topping fields

[katylee]

once your fields have been topped how long should you leave it before turning horses out on it? thanks!

 

[Tia]

When mine are topped, the horses remain in the field. Horse pasture isn't really the same as lawn grass so not much chance of anything untoward happening unless you have any poisonous weeds growing in there.

 

[katylee]

oh thankyou!!

 

[happihorse]

It depends on how much grass you have cut off. If the field has only really been topped (ie a couple of inches of the majority), then there will be very little cuttings left on the field. However, if the grass has been cut more than a couple of inches and there is large amounts of dead grass left on (and little length left in the growing grass) you might have to be careful that the dead stuff doesn't start to rot and cause problems if you horses eat it.

 

[cameronD26]

I asked a pasture management agent this very question and he said ....'the grass you cut should dry out before horses return' in good hot weather this could be as little as 4 days for instance. However, if they were topped whilst there was ragwort in the fields then they should stay out for until the ragwort has been removed because the ragwort is more dangerous when it is dead as a horse is more likely to eat it.

Hope this helps ... x

 

[Tia]

[ QUOTE ]
I asked a pasture management agent this very question and he said ....'the grass you cut should dry out before horses return' in good hot weather this could be as little as 4 days for instance.

[/ QUOTE ]

I don't mean to chuckle here, but what sort of "pasture management agent" was this? Crikey our 150 acres of hay fields cut at 4ft lengths don't even take 4 days to dry

, so I'd be very interested to know why this agent believes that 1 inch of topped grass could take upwards of 4 days to dry

.

Topping by definition, is just that, topping; taking the tops off your grass. Horses are interested in the growing grass not little bits of cut tops.