Planting pasture

[Wondermare]

Dearest Horse and Hound folks

Please don't laugh at me.

There's a couple of acres of poached grassland at our yard. I'm going to suggest to the owner that we re-seed and get some new grass on the land, otherwise it's just wasted. Where do I begin, and what do I need? Our quad bike has died, sadly, but I've got a bit of time on my hands. Is there stuff I can do without machinery? Where do you start?

It's probably the yard owner's responsibility, but she's so busy, it's easier if I do it myself, or at least get it started myself.

Ta loads.

XX

 

[Britestar]

Its probably quite a big job. If its poached, it prob has drainage issues, so you need to sort that first. Thats involves diggers, drainage rolls etc.

Then it would need to be ploughed - again tractor job. To get a good distribution of seed, more tractor work to seed it. On top of that there is rolling, topping and maybe spraying as well to knock back the weeds - you might need to do this at the start as well.

Bear in mind, once its done you can have the horses on it a good while to allow the ground to settle - sheep are good to compact the ground and keep the grass short, so it will grow thicker.

I did this all last year, the horses have been off the field ever since - although they have had the odd day on it IF the ground is frozen solid.

Come spring, it will be fertilized, sprayed for weeds, and then cut for hay/haylage. By the time they get back on it properly, it will be the best part of 18 months, so its not a quick fix.

 

[ameeyal]

The other poster has given you the proper way of doing it, if you just want to do it on the cheap, buy a bag of grass seed {source one for horses} or i collect all of my left over hay seed that the horses leave on the stable floor, and throw that around the field, the field will need harrowing and rolling when it is dry enough about spring time.