Yards and restricted grazing

S

sjdress

Well-Known Member
Joined
14 March 2010
Messages
610
Visit site
Is it me or is it the norm now for many yards to have restricted grazing these days. I understand that we have had a terrible winter and the grass is being slow coming through but to have restricted grazing trough the summer seems a shame.
I have looked into a lot of the other yards in the area and they too only offer 1/2 day turnout.
 
I hear of it alot, I am lucky in that I have never been on a yard yet which does not at least offer 24/7 in summer and half days in winter. My girl is not the type to go nuts if stabled alot but she prefers being out and I prefer her being out, mostly 24/7 all year round
 
There are 2 things i hear about many yards- restricted turn out in winter and not allowed to strip graze in summer. neither i would accept!
 
I am a Yo that doesn't restrict grazing, with all my liveries currently out 24/7, but please do bear in mind that we still need to run a business and are not charities. After all the overheads of running my yard I am lucky to break even some months, and can understand why some yards have to pack the horses in to make any profit, especially if their livelihood depends on it.
However I do not agree with the yards that have no winter turn-out as see that as inhumane, and would rather sell my horses than expect them to be imprisoned 6 mnths a year......
 
I do think that some of the restricted turn out is a result of yard owners trying to get their money twice, once for the grazing and once for the hay/haylage. Everytime I read a post about livery yards I offer up thanks that we keep ours at home!
 
We are fortunate enough to have paddocks we can quite literally trash in the winter and rest for the whole of Summer.

We have 24/7 grazing where needed, some fields may be a 5 - 10 min walk away along the bridle path, but it is all there as we need it.

Sadly for us we don't have loads of grazing right on sight - 3 large fields just out the gate and across the lane but what we do have around the yard (small P&R paddocks) looks bare and it is the first thing potential new customers see - Its not pretty!

A yard along the road from us has near to 15x15 ''paddocks'' used by three horses rotating each one through out the day!! And they have a waiting list for people to go there!! Madness!!
 
Sidney said:
I am a Yo that doesn't restrict grazing, with all my liveries currently out 24/7, but please do bear in mind that we still need to run a business and are not charities. After all the overheads of running my yard I am lucky to break even some months, and can understand why some yards have to pack the horses in to make any profit, especially if their livelihood depends on it.
However I do not agree with the yards that have no winter turn-out as see that as inhumane, and would rather sell my horses than expect them to be imprisoned 6 mnths a year......
Click to expand...

Hear hear. Yards with no or restricted turnout at any time of the year should be shut down on welfare grounds. The Animal Welfare Act itself stipulates that every animal should be allowed to express normal behaviour. No horse stabled 24/7 can express normal behaviour. Most animal lovers would speak out against battery farmed chickens or the old style zoos where animals were kept in small cages yet don't see anything wrong with horses being stabled for the majority of their lives. If someone can explain how battery farming of animals is wrong but stabling 24/7 is okay then I'd love to hear it.
 
mrdarcy said:
Hear hear. Yards with no or restricted turnout at any time of the year should be shut down on welfare grounds. The Animal Welfare Act itself stipulates that every animal should be allowed to express normal behaviour. No horse stabled 24/7 can express normal behaviour. Most animal lovers would speak out against battery farmed chickens or the old style zoos where animals were kept in small cages yet don't see anything wrong with horses being stabled for the majority of their lives. If someone can explain how battery farming of animals is wrong but stabling 24/7 is okay then I'd love to hear it.
Click to expand...


hmmmm.. that would mean end to the horse racing industry as all training stables would be shut down and millions less £'s coming into the uk.....
 
Unfortunately we have restricted turnout. We are going out 24/7 as of this week.
Im not a big fan, but when i bought my new horse he was going to live at home at my own stable and 15 acres! but he hated his new home as althought there are horses all around us he HAS to be turned out with others.
So luckily i have a fabulous livery yard 1/2 a mile up the road. He is completely happy there and settled straight away. So the options for him are to live somewhere where he isnt happy and have totally unrestricted turn out or have restricted turn out but friends and he is totally happy. Also at the yard we have a 40 x 60 sand arena which is floodlit so riding in winter is no probs.
Not perfect from my point of view but the horse loves it.
 
Sort of restricted at our yard..when the weather is truly horrendous in the depths of winter they don't go out but by managing the fields, the horses get to go out all year round. They do trash the winter fields and there's not a lot left by the time we reach summer but they are all restricted at the moment because of the new grass! The majority of the yard will switch to night turn out soon anyway and there are some liveries whose horses do this all year round because they need the extra time out rain or shine. Mine does not spend much time out because he simply will not stay put (regardless of the grazing/strength of fencing) for more than 1/2 day and believe we have tried.My old wb/tb needed to be out as much as poss, my sturdy ISH can't wait to get back in. Grazing does get frugal towards the end of the seasons but we don't get charged for extra (in my case) haylage etc anyway.
 
The primary reason I'm at the yard I am, is because we are allowed 24/7/365 turnout :D I don't have a school, electric or good hacking, but the boy is out and happy :)

Just to compare. This is our field. It hasn't had a rested for a while, although the horses kept breaking into another field through winter so it was 'technically' rested :p They have been on it for as long as I can remember as we don't rotate fields because they're all good do-ers :rolleyes:

25131_387613092326_633522326_4523470_1345170_n.jpg


25131_386940267326_633522326_4509176_672586_n.jpg


It's pretty green and he's already put on weight despite being muzzled :(

We often end up with less mud than yards that restrict their turnout. I believe it's partially down to the fact that because ours are all out, they rarely get over excited about being out and so crazy moments are kept to a minimum (lol). Plus they're not being bought in and out twice a day so the gate stays less muddy,
 
skychick said:
Unfortunately we have restricted turnout. We are going out 24/7 as of this week.
Im not a big fan, but when i bought my new horse he was going to live at home at my own stable and 15 acres! but he hated his new home as althought there are horses all around us he HAS to be turned out with others.
So luckily i have a fabulous livery yard 1/2 a mile up the road. He is completely happy there and settled straight away. So the options for him are to live somewhere where he isnt happy and have totally unrestricted turn out or have restricted turn out but friends and he is totally happy. Also at the yard we have a 40 x 60 sand arena which is floodlit so riding in winter is no probs.
Not perfect from my point of view but the horse loves it.
Click to expand...

Not wanting to get at you but why didn't you just get him a companion? Or get a friend to keep their horse at yours?
 
This is one of my biggest bug bears and I wouldn't be at a yard that severely restricts Grazing. My boy would go absolutely nuts if he had to be in 24/7 or just got a few hours turnout a day and in the winter he is out on average, 12 hours a day. he'd rather be stood at the gate waiting for me than couped up in his (Large) Stable...
 
It's definately an issue around my area especially at smaller yards - the weather has been so bad in the last year that some of the grazing has really struggled - ours was the only yard in our area that even had winter turn out even though it was on hard stand with hay. The grass has benefited from the rest and we've not got about 10 acres that have not been grazed for 6 to 9 months that means we'll have good sumer grazing.
 
Yes I am on a yard with restricted turnout, and I do miss 24/7 turnout in summer. However the horses are out for a minimum of 8am-2.30pm in winter. At the moment they have 8am-4pm ish. Evenually (hopefully soon ;) ) they can swap if we want, onto 3.30pm-8am out, and in during the day. As I say, wish we had 24/7 turnout, but you can't have everything, and I'd rather be at a yard where we are both happy, can trust them with my horse, decent facilities, and no bitchiness. So i have sacridiced 24/7 at my old yard, but prefer the new yard (well i've been there over a year now) by miles!!
 
mrdarcy
Hear hear. Yards with no or restricted turnout at any time of the year should be shut down on welfare grounds. The Animal Welfare Act itself stipulates that every animal should be allowed to express normal behaviour. No horse stabled 24/7 can express normal behaviour. Most animal lovers would speak out against battery farmed chickens or the old style zoos where animals were kept in small cages yet don't see anything wrong with horses being stabled for the majority of their lives. If someone can explain how battery farming of animals is wrong but stabling 24/7 is okay then I'd love to hear it.
Click to expand...

sam4321 said:
hmmmm.. that would mean end to the horse racing industry as all training stables would be shut down and millions less £'s coming into the uk.....
Click to expand...

Not the Swedish Harness racing industry :D , the common practise is that trotters should be out as much as possible, though their paddocks might not always have much grass in them, since some believes that too much green grass makes them slower.
a050.gif


As I recall from a Swedish horse TV programme, Malin Baryard-Johnsson had/has a horse that deeply disliked being outdoors in a paddock, to the point that she takes fate into her own hooves and escapes the paddock to get back into the stable, if anybody tries to put her in a paddock.

:)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top