Land management

caz

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Sep 12, 2023
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I've just managed to get a little over 5 acres of land and was wondering how people would do theirs. I've got to mares 1 is 16 years old the other is rising 2 years old next month. Should I split it and do winter and summer grazing any advice greatly appreciated
 

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There’s a lot of factors to consider, the type of soil, how well it drains, will you poo pick, Harrow, nothing, how well do the horses keep, will they be on it full time, what is your expectation re feeding additional forage, will you be doing land maintenance by hand or do you have a handy farmer with a tractor and equipment that will do it for you. All of those things could change the best way for you to manage the land.
 
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Oh what a lovely view.

I would definitely split but i would split down into multiple paddocks. The ground will hold up much better. It will ultimately depend on the type of land and how it holds up to weathers, how you do look after it. Where the shelter is. How exposed, cold it gets, your routine and time availability etc.
i wouldnt set out to do winter/summer but many people do.
 
There’s a lot of factors to consider, the type of soil, how well it drains, will you poo pick, Harrow, nothing, how well do the horses keep, will they be on it full time, what is your expectation re feeding additional forage, will you be doing land maintenance by hand or do you have a handy farmer with a tractor and equipment that will do it for you. All of those things could change the best way for you to manage the land.
Thank you for your reply. I will be poo picking the owner said we can use his tractor. The field has a slight slope we have had a lot of rain lately other than by the water trough (which we will be resitting as its not level) the land isn't boggy and firm to walk on. Will be feeding additional forage. They will be on it full time we are putting shelter on there as the old one collapsed in the last storm we had
 
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Thank you for your reply. I will be poo picking the owner said we can use his tractor. The field has a slight slope we have had a lot of rain lately other than by the water trough (which we will be resitting as its not level) the land isn't boggy and firm to walk on. Will be feeding additional forage. They will be on it full time we are putting shelter on there as the old one collapsed in the last storm we had
I’d suggest having a look at equicentral (if you google loads will come up). It sounds like you really want more than 2 fields to get good rotation and make poo picking more manageable, but you won’t want to put a shelter in more than 1 place, equicentral uses a central shelter/water/feed area connected to multiple paddocks by means of gates and tracks so whichever one they are using they still have access to the shelter/water in the central one. Most horses use shelters more in summer than winter. I would also have a compost heap in each paddock to rot manure down until it can be spread back on with the tractor to fertilise the soil as part of its rest cycle.

I have 5 acres with 2 horses and 2 ponies and run a bit of a combo track and rotational grazing now. I try and rotate my paddocks every week in the summer so they never get over grazed and get at least 3-6 weeks rest between uses, I top and harrow after use. Then I have separate winter paddocks which rest 8 months of the year and then get very over used in winter but it saves the summer ones and I use the driest one for that so don’t really get any mud.
 
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I’d suggest having a look at equicentral (if you google loads will come up). It sounds like you really want more than 2 fields to get good rotation and make poo picking more manageable, but you won’t want to put a shelter in more than 1 place, equicentral uses a central shelter/water/feed area connected to multiple paddocks by means of gates and tracks so whichever one they are using they still have access to the shelter/water in the central one. Most horses use shelters more in summer than winter. I would also have a compost heap in each paddock to rot manure down until it can be spread back on with the tractor to fertilise the soil as part of its rest cycle.

I have 5 acres with 2 horses and 2 ponies and run a bit of a combo track and rotational grazing now. I try and rotate my paddocks every week in the summer so they never get over grazed and get at least 3-6 weeks rest between uses, I top and harrow after use. Then I have separate winter paddocks which rest 8 months of the year and then get very over used in winter but it saves the summer ones and I use the driest one for that so don’t really get any mud.
Brilliant thank you for the information I'll look at all that we have an area where we can put the manure i did think of doing central shelters
 
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I have 7 acres roughly for 5 horses. I have one winter field which is around 3 which gets trashed and I then have a track system for the summer with lots of smaller paddocks which can be one unit or joined together. This makes it easier to poo pick and keep clean, the winter field doesn't get poo picked, it gets harrowed after use and left to regenerate. I have a muck trailer for the stables and concrete yards. The ground in winter is taking a right hammering but we have good grass in summer and by autumn the winter field is ok. I have a big bale in it for them with a bale cover. We have auto water in all the fields.
 
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