Grazing management

[chunky monkey]

Ok thoughts please. So you have 2 horses and 3 acres to graze. Horses out 24/7. 3 acres are split into acre size paddocks.
Do you
Put the horses into each paddock for one month at a time, so you in effect give each paddock 8 weeks rest in between grazing.
Or do you
Put the horses into each paddock for a week at a time so you in effect give each paddock 2 weeks rest between grazing.
So which would you choose and why.

How does this effect worm control, surely if the pasture is only getting 2 weeks rest it's not enough time to break the worm cycle. I've always been under the impression the longer it rests the better to break cycle.
Going to harrow each acre on rotation one per month also. Not going to be possible to poo pick. Will also have sheep grazing but not sure yet whether in with horses or after them.

 

[Mary Poppins]

I would split the field into two 1.5 acre paddocks and rotate every 8 weeks. Why can't you poo pick them? With paddocks this small the only way to keep them nice and control worms is to poo pick.

 

[Jessey]

The minimum average recovery time of grass is 21 days, that's how long it takes to grow from shoot to leaf, if constantly grazed below that the plant is compromised, and stressed which increases sugars, if that is of concern for you. Having said that, I grazed my last track (about 1 acre total area) hard for 8 months of the year because its the only way to give my guys enough space without too much volume of grass for Jess, it then got 4 months rest Jan-april and lots of TLC.

As I remember it, worm eggs either need a good frost or significant drying (long hot spell) to kill them, otherwise they can lay dormant on the ground for months, this is where the traditional summer/winter pasture concept comes from, each then gets 6 months rest to break the cycle. So neither 2 weeks or 8 weeks rest in spring/autumn is likely to do the job effectively but should work in the height of summer and winter. Harrowing speeds up the freezing/cooking bit as they can't stay buried in piles of poo and also encourages the poo to rot in quicker.

If your main focus in how quickly to move them on is worm control I would go for a 3 months graze on each one, but in doing that you won't have much grass for probably 2 of the 3 month grazing period, but as each paddock will get 6 months rest it should capture the freeze/cook periods to break the cycle. When I was using traditional paddocks I had my 2.5 acres split into 6 paddocks for 2.5 neds, they got a week on each one over the summer (give or take as some just didn't produce as well as others, so one would be 6 days, another 8) and 1 was sacrificed each year for winter, this was to maintain production (as each one got about 33 days rest) rather than kill worms though so I still had to poo pick.

I would recommend looking at 'equicentral' paddock management, its all about naturally looking after you paddocks to give maximum production whilst caring for the land so it takes care of the horses, and mulching (spreading poo and old hay on the paddock) is part of their improvement technique. It also includes use of a loafing area, often hard standing, so fields don't end up too poached in winter and the horses can escape the mud/wet.

 

[chunky monkey]

Thanks I've been doing lots of reading and I still have not found anywhere a grazing plan that combines rotation and worm control. Most systems talk about one or other. I've looked at sheep, cattle and horse grazing systems.
I too was always under the impression that ground should be rested for a minimum of 8 weeks to break worm cycle. Very doable if you have lots of ground but on a small acreage. I think if I leave the horses on an area for more than a month, fine for summer apart from watering areas, in winter all fields will be trashed. There's just no suitable plan. Alot of the rotation plans I've seen talk about weekly or monthly rotation therefore don't take account of any worm control.

The reason for not poo picking is the fields are steep. So no machinery useable. Pushing a wheelbarrow round impossible. Harrowing will be done by horse. Muck heap disposal would be a problem. Whilst I can put additional fencing across the fields water points are a huge problem. Carrying water is not feasible. It's finding a system that works.
Ground is permanent pasture on side of hill and all forage is very slow growing.
Fields must stay reasonable all year round. So can't have sacrifice area. Weve just done a sacrifice area in the field for the cattle to feed them and they can't stand to eat the hay out the feeder it's so poached legs are getting strained. We tried this three years ago as well and it took two years for the field to recover to some grass. It has also generated a mass of weeds which have since spread across the field.

 

[Jessey]

There is a book called 'horse keeping on a small acreage' by cherry hill, which was pretty good, let me have a look tonight and see if I still have it, I could pop in the post to you.

I think when you are working with small numbers of horses and small acreage it takes out many options in terms of rotation and parasite management. I did see somewhere about someone feeding whole sunflower seeds to their horses, the idea being they aren't digested by the horses but are pooped out, which encourages the birds to come and scavenge in the poo for seeds and they will pick out parasites and break up the poo on a daily basis (reducing the need for harrowing), this is something I am going to trial in the spring

Could you create an all weather area as opposed to a sacrifice? to help reduce the strain on your fields, the better they keep over winter the easier they are to manage the rest of the time.

 

[Jessey]

Another obscure one to help break parasite cycle is dung beetles, among many other good things they do
http://www.dungbeetlesdirect.com/Dung-Beetles/About-Dung-Beetles.aspx

 

[chunky monkey]

I need to have a bit more of a think about management. One option might be to use very short term hay fields. I won't go into it now but there are reasons for me not being able to have a hardstanding area.
I reckon that I must feed something the birds like. Usually in April/May for the last 4 years the crows used to spread the horse poo before I got to poo pick. If I poo picked first thing in the morning anything the horses poo during the day would be spread but the over night stuff they didn't get to. Poo pick evening and every poo would be spread by the crows. Nightmare.