Grazing System
I second the thanks and votes of appreciation to you Sarah for this excellent source.
I am sometimes discouraged when things are going wrong with my horse operation but your website provides a safety net and all kinds of tips and encouragement and it really does help in so many ways.
It is wonderful to know my ideas on keeping horses aren’t as crazy as some people think.
Thank you Sarah for the hoof trimming tool list.
I have just bought a new, quality knife and it certainly helps. I’m saving for the hoofjack.
I set up a track in my 2 acre field and told you about it a while ago. It worked well when the grass was having trouble growing during the dry spell but now that it rains several days a week, we have the usual rampant growth here in Hampshire and there was a spell when I had to keep my very good doer off the track during the day.
I hate doing this but also hate grazing muzzles.
This mare is the one with the transitioning feet too so she doesn’t get a lot of exercise at the moment.
To help with this problem, I brought back my two yearling colts from across the road where they were doing a grass mowing job for a neighbour and put them on the track.
They were delighted to get back on the homestead and very excited to see their mums again and to meet the newest member of the herd, another colt.
These boys are grass hoovers. They are growing like weeds themselves so it would be hard to overfeed them. After a day or two I put Aria back out there and things were fine. She had some work to do keeping the boys in order and they had reduced the available green stuff.
I have to give the lactating mare and the growing boys extra feeds and pretend to feed Aria at the same time. This means they all have to come in twice a day so each gets what each needs. It keeps me very busy since I also have another life.
At last the 3 acre field down the road is ready to be seeded. This will be an exciting place for my little band. It is on a fairly steep bank, has trees all around and a little track under some of those at the top. The view is grand.
I searched for a seed mixture to suit the land and Aria. Meadow mania were terrific. I spoke to Tim Evans who formulated a specific combination to suit both. It will be here on Tuesday and although it will be ages before I see the results, I am happy at the thought of a new space, with safe nutritious grasses and herbs for grazing the horses and a hill for building their muscles.
I would like to know about any grazing systems which could be a help on limited patches like ours. I’d also like to know if there are any labour saving ideas on the poo picking element.
My wheelbarrow and I are so tired!
Thank you so much for your lovely story. So pleased to hear that this site is giving you the support you need – stories like yours make my day.
With your grazing system what you might want to consider is to rotate your horses. You can still incorporate your track if you wish. So you divide your land and then rotate them round.
If you were able to divide it so the field had areas which were rested for between 10-12 weeks you would then not have to pooh pick, or it would be greatly reduced. This can be kinder on your land.
Contact me if you need more information on this – well done with all that you are doing.
It is challenging sometimes but once you get it really working the rewards as you are already finding are tremendous. Keep us posted. Sarah
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