When do you move to summer grazing?

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katymay

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As the title, when do you move onto summer grazing? Winter grazing was starting to to level out but after a few days of torrential rain it's a muddy nightmare again, ponies have come home for a few days to be stabled overnight and daily turnout in mini paddock which is also a muddy mess :( and they much prefer to be out 24-7 , top paddock which is about an acre doesn't have a huge amount of grass but want them to make a start before growing really takes hold, trouble is the year before last the grass didn't start growing until May which is a fair way off yet and don't want three trashed paddocks, do I stick it out until end of March or can I turnout end of Feb? They are both good doers but we are due more rain tomorrow and Friday so things aren't going to get better yet :(
 
I was thinking about this earlier today, our winter field has just started to dry out but we're due rain for the next 2 days so it will be a muddy mess again. I'm not risking moving to summer fields until April, like you I want to get them in there before it becomes full of grass, but it will just be ruined for the rest of summer if I move any earlier. If you don't want to trash your summer paddock, I think you will have to wait. There is no point moving them while it is still so wet.
 
I move ours on 1st April, but they are large fields so it's not to save the grazing. However I like them on the summer field before the grass gets too lush.
 
between end of march and mid april dependant on grass.

with all the rain and mild days my fields are starting to sprout neon green so probably move the 2 slim jims end of march, get the other 2 paddocks mowed down to nothing then put the fatties on those and strip graze them.
 
Ours go out 24/7 from mid April, but on the winter fields. They're plenty big enough that even with them still grazing them, the grass has recovered enough by then. They then go onto the hay fields (24 acres for 10 horses) once the haylage has been made and stay there until the end of Oct.

However, they're not making haylage this year as they had such a bumper crop last year that we haven't even got through 1/3 of it yet so hopefully they can go straight onto the hayfields as soon as they're dry enough (there's a natural spring under them so they can get very wet) and may be out 24/7 sooner this year as a result. Getting them down there before the really lush grass comes through would be ideal.
 
When my summer field is dry enough... Looks like a long way off right now! Last year they moved in April when the cows went out onto the ponies winter grazing.
 
We don't really have 'summer grazing' we move from one field to another & set up paddocks with electric fencing as it's needed. We have around 10 acres & 4 horses so we aren't short of grass.
 
April seems a very long way off, I've got about a two acre paddock that I rent which is split in two, both get grazed in the summer then only one gets trashed in the winter, also got quarter of an acre at home with stables so that also acts as a trash paddock so it's quite hard to juggle in the winter with the two ponies living out most of the time, I have just managed to borrow another acre for a few weeks that hasn't been grazed since summer so hopefully this will see me over till mid to end of March ( going to share it with a friends two who is in a similar situation) looking out of the windows today and it's windy and raining so depressing :(
 
Ours will move 1st April if the ground is dry enough as I don't want all my grazing trashed. The winter fields look horrible at the moment but there's no point moving them & trashing the summer grazing, the fields always bounce back.

My phone app is showing heavy rain for the next 7days!!! ����
 
I'm working on it now. I have one field with quite a bit of grass that's been grazed over the cold weather but is still too much for Miss Delicate. I've fenced some of that off and my gelding is grazing it during the day. When the rain hits I might leave the adjoining fence open with the one she's in to reduce poaching (overnight only), but eventually she'll be in with him 24 hours a day on the small paddock. I have to start now as he has EMS and she has sweet itch, so I make a bald paddock and give soaked hay, moving the fences slowly to change the grass through the summer.
 
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