Field Maintenance - what HAS to be done and what could be done by hand?

laceyfreckle

laceyfreckle

Well-Known Member
May 27, 2007
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Essex/Suffolk
That time of year agin for field maintenance for those of us with our own or rented fields/paddocks to mantain.

So, I have never actually rolled or harrowed my 6 acres because every year I can't find someone to do it. My fields are looking a bit worse for wear this year and definitely have less grass, more mud (don't normally get any!) and more weeds and bumps then before.

So what is actually essential to have done? do I HAVE to get the field harrowed and rolled? How about fertilising? I do have some bald patches so plan to oversow with a pasture mix (talking of which looked some up and its £37 just for a acres worth of suitable grass seed!!)

I have ph tested my soil and it's ph 6 so I take it thats not that bad so might not need fertilising?

I don't poo pick at the moment but both horses have had clear worm counts for a year and are wormed for the ones you can't see in worm counts twice a year.

Right so out of what HAS to be done, what can I do manually? Seeing as I can't get anyone to harrow and roll...Do those hand rollers you can hire do a ok job? Would it be possible to use a normal rack to 'harrow' and even out the mud bits and manure in the rested paddocks? Can you 'top' using a petrol mower any long bits (If i get any?)

Also I have a lot of fairly deep holes/bunny burrows, including in my 'new grass school' how do you fill yours up and what with? Could I use rotted down manure or does it need to be topsoil?

Sorry for the 101 questions. Determined to have the field look 'better' this year
 
We move the horses regularly (i.e rotate paddocks) to reduce poaching the ground.

We Harrow the paddocks when the ground is dry enough to do so. This helps to aerate the soil, to encourage new growth and helps to level out the divots left by horses galloping around. We also harrow to break the poos up as we do not poo pick.

We roll especially around gates and troughs where hooves in wet mud have put big holes in the ground.

During the spring, we put grass seed down in gateways (and any bare patches of ground) and fertilise the paddock. It is also important to note that grass seed and fertiliser need to be spread when rain is forecast. Fertiliser pellets left on dry ground for too long will burn the ground and kill the grass!

Last year, my OH ploughed and reseeded one of our paddocks as it was looking a bit sorry for itself.

Obviously, we could not do any of this without our best friend "the Tractor"!!

My OH loves doing these jobs on the tractor. Thank goodness.

My neighbour does nothing with her paddocks and never has any grass.
 
We have never had ours harrowed, but we get them rolled as and when required. (I know it can be difficult finding somebody to do it tho!). It all depends really on what condition they are in - for instance, I had our "best" field rolled at the end of last summer, and its not been touched since. I am going to leccy tape it off into two parts for starters. Luckily, we don't have the dreaded Ragwort, but we do have a few weeds, but (touches wood) so far, they're not monstrous in proportions! We have reeds which the horses love to eat! Tho I do know some folk prefer to "top" them.
I don't fertilise as both mine are good doers and I prefer the rubbish pasture.
I can't help you with the re-seeding info - but I'm sure Eventerbabe on here knows about that - so hopefully she'll spot your post.
With regard to bunny holes, OH and I religiously walk the field every evening poo picking and when we spot one, we immediately fill it in, with soil - OH usually just digs a square up from the part that we don't use (we have some steep pasture thats no good) and fills it in. Can be rather annoying tho, as they tend to keep re-appearing!

We did a rather naughty thing one year and hooked our Landy up to the roller that our contractor had left behind (long story) needless to say, OH's attempt at rolling was interesting.........(it was very scary as it kept making a creaking noise and at the end, coming back down the hill, narrowly escaped coming off altogether and wrecking horrible neighbours wall!!!!!!!!!!!)
 
I am lucky too - my OH collects vintage tractors and likes doing 'jobs' around the fields (or he did when we were renting land).

The only thing he couldn't do was topping the weeds, so a farmer friend of his did that for us.

Is there a local farmer nearby, or even another vintage tractor enthusiast that could help? The vintage boys like to get their toys out on a weekend:D

We managed to top the worst of the weeds last summer with a scythe, but it was hard work :mad:
 
I have weeds to do soon in one of the fields that we've not got fenced yet - but they are rather out of hand (think HUGE thistles). I am on the look out for a suitable weedkiller to put down.
 
I don't usually have anything done to my field as the last thing I need is better grazing.
I do poo pick all year, areas that start to churn up in winter are fenced off before getting too bad.
Not very helpful, sorry.
 
Good questions :D

Well, I always have mine harrowed and rolled early spring no matter what I think it looks like. My contractor will only spend as much time as it needs.

The harrowing helps level, removes dead thatch, airs the soil and helps with drainage, spreads out what grass you do have and encourages a denser growth of grass. It's the denser growth of grass I'm particularly interested in. The more blades of grass I have per inch, the more that land is protected from poaching and prevents there being so much MUD - especially as I'm on clay here.

Then when it's harrowed he'll roll, but not too much as being on clay I don't want it too compacted.

I personally don't have fertiliser spread. I have 2 fatties so that would be asking for trouble, mind you the soil itself is very fertile here anyway as I'm on ex cattle grazing.

Weedkilling I haven't needed. I have 2 ponies that will eat everything and aren't picky! Limiting their grazing will ensure that any weeds they can eat they do eat.

However, I do get docks and those I deal with by hand. I have to catch them before they seed and produce more for next season. I keep an eye out for ragwort too and would deal with this by hand. I haven't had any appear n my fields here yet though.

Weedkilling really depends on what you have. Some weedkillers are used as a spot treatment in which case you can spray by hand. Others can be applied to the whole lot. When you do this (generally as weeds get to rosette stage) and how long you have to keep the horses off will vary from product to product :)

Reseeding:- I did a bit of that in a previous field that hadn't been properly maintained. I didn't have too much to do but I mixed seed with soil and left it to begin germination before I sowed. This meant the birds didn't get it and I got a head start on the growing season too.
 
Access is really difficult to my field, and there are no farmers I know locally :( so I have:

1) Filled in (or in process of) the big mud hole that was where it joined the other field before they were split with manure. Ive bought 70l bags of compost from ASDA as its cheaper than B&Q and will put over the top with ASDA Grass seed to reseed it.

2) Will be reseeding the bald areas, once they are in the other part of the field

3) I have bought Bosch Mini ISIO trimmers, brilliant! And use these to cut weeds/long grass down - cant rate them enough - says 40mins of work out of one charge, but sure mine last longer - £20 off Argos clearance on ebay

4) Will be filling in holes with manure and compost/soil and reseeding.

5) I poo pick as it would cost too much to harrow such a small bit and with access issues it doesnt seem worth it. We only have a 2acre field though thats dividded into two.
 
My field is on a rental agreement but we have very little done to it. I can't remember the last time it was fertilized and tbh, I don't want it to be done.

There are about 8 acres of grass in the field (the rest is slightly boggy with soft rush, 13 acres altogether) and all I maintain about it is having the patches of dockens and thistles strimmed down when necessary, and the management of the trees. The horses love to kill the trees, the ash especially, so I plant a few here and there (horse chestnut, rowan, willow) to make up for the ones we've had felled.

I poo-pick some areas and not others, and the horses are worm-tested and are worm-free. We have a few cows and calves to help manure and eat down the excess summer pasture, and electric fencing is a must!. I keep meaning to get the soil tested so having said that now, will do so this year!

We have rabbits, too, which the local fox takes care of ;) but not often enough! They dig holes in the largest of my shelters and I'm forever plugging those up with stones. The outside burrows I ignore.
 
No, don't have access to a friendly farmer or even a contractor who would harrow/roll and we don't have a 4x4 so I'm kind of stuck as to what to do.

My fields are looking worse for wear compared to previous years, the sward is not thick anymore. Weeds arn't that much of a problem although I have got some moss growing in one of the fields.

I forgot to say I have the 6 acres split into two fields, a tiny paddock of about 20 x 40 metres that is currently unused and a grass school of 30m x 40m that isn't currently used for grazing.

I rotate grazing every 3-4 months between the two fields. I'm not allowed for the grazing to get higher then about 1.5 foot before the land owners start to complain about it looking too long.

Is there any form of rolling or harrowing I could do by hand? I think I'm going to have to start filling in holes though too...I have lots of them, some of them deep.

I don't want lush grazing but do need what I've got to have a thicker sward.
 
How about getting yourself a harrow that you attach to a tow bar on your car? Would your car manage? Even my old Fabia would have I think although 6 acres could take some time to do.

Do be careful about harrowing the mossy bit though as harrowing live moss could spread it. Kill the moss first then harrow and rake up the moss just to be on the safe side :)

Have a look on eBay, they have a few on there to give you an idea of what might suit you.
 
Really interesting fact I learnt on my smallholders course about creeping thistles - if you mow them down twice in a year they will still expand their patch by 1-2% BUT if you cut them down 3 times in a year the patch size will decrease by approx 30% :D

Of course if you keep it up for a few years you'll have very little.
 
Joyscarer said:
How about getting yourself a harrow that you attach to a tow bar on your car? Would your car manage? Even my old Fabia would have I think although 6 acres could take some time to do.

Do be careful about harrowing the mossy bit though as harrowing live moss could spread it. Kill the moss first then harrow and rake up the moss just to be on the safe side :)

Have a look on eBay, they have a few on there to give you an idea of what might suit you.
Click to expand...

Have had a look on ebay, not sure where I would store one though and our car would die. (It got stuck in the mud when it rained a few weeks ago and that was just OUTSIDE the paddock lol.) It's a voyager chrysler people carrier and the field is on a slope :o

annareeves0 said:
Really interesting fact I learnt on my smallholders course about creeping thistles - if you mow them down twice in a year they will still expand their patch by 1-2% BUT if you cut them down 3 times in a year the patch size will decrease by approx 30% :D

Of course if you keep it up for a few years you'll have very little.
Click to expand...


Piccolo is my thistle monster...she eats them, loves them more then grass...my biggest weed problems are this moss stuff and brambles which I chop at.
 
We have a chain harrow that i use to do our fields with. We have it hanging up - the hooks get hooked over a wooden bar in rug room! A friend has one and has it hanging over his field fence! So easy to store and i can just about move mine on my own although easier with help!:) Once the ground dries a bit more your vehicle should have no problems dragging the harrow around :)

Other than that i'm no help :o sorry!

I will make you laugh though, i harrowed our field a few weeks back when the ground was still rather soft (perfect timing though) and the gateway between field very sticky thick mud. I drove the daihatsu straight at the mud, and got stuck :eek::o forgot to put it in 4wd :o Lesson learned!:p
 
YAY Last possible farmer on the list has offered to come and have a look at my fields on sunday and see if he is able to harrow/roll them for, will discuss cost etc at the time.

Sounds like he might also be able to suggest what else does or doesn't need doing :D
 
Just to update, famer came and is going to harrow on wednesday if it stays dry :D Costing £80 for the 6 acres...am very pleased! Oh and he said it doesn't need rolling at the moment
 
That's great.

I much prefer getting someone else to do it - obviously! - but it's so cheap when you think of how much much horsey related things are and at least I know my friendly farmer knows what he's doing and will recommend if anything else needs doing. :)

Unfortunately, despite asking every year, he won't let me drive his tractor :o
 
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