Winter blues - field management?

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millyspaniel

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EUGHHHH well my field is officially a mud bath! its on a natural spring and even though its on a hill its as wet and muddy as hell, the horses are sinking in it, its awful. I have been fencing parts off with elec tape but now all the dry bits are as bad as the rest and to make matters worse they all busted out of the fence so now have the whole field to lol about in.
Theres 4 of them on it, its approx 3acres, 16.2 TB, coblet and 2 welsh sec a's - ones going at the weekend. So do you think its best i let them have the run of it all or section it off again?
I am a bit concerned regarding spring grazing and letting it rest, when do i need to start sectioning if i want 2 paddocks (grazing) and a section i can leave for early cut hay?
Its the first winter they have been on it, any tips greatly appreciated!
Hoping to get stables in the spring so the problem shouldnt be there next year!!
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keep them in? makes most sense!

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I would love too, but unfortunitly i am not lucky enough to have any stables yet
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just a soggy field and a trailer as a feed room
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roll on spring! even if i had the money for the stables now theres no way a lorry could get to where the stables are going - right at the bottom of the field!!
 
24 7
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there coping okay, lots and lots of hay,rugged up TB and the rest are hairy as hell! check regular for signs of mud rash, so far so good
 
I know exactly how you feel... i too am on a natural spring, i've been lucky as the wetter its got the higher i've been able to move them.

I wouldnt leave them out in the whole thing though as none of its going to be able to rest.
 
I personally wouldnt section it. I have two on 5 acres and I couldnt imagine letting them have any less than that through the winter, especially 4 on 3 acres! Good luck.
 
I would section off the muddiest parts if poss, usually gateways and parts of fencelines. They usually then find somewhere else to stand, so when those areas get muddy take the fencing away from the previously muddy areas, and use it to section off the newly muddy areas. Rotate it. So basically, give them most of the field, bar the muddiest bits!
The pony going will help. 2 horses and 2 ponies is too many for 3 acres really, unless you have good grazing on a well drained spot - which you obviously don't!
Hope you manage to sort it out!
 
Hmmm, one of the welshies is off on sunday that just leaves the dot (11.1hh welshie, tiny dainty thing) and the coblet (14.1hh) and my TB - will section it off again after sunday when the other ponies gone and let half of it rest. Its hard when they have no respect for the fencing!
 
Just embrace the mud
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There nowt you can do now. Grit yer teeth and let them trash it. Then section it off in March/April. It'll recover.
Or..do what I do if its possible and create a track round the outside. That way only the track gets trashed and the middle stays nice. Obviously you'll have to feed hay to compensate for the lack of grass
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Like this:
obviously you can make the track as narrow or wide as you like and incorporate as much or as little of the field as you like. Mine is just a loop round the outside of my paddock
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I know how frustrating it is.
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My grazing has really suffered in the last week, and I had to move them to my other paddocks today, that I was hoping to save till the new year
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However, the weather is supposed to get drier soon, but chilly instead!!
 
[ QUOTE ]
Just embrace the mud
smile.gif

There nowt you can do now. Grit yer teeth and let them trash it. Then section it off in March/April. It'll recover.
Or..do what I do if its possible and create a track round the outside. That way only the track gets trashed and the middle stays nice. Obviously you'll have to feed hay to compensate for the lack of grass
smile.gif

Like this:
obviously you can make the track as narrow or wide as you like and incorporate as much or as little of the field as you like. Mine is just a loop round the outside of my paddock
020620094106.jpg


[/ QUOTE ]

What a good idea!
So if i section it march time then there will be grazing for them come summer time? there on hay all the time now and picking whats left of the grass
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Heres the said field in early spring (april)
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Here it is summer (july)
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Here it is autumn (october)


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Will take one tomorrow of the winter
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at least when the cold comes it tends to dry the field out
 
Gosh- I wouldnt cope with that many on such a small space of ground- we currently have 3 all under 15hh on a big 6 acre field, and they have access to the lot at this time, and we will section it in half march/april time when the grass is actually starting to grow again. For the worst of the mud we have used straw in the past to mop it up (havnt needed to yet luckily) In your position I would do the same as us! I think we are all struggling at this time with the mud unfortunately
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Its something I did last year and it worked quite well binding it all together, and the grass actually grew back ok this year- we had our doubts! Its not something I wouldnt do if I didnt have to- I literally did the gateway and around the hay feeder area.
 
Since i am lucky enough not to have to sort out the field maintenance i will keep my mouth shut and not blab rubbish!

BUT


Pig oil really really works for mud fever so if your worried whack it up there legs and hopefully it will give some protection, i've found it works better than other stuff i've tried when babysitting other peoples mud monsters!
 
There is a direct equation in that the wetter and filtier the field is, the more the flippin' horses will tear around and cut it up. If you put up leccy fencing, the blimmin things will just tank straight through it coz they'll know its easily pushed over coz all the fencing poles are in the wet and don't stay upright.

Its either wet before Christmas, or after, you just can't avoid it. One always worries that the grass won't grow back, but it does! Then you've got the problem in the spring/summer that there's too much and you've got a laminitis on your hands!

Seriously, the best money I ever spent was getting the field professionally drained; the second best "expense" was putting down builders rubble on the gateways - that's been such a huge help and a really worthwhile expense.
 
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