yourself ;)
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Not quite sure what point you are trying to make here, youngsters, retired veterans and the like can still be good doers but are unable to be exercised very much. Think most horse owners, myself included, work more than hard enough where our horses are concerned :-)
 
Thanks for the opinions so far. Please keep them coming.

What about in the winter though?

Do you just open the middle up therefore giving them the whole field in the winter or did you still use the PP system?

I would've thought it would get very churned up in the winter??? (Maybe wrong, never used it before)
 
We use it in winter too, although by early January normally all the middle has been opened up and all the grass has gone so we take it down then. Put it back up in their summer field ready for when they move across.
 
ISHmad said:
Not quite sure what point you are trying to make here, youngsters, retired veterans and the like can still be good doers but are unable to be exercised very much. Think most horse owners, myself included, work more than hard enough where our horses are concerned :-)
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I don't think you took that in the spirit I intended it.

I meant that if you want the horse to move around more and are prepared to put in the extra effort which goes with investing in, putting up and moving more electric tape, then good for you, go with that.

If you don't think your horse needs the extra exercise in the field, and you don't want the hassle of moving miles of electric tape, or the expense and hassle of constructing it, then choose strip grazing, where you'll have to erect and move less tape.

Nothing wrong with either option and I certainly didn't intend to imply anything about the level of work anyone puts in to their horses.
 
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