Setting up a pasture from scratch

[Annie&Amy]

My friend has a field that's been used as set aside but she had it reseeded in Oct 2007, we want to put our horses on it from the summer this year but arn't sure if it'll be safe ie will the grass be too rich? Is it best to have sheep on it first. It was seeded with proper pasture seed. Any help much appreciated xx

 

[jrp204]

If you can get some sheep on it, great or get someone to cut it for silage as early as poss.

 

[Orangehorse]

Is it a proper horse pasture mix?
I think the thing you have to be careful with is residual fertiliser, but if it has been in set aside then perhaps most of it will have gone. It might be worth having the grass analysed for mineral content when it has grown a bit.

One tip I got from a magazine was to have 5 enclosures - one for each season and 1 spare so they can be rested/hay crop/re-seeded, etc.