When has all the goodness gone out of the grass?

[Skippydo]

Chunky monkey (who’s slimming down nicely

) needs a bit more grass to get to and I was wondering when you folks thought all the yummy bits in the grass that make them huge will be gone out of it.

Do you think I should put some soaked hay in there for now or open his paddock up a bit more?

 

[kellyeaton]

With this weather it wil;l be still growing and goodness in it i can see another good month until the goodness has gone!

 

[beckieswann]

I know what you mean! Luckily mine comes in for some of the day for hay - however the owner of our yard decided to top all of the fields yesterday so now there's nothing out there!!

When it rains I'm hoping there maybe another little growth spurt! You could always try putting a big mineral lick in the field to makesure he's getting all his missed nutrients.

 

[ester]

I normally stop worrying about it (and stop strip grazing the hay field) end of october. atm they are getting a couple if hours on the longer stuff so that they make a start on it.

 

[NeilM]

NOT YET

I gave my lad an extra wide (read 3 feet) strip as a treat, after we did a recent fun ride. He and his field mate munched the lot in 24 hours and now his crest (which was slowly disappearing) is back with a vengeance, better than ever

 

[posie_honey]

up here it's pretty much gone

my mare was on restricted grazing all summer - she's now having a strip a day of the long grass and is still wanting her feed (you know if she's hungry - she;ll eat it - if shes not she'll not touch bucket feed! ETA - her feed is just half a scoop of safe n sound with her joint supp in

)

 

[Nailed]

never.. unfortunatly it really doesnt take a lot to make a good doer fat.. takes even less to spark off a bout of laminitis.

Lou x

 

[Knightmare]

[ QUOTE ]
When has all the goodness gone out of the grass?

[/ QUOTE ]

about 2 months ago round here

Hoping for some rain so we get another flush

 

[Fransurrey]

[ QUOTE ]
I normally stop worrying about it (and stop strip grazing the hay field) end of october. atm they are getting a couple if hours on the longer stuff so that they make a start on it.

[/ QUOTE ]

Exactly this. I'm putting in hay almost ad-lib to their paddock (nearly 2 acres but completely bare of grass, now!) and letting them have SOME grass, but will wait until end October.

 

[ester]

same as you fran, they are getting grass in the morning and some hay at night.

 

[MagicMelon]

I'm waiting until the first frost before I properly start giving all mine loads of hay and letting one of my lami ponies into another paddock at night. I think the goodness is going now anyway as one of my horses who's out in a field full of grass (short but nice and green) is now demanding hay every day! Wouldn't risk it with a fatty yet though.

 

[MochaDun]

Someone told me the dry conditions we're having at the moment with quite a bit of sun, while it doesn't allow the grass to grow very long in terms of length mean the grass produces an awful lot of fructans and they're the sugars which lead or contribute to laminitis I believe. All I know is my good do-er is looking far too well being out on grass that is half a centimetre long at the moment if that! And that's with being stabled for 15 hours out of 24 too.

 

[Skippydo]

Thanks for all your help, i think then i'll put some hay that's soaked for 12 hours in with him to keep him occupied, there's absolutely nothing for him to go at even though he's only out for 8 hours a day, he's the worlds best lawnmower