Running out of Grass

Perfect here, my horses were doing too well and now they've got plenty of fibre to eat without too much lush greeness. However, I always deliberately have too much grazing so I always have a buffer for times like this.
Great haylage crop ready for a long winter and the fields will lush up again once it does eventually rain, grass is very resilient stuff.
 
My 23yr old fatty has finally lost weight so I’m happy. He’s in during the day with a small amount of overnight soaked hay and oat chaff. I think he likes a rest and to be out of the heat and flies so he’s happy.

My paddocks don’t look bad whilst those who’ve turned out 24/7 have pretty knackered paddocks.
 
Its bad in the North West too. Ive recently moved yards, the place I left had a very bare field (not the reason I left) but all horses fatties so must be getting something. The new yard has less horses and a bit more grass but it looks like hay, all brown, dry and dusty. We desperately need rain but theres no sign of it :( My young mare is fine in the field with her new friends but still a bit stressy in the stable, so shes basically coming in for a feed and back out, shes not losing any weight atm but ideally I'd like her in having some hay during the day. Saying that another lady has said her horse isnt hungry when he comes in so they must be getting something out there.
 
My fields have gone from being muddy swamps over the winter to now being rock hard and brown. I'm thankful we got them harrowed and rolled when we did but brown grass is something we're definitely not used to! Fortunately all the horses are looking ok so far. Rain was forecast today but I think I only felt two drops despite what the forecast said - perhaps we'll get some overnight or tomorrow. I'm defintely happy that the temperature dropped to about 20 degrees today, neurological issues and hot weather don't go together and I've really been struggling with it.
 
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Our field looks frazzled. My fatty is doing OK though, she's fed soaked hay morning and night and not having much grass is good for her. I wish it would rain though, we've not cantered in AGES!
 
My jumping paddock is not looking great it had to be grazed in spring for the first time in ten years and it’s not recovered and it’s so hard .
My summer paddocks are quite bare they are spilt in two and are about three and a half acres I could do with taking them off giving The winter five acres three weeks work so I could top the summer paddocks .
My winter fields look a bit sparse but ok .
We are desparate for some rain .
On the bright side Fatty is out with his friends every other night and is in top form a bit porky but really happy .
 
The guys that make and take our hay tell me they are 3000 bales up on the same amount (acreage) cut as last year. Also, last year it took 3 months to get to where they are now, this year it has taken just over 3 weeks.
 
I’ve currently got plenty of grass - as have a track that they graze. The rest of the field and more other field are untouched (except for the little bit eaten by two sheep!). Normally have to really watch my horses weight so no new grass coming through is very helpful.

Might look to source some hay early based on the fact it’s being fed now to stock. Haven’t got anywhere indoors to store - would pallets and a tarp work?
 
Fatty ponies and lack of grass makes for a good summer :)

Happy owner here

There's a bit of a race going on here - what will come first -a new saddle or the rain and grass growth? Lets hope it's the saddle so Fat Boy stays slim!!
 
Clodagh said:
The guys that make and take our hay tell me they are 3000 bales up on the same amount (acreage) cut as last year. Also, last year it took 3 months to get to where they are now, this year it has taken just over 3 weeks.
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Same here, yields are at an all time high, every bit of grass cut has been got in, and the savings achieved by not having to wrap everything are really adding up.

My pony is running in a small herd on 18 acres, and looks the best he's ever done - it's lovely not having to Weight Watchers him over the summer :)
 
Lots of grass here, but there is a LOT of land compared to the number of horses. Plus most are only out either in the day or at night so there isn't much pressure on it. Mine's been out at night only because he's rugged for sweetitch and in this heat it just didn't seem fair.
 
I usually fence off half my field in the summer but we have left it open this year, doesn't look like theres much grass on it but they come in at night and all of them are only eating half their hay. They are a good weight as well, but some rain would be welcome.
 
Got plenty of grass here on the big field but I have a river running through the field and a couple of small tributaries. The little paddock is frazzled but thats ok because fatty lumpkin has gone on there to try and keep her off the grass.
The dry field is a frazzled brown lump except down by the river so that one's a bit stationary and field 4 is empty and staying that way for as long as possible i think.

As for hay all the farmers around here are panicking. We went from gales and torrential rain straight to scorching sun. The grass didn't really start to grow until may and now most places have nothing at all. They're frantically baling anywhere that doesn't have stock on it and fields are frazzling before their eyes. Cuts haven't been as good as usual either. One field that usually comes to me with 25-30 bales on it probably won't get anywhere near half and its just dry stalks.
 
We have a very brown and frazzled field but all the horses seem to be doing well on it. None of them have lost weight so there must be something in it.

They were coming in as the flies were bothering so much but the two big boys aren't drinking at all in their stables and then going straight to the trough in the field and dowing water for about a minute each. No idea why as they both drink overnight in winter but we thought it was probably better for them to have access to the trough at all times so they're all out agan now.

They've all had hay in their stables but, other than fatty pony who mas managed to pull all the hay out of his small holed hay net and leave the straw :rolleyes:, they aren't touching it, they're just sleeping all day.
 
Mine is usually in during the day to manage his intake of grass, apart from when we had those really hot 30c days recently, his stable was unbearably hot. I buy hay all summer for him and this summer it's been slightly dearer but ready available. The fields do look sparse but there's clearly something out there because no one is looking slim, not even the young TB my horse shares his field with. I do hope we get some rain soon as I guess it could get to be a problem if this continued for a couple of months.
 
I'm loving the weather - we are on clay and our grass come back incredibly quickly and very lush after the winter. We had 25 sheep on the field from May - mid June and they grazed it to nearly nothing. This is the first summer I've had my horse with no muzzle on all summer, he's wanting to come in first thing and eat his 12 hour soaked hay. Perfect for the fatties!!
 
This "brown grass" is actually what horses have evolved to eat (rather than bright green stuff), so it's not surprising that they are all doing well on it ;)
 
Lintel said:
I'm in heaven... two fatties that are lami prone and came out of winter a bit plump- burnt rubbish grass is suiting me very well in Scotland!
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Same here in Ireland.

My fat cob is losing weight while living out unrestricted and unmuzzled (which is unheard of!) and the lami pony is out of his muzzle and doing so well he is back in work for the first time since we nearly lost him at Christmas.

My neighbour delivered plenty of lovely hay cut from our fields last night, best hay we've ever made here, and I should have a nice bit of money for the excess thanks to another neighbour accidentally fertilising our field this spring and perfect hay-making weather. Last year we had to make silage to sell and buy in hay.

I am currently researching horse fly traps and panicking slightly about some of the garden plants, but on balance I'm certainly not complaining about this weather.
 
4 fatties on 4 acres of burnt grass that was taken for hay, including one EMS/Laminitic. Both myself and the lady I share they yard with are pretty happy with the situation, as it's meant she's been able to let hers out of their very strict, restricted grazing (long meadow grass in the other fields), and as a result my two have been able to amble around with their friends over 4 acres without ballooning!
 
Hay yield round here is much higher too due to the wet spring and the fact they got it all in without losing any. No standing hay here at all
 
2 on 2 acres, tracked, with access to hedgerows. The middle of the second field is standing meadow, tons on there. The first field was grazed down earlier and is my riding field, it's hardly grown back at all. But yes, I have tons left here, and another acre field I can use if the 2 acres did get totally annihilated.
 
I'm basically doing the same as in winter and using a 'trash paddock' and feeding hay when needed as the grass is growing so slowly.

However, the hay fields near me that were cut 3 weeks ago already have a good 2-3 inches of growth. OK they would have been heavily fertilised after cutting but it goes to show that the grass is still growing.

Oh and the good news is....it's raining in our part of West Yorkshire this morning!! :D
 
I rested my small field for nearly 4 months and the grass was up to my waist in places so I have been letting them on that for a few hours a day and then they come in to a bit of hay so I doing ok, I normally section off my big field but have just left it for the time being as its not green at all so I will wait until it looks a bit better.
 
little_critter said:
Mine have already eaten the first half of their field, which has now been resting for about 3-4 weeks but has not regrown much.
I reckon they have about 2 weeks of grass left on the 2nd half of their field. Then they could go back on the first half and possible scrape another 2 weeks worth of grass from it but then I will be totally out of grass.
I would hope by then we will have had some rain and the grass will start growing again. If not I'll have to start putting out hay. They already come in during the day to get out of the sun and flies.
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Same here, busy doing a rain dance
 
Tiddlypom said:
I'm running out of the RIGHT sort of grass, the dry brown low calorie stuff that suits my two Cushing's ladies so well. Or rather, it's there, but I can't shift the damn plastic posts to strip graze them onto it as the ground is so hard!

So much grass at the end of May that I had to run the lawnmower over it before letting the neds onto it.

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And the same field today. Crisp and brown.


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I've another lower field which is not as well drained and has a lot of grass, but that I can't strip graze into that either because it's too rich and lush. I need to wait for winter for that when it's become stemmy foggage.

Farmers round here are already having to feed this year's hay to outliving stock as there isn't enough grass for them :(.
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Same here TP. Ive one field that looks horrendous . But theres always a silver lining

My ole girl was diagnosed with cushings a couple of months ago unfortunately the prascend doesn't suit her, so she had to come off. I was very concerned, genuinely thought she would have to be put to sleep. But this lack of green grass is just brilliant, shes happily mooching away. Shes not stiff either as shes getting plenty of turnout. The others are good doers, so not worried in the slightest. We just need a solution for the blinking horse flies !
 
Penny Less said:
May be a hay shortage this year for people that buy in, Farmers are short of grazing too and having to feed.
Praying for rain in the South East
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Forage yield is 20% down here verses last year and second crops may not even happen if we don’t get rain soon .
With that and the timber price it’s looking like a diffcult winter is coming .
 
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