Strip grazing. How much new grass and how often?!

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poiuytrewq

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Summer field is about 5/6 acres of lush grass. It's a water meadow so unusable in winter and crazy grass in summer, not ideal!
I have to use it to give winter grazing time to rest.
We have a 16.2 retired due to arthritis currently sound but don't want too much weight on him because of it.
15hh supposed to be fit competing but is more fat and lazy!
Then two littles. One has cushings untreated at the advice of the Blue X as he didn't do well with precsand and seems fine without (certainly i'd not even suspect he had it, had he not been tested in a previous home) was very underweight but now looking good.
Shetland- never had lami, never really had to watch his weight until last summer when he suddenly ballooned and got slightly pottery.

So I fenced a small corner and mowed it. Then put them all in it. Within a day it was totally bare soil so I now move the fence about a foot a day. Sometimes I'll move it twice if they look particularly bored!
They eat it literally to soil daily however much I move the fence!
Ideally I'd like to keep a bit of ground cover but without giving them loads of grass new daily it seems impossible!
Next summer I'd like to try and set up a track system but for now this it it!
How much do you move your fencing?
I can't feed hay as the 15hh has a awful allergy and can only eat haylage which the ponies can't!
I also don't want to split them up as I like them to live as a herd and the littlies provide company for the retired one when the ridden horse is out.
 
I move mine about a foot a day, and it's 30ft long... But I also move a back strip too so the actual space gets no bigger.

Mine also eat pretty bare, but I give a handful daily of hi fi extra light/good doer so they can have a mineral supplement, plus they have salt licks. For mine, I know they have enough if there are enough droppings regardless of what they tell me!
 
yes,a couple of feet of new and and close in the `behind` fence.
it is amazing how it greens up behind depending on the weather.
also by moving a little each day,they know to wait for me and less likely to break through if left on the same bit for days.
 
We are just coming out of winter and I've still got grass left. I move the fence out about two/three feet about twice a week, and the paddock is about 30m wide.
 
I move the fence about 3ft every two days or so, and leave the eaten down space for a little regrowth. They will munch down the fresh strip eagerly, then nibble away on the regrowth later on in the day. They're not overweight so I'm not too strict about the amount, and I don't like to overgraze the "back" strip.
 
I should probably be moving it a bit more then maybe. There is plenty of poo! They all look good. Still over weight but healthy. I find a very fine line between happy and slim!! Especially with the big retired horse. I don't like him to be hungry and bored as it's no retirement that way! I'd almost rather give him what he wants within reason and accept he may not last quite as long as if I was really strict.
I always think it must be so much easier having a poor doer!!
 
We probably do things slightly differently. We set up our paddock in spring, just before the grass started coming through too much. I'd say they probably had about 3/4 of an acre to start with (for two). Initially we didn't move the fence at all, then there was a period in July when the grass had slowed down and we were moving it every other day. Generally we would move a small section of fencing out 1-2 feet - we can't move the whole fence because our paddock is set up in the corner of an 8 acre field. Two sides are the fixed fencing, then the third side is a very long, curving stretch of electric fencing. So it's a funny shaped triangle rather than a square, if that makes sense. We don't have a back line of fencing as it's difficult due to the size of the field, so if we move our fencing the field increases in size. So we go through phases of not moving the fence at all depending on how quickly the grass is growing. Atm they have about 1 1/2 acres and we only move the fencing very occasionally - for example, if the weather is really bad and they are a bit miserable! Not moving the fencing too much means they get to have a larger area and still keep on top of the regrowth. I wonder OP if your problem is that your area was too small to start with - you do need to make sure there is actually enough space/ grass for the number of horses you have, even if they are on diets. Not that they need an acre each, but your small corner sounds like it was too small and that is why they are constantly eating any extra grass down to bare soil.
 
Instead of estimating how much grass to give, I'd suggest letting the condition of the horse be your guide. With practce, a quick feel for ribs can give a rough approximation. Don't forget that although a paddock may look grazed down to soil level, the grass is still growing.
 
My 2 have a restricted paddock in a large field. Basically a triangle, with the apex in the middle of the field (handily encompassing the water trough). I move the 'front' fence about a foot per day and the back one 3 or 4 yards once a week.
 
I am a bit like Llanali in so much my horse is strip grazed. I move his paddock about a foot a day which probably gives him two foot because the next day there is a good gap of a foot behind the fencing line where he has stretched his neck underneath. He knows he has a period of time between being turned out and the mains electric going on and he takes advantage of this period of time!
 
Split it so the small ones are separate and can have some hay and the bigger two can graze ahead of them.

Or make a track round the outside or just two sides so they have to move more. Less work in moving a fence once it's up as well. Assuming 3 of the 4 are in no work at all, it's harder to keep them slim without starving them so a track would be my preference. Up the work of the fat and lazy one to compensate for using him as a lawnmower for the others!
 
Depends how large an area is available in the first place. If they are eating the area bare then the space is insufficient. You might have to mow a larger area. They need space enough to exercise, as this helps keep weight down. For my girl she is on a half acre, grazed down with fence moved front and behind 1 metre each day. Many people have such a small area the ground becomes extensively damaged by hooves.

Have you considered having haylage made from the long grass, that would then get you ahead in the grass length problem.
 
I have long grass (varies from good to going over a bit) and move mine two strides (mine not theirs) a day 15m at a time. The next day the eaten down stuff is nicely trimmed to about 2cm. Soon I am going to start easing back a bit ready for the September flush although they have another field of grass that has gone over a bit so might put them in there during the flush and strip graze that.
 
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