Soil Testing

[winchester]

Has anybody has the soil tested that their horses graze on? What was the outome? Did you have to do anything after the results? Would you recommend it?

 

[Donkeymad]

Planning on doing one soon. A friend did one on all her land last year and the results suggested certain elements to add and others to not add. Result, brilliant grassland suited to her equines needs.

 

[teddyt]

Yes, ive had my soil tested. Depends what the results are as to what happens- some nutrients are needed for the grass, others for the horses. Mine came back ok for everything. I would recomend it

 

[winchester]

Thank you - where did you get the tests from?

 

[teddyt]

I got my local agronomist to do it

 

[Perce]

how did you find your local agronomist? yellow pages?
how much did it cost?

 

[teddyt]

The place where i got my grass seed from has agronomists. Its a specialist supplier for grass seed, cereals, etc. I wanted very specific grass (low sugar for grazing and a high timothy hay crop), not just any old horse and pony mix that you get from agricultural stores. The soil testing wasnt very expensive at all, i cant remember how much but it wasnt horrendous.

Look for specialist grassland/arable consultants in your area.

 

[Donkeymad]

Local Agricultural Merchant

 

[Bosworth]

http://www.mrscrow.com/

try these people for your soil testing, you can email them, ring them and they will talk you through the process for collecting the soil samples. Then they will do you a full analysis and make recommendations following your needs, ie haylage, high/low protein, meadow grass, weeds etc. Really helpful and extremely friendly.