When do your fields get harrowed/rolled?
- Thread starter Joyscarer
- Start date
Mr T rolled our top fields about 3 weeks ago - they've been rested and look good now, all being well Storm and Chloe will be in them next week after her treatment. Tbh if you get a good dry spring like now, you can start rolling any time. Mr T tries to keep on top of the gateways too - they benefit from a roll and then rest - in spring or late winter providing you don't do more harm than good ie, if it is too wet and claggy.
We don't harrow.
We don't harrow.
Ours have been too wet to do so far but will be done in the next week or so as were drying out nicely now.
Was March last year too as I remember driving the tractor in my combat trews and strappy top and I was sweating like a stuck pig it was that warm!
Was March last year too as I remember driving the tractor in my combat trews and strappy top and I was sweating like a stuck pig it was that warm!
Just about ready now, we have a mixture of limestone and clay so have to wait for the clay to dry out but not so much the limestone is too hard!!
We have missed so much this year because the land has been too wet, hedges which we could not get to in autumn need topping before birds nest and we need weed spraying and fertilising as ground has been so churned it is a potential ragwort forest. Ragwort seeds live for up to 50 years and love disturbed soil. Fortunately the farmer we use used to own our land and live here so understands it.
We have missed so much this year because the land has been too wet, hedges which we could not get to in autumn need topping before birds nest and we need weed spraying and fertilising as ground has been so churned it is a potential ragwort forest. Ragwort seeds live for up to 50 years and love disturbed soil. Fortunately the farmer we use used to own our land and live here so understands it.
I've been at my place for 5 or 6 winters, I loose track.
Ours have always been done end of march as we are on clay so if its done too early then it rains again and the horses churn it up again. It would get done and the horses would then be moved in to the summer fields so it didn't get churned up again.
Ours has just been rolled, but not harrowed. I'm concerned because its a change to the norm. I'm hoping the weather will hold until the horses are ready to go on to the summer side. I'm also concerned as I'd asked not to poo pick as it would mean paying someone for 7 weeks whilst I'm out of action. Now it looks like that's it, no harrowing and the poo will be left in piles. My winter side only gets used in winter with nothing in it in summer so the poo has time to break down. Not what I was expecting though and as a poo picking obsessive this concerns me too.
Ours have always been done end of march as we are on clay so if its done too early then it rains again and the horses churn it up again. It would get done and the horses would then be moved in to the summer fields so it didn't get churned up again.
Ours has just been rolled, but not harrowed. I'm concerned because its a change to the norm. I'm hoping the weather will hold until the horses are ready to go on to the summer side. I'm also concerned as I'd asked not to poo pick as it would mean paying someone for 7 weeks whilst I'm out of action. Now it looks like that's it, no harrowing and the poo will be left in piles. My winter side only gets used in winter with nothing in it in summer so the poo has time to break down. Not what I was expecting though and as a poo picking obsessive this concerns me too.
I have done mine myself. Usually I do it in spring, when its dry, but not too dry. Sometimes I do it when its frosty.
Ours were done this weekend.
Sham's field was being done when I took her down yesterday, and I was a bit concerned about putting her in while the tractor and roller were in there (specially because some of the girls were decidedly jumpy), but she wasn't bothered in the slightest! She put her head down to graze and he had to drive the tractor round her!
Sham's field was being done when I took her down yesterday, and I was a bit concerned about putting her in while the tractor and roller were in there (specially because some of the girls were decidedly jumpy), but she wasn't bothered in the slightest! She put her head down to graze and he had to drive the tractor round her!
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