When does the grass start to lose its goodness /stop growing?

[Jericho]

Just wondering if anyone knows when the richness of grass tails off? Just playing the balancing game of
1) lami pony vs poor doer TB and what size field to have them in at night and
2) when I need to supplement my TB with more hay becuase the grass has little in goodness?
Any advice gratefully received.......

 

[LankyDoodle]

The grass will keep growing until temperatures fall consistently below 5 degree centigrade. The goodness in the grass begins to deteriorate with falling levels of sunlight, so as the nights draw in... because grass, being a plant, needs photosynthesis to live. Photosynthesis requires sunlight.

 

[_daisy_]

i was talking to my farmer friend the other day about this. mine is just starting to go off. he said that it starts to go yellowish when its starts to loose its goodness, so mine is heading that way now.
i would suspect that youll need to start giving hay to your TB in the next month? does depend i suppose on the amount of grass you have at the moment.

 

[BigBird146]

I would have thought around end of Sept/ beg of Oct depending on where you are. Will lami pony tolerate a muzzle? Could put a muzzle on him by day and off at night on better grass maybe?

 

[pottamus]

My grass has just started to turn yellow at the tips and I plan to move my horse gradually onto some winter grazing this weekend. He will be out on it during the day and then back out on his limited grass paddock and hay during the night for October and then out on the winter stuff full time in Nov (weight permitting!).

 

[Magicmillbrook]

If you are some where mild it may keep growing throughout the winter (albeit slowly). My little pony managed not to loose any weight at all last winter despite having no hard feed and realy well soaked hay onl. She was on a bare looking paddock, but seemed to be grazing something!

 

[LankyDoodle]

Agree with magic: if it's mild grass will continue to grow. However, the goodness in the grass will diminish because what makes grass green and stay alive is the chlorophyl; and for that, it needs photosynthesis. For photosynthesis, sunlight (among other things) is needed; and as this is of short supply in winter, the grass is by far less rich than other times of year. It may still grow, but you can put your pony on it knowing that it's rubbish!

This is why it's safer to put horse out at night from early summer to autumn.