Trash part of the field - hand rolling?

[PonyIAmNotFood]

I have a sectioned off bit of my field that I've allowed to be trashed and put hay on for the winter. Not on much acreage so didn't want to ruin the whole field. This has worked well, but really is rutted and trashed now in places. Some bits are still ok and I have no doubt will recover on their own. This is on a livery yard where you get and maintain your own patch, patches separated by electric fencing. For the yard owner to roll it with the tractor, all the other liveries would have to take down their electric fences (as well as me doing it). The patches round me aren't too bad because they haven't been used as much, so the owners won't want theirs rolling meaning I can't reasonably expect them to take their fencing down for the yard owner to roll mine. I do not have a problem with this, but it does mean I'm having to think outside the box about how I'm going to sort out the poached, rutted bit in my field. Has anyone done smallish patches with one of those old fashioned hand rollers you get at cricket clubs and for laying turf? How well would it work and is it even feasible? Once I've rolled it/flattened it somehow, I'm going to invest in some grass mats so this doesn't happen again next year!

 

[Auslander]

I use my horse! He does a fab job of flattening out poached areas. I wait until it is dry, but still flexible, then put him in stable sized sections, which he tramples down to perfect flatness very effectively.

 

[JillA]

Leave the horses on it as it dries - they will tread out all the lumps and bumps for you. Mine always do - I don't have a roller heavy enough to make much of an impression on mine but the horses do it a treat. Feed hay on it too - the seeds will drop out and germinate nso you get decent grass growth to supplement what has survived. You will be surprised at how it recovers.

 

[9tails]

I have one of those hand rollers and it sits just outside my field. At the moment, I've only rolled a line through the gate and onto the firmer ground as the divots are still filled with water. This means that the mud sticks to the roller and it gets stuck. Once the ground is more like plasticine, it works very well to roll the divots down and allows the ground to dry a lot quicker.

 

[paddi22]

yeah, same as poster above. i've a little hand roller as well and it works fine. I find you have to pic a time when the ground is still soft but not sticky.

 

[ROMANY 1959]

As others have said, horse will flatten it out once it's dry, and what is handy is one of those rollers you fill with water ...I have one at home to do the chicken pen when it gets messy... Once filled with water I can't lift it and does its job, then you just let water go and it's quite light to move..

 

[Vanha12]

Every year I have another child learning to drive so their first lesson is in the field in spring. They go up and down and never get bored and it flattens the field a treat!!

 

[PonyIAmNotFood]

I think it will come back much better than I think, I'm just fretting as per 😂 I may invest in a little hand roller anyway though, surely it's useful to have knocking about. Thanks for the thoughts

I don't think I'd get my car down there otherwise it would be a serious consideration vanha12 😂