slurry! how long till able to graze again?

[keep the faith]

Title says it all really,

How long after a field has been spread can i put my horse back out on it?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.:)

[cvb]

what sort of slurry was it ? not sure I know the answer to this... but I wonder if I know someone who does....

[fitz]

Horses/animals in general dont like eating tainted grass, so it will probably be a while before you can turn out. Thats why slurry is normally spread on silage/hay ground.
I think at the very least, you will need a substantial amount of rain before you can turn out so I'd say two to three weeks minimum.

Dont know if that helps at all.

[cvb]

Our field used to be cut for silage and was slurried... the nitrogen level was way too high for horses and it got resown. I'm not sure how much that came from the grass type and how much from the silage...

[Jessey]

We used to have one of our fields (rotated) done occasionally, we always waited until you couldn't see any signs of it left on top of the grass, one year that was months due to lack of rain.

J x

[fitz]

Our field used to be cut for silage and was slurried... the nitrogen level was way too high for horses and it got resown. I'm not sure how much that came from the grass type and how much from the silage...


If a field is used for silage for a long period of time, there will be nitrogen in the form of slurry and artificial fertiliser constantly going out on it year after year. This nitrogen should be used by the grass, as it is spread, otherwise fertiliser is wasted/not needed ( if the soil is nitrogen rich, why would you spread more).

Perhaps it was perennial ryegrass which really is just too rich for horses, who do better on mixed meadows...

[keep the faith]

thanks for the replies

just found out that he left a field for me without anything on it. :D

its about 9/10 acres so is ample enough to keep me through the year.