Saving long grass for the winter?

[MyBoyChe]

I have split my boys field almost in half this summer in an attempt to manage his weight better than last year. This means that I have nice long grass growing in the bottom half. The YO wont top or mow it but expects us to eat it down. I have made it quite clear that this wont happen until winter and they are fine about it. The whole field is about an acre in total with 1 pony on it. My question is would it be safe to open it up all in one go once we have had some frost on it and let him eat that instead of hay, or do I still need to open it bit by bit, even in the middle of winter. He is a highland and lives on fresh air, literally

 

[JillA]

If you open it in one go it will get trampled or poo'd on before it gets eaten - I'd strip graze it if you can

 

[wkiwi]

You will probably find it goes to seed and loses a lot of its nutritional value before winter, although you might get new growth coming in under the long stuff. I would reassess at the time you want to graze it. I used to feed my thoroughbreds 'standing hay' (basically an uncut hay crop) without problems, but usually had to restrict the amount so it wasn't wasted and they didn't eat too much at once (some TBs will guts themselves just as much as a pony!). I wouldn't recommend suddenly increasing the amount of food volume, whatever the quality but if it has dried off then it will be safer than if there is a lush green layer under the long parts.
You could always top it with a lawnmower if you wanted, as topping has other benefits too. Just don't let the horse have the clippings.

 

[Dry Rot]

As JillA says, strip graze it. That's what I do too.

 

[hairycob]

We did this at a previous yard. We used to give them a section, then once it was eaten down enough to be able to find poos easily open up a bit more until they had the whole lot.

 

[irishdraft]

I have the same long grass in the winter its actually better for them as its lost a lot of its feed value but is still plenty of roughage, I strip graze with no problems

 

[ILuvCowparsely]

I have split my boys field almost in half this summer in an attempt to manage his weight better than last year. This means that I have nice long grass growing in the bottom half. The YO wont top or mow it but expects us to eat it down. I have made it quite clear that this wont happen until winter and they are fine about it. The whole field is about an acre in total with 1 pony on it. My question is would it be safe to open it up all in one go once we have had some frost on it and let him eat that instead of hay, or do I still need to open it bit by bit, even in the middle of winter. He is a highland and lives on fresh air, literally

We did this last year, it was fine till around October but then the rain flattened it and it looked horrid through the winter and was a nightmare to rake up in the spring as the horses trod on a lot and the farmer raked up the remainder when he harrowed in the spring and we had to go round collecting it all which took days and the patches we did not rake up still show as the grass cannot grow through it it is just white flattened grass

I remember the day we moved them onto it ( New Years day) as I had an emergency call out for my horse who coliked for the first time ever because of the grass.

 

[MyBoyChe]

Strip grazing it is then! Thanks all

 

[Penny Less]

I strip graze, although you find after about the first few inches the grass is dead and yellow underneath !