Im sorry if my first post confused you at all. I was trying to rush typing the other night and doing it on my phone as my tablet was playing up.
Just to clarify. The reason i suggested not topping it all was so you can get a horse soon and use the 2 acres of untopped grass as the grazing straight away. Plus assuming you are in the uk, we are heading into winter. You have 5 acres to play with so your horse could have a mud free life over winter, if you manage it right. (Its a bug bare of mine, that people have too many horses on there land. It gets knee deep in mud and they feed loads of hard feed and hay.) I wouldnt rush to have a second horse or livery over winter unless the horse stresses about being on its own. Give yourself time to adjust.
As said a few small leaves and seeds will shrivel up fairly quickly so not as much worry. Any rossettes will be next years plants. Unless you really graze the land to nothing the horse will eat around them generally. They do shrivel up a bit over winter but rest assured they will be ready to grow as soon as the warm weather arrives next spring.
To graze off the two acres of untopped i would put up a fence around the outside of it, then put up a fence inside thats going across so you can move it daily or every cople of days to strip graze with. Please dont turn out onto 2 acres of waste high grass or you will have a dead horse. Just a small area for a few days so the horses gut can adjust to it then a little fresh each day. You could use a follow up fence behind to to allow whats grazed to start resting. But i wont complicate things.
With the topping it will take a while to rot down especially if its thick as you say, so another reason to use your 2 acres wisely. Difficult to say how long it will take. Once its well rotted down the horse wont be as keen to eat the mulch. The new grass will start to come through so the horse will prefer that once you start to graze it. Horse foot fall will also help push the mulch into the ground. Topping now you should get the sept/oct autumn grass flush coming through if it rains, so you could use topped area as early as November possibly, but to be safe you might be best to leave it till jan. Plus getting the horse off the two acres gives that rest for parasite control. The topped regrowth will give you enough winter grazing.
Agree with jessey you could get it mulched up again in a few months but you wont have winter grazing if you fo that. Also be careful about getting on there with a tractor in mid winter and wet. A tractor may churn it up if its clay and also compact the ground. The mulch will help to feed the soil which is good for the land if it lacks top soil but too thick and it will kill the grass underneath. Its all a balancing act.
Please dont stress too much. You will most likely get things wrong, we all do, but you can learn from those mistakes. Its all a journey and also working out what works for you, your circumstances and your land.
Just to clarify. The reason i suggested not topping it all was so you can get a horse soon and use the 2 acres of untopped grass as the grazing straight away. Plus assuming you are in the uk, we are heading into winter. You have 5 acres to play with so your horse could have a mud free life over winter, if you manage it right. (Its a bug bare of mine, that people have too many horses on there land. It gets knee deep in mud and they feed loads of hard feed and hay.) I wouldnt rush to have a second horse or livery over winter unless the horse stresses about being on its own. Give yourself time to adjust.
As said a few small leaves and seeds will shrivel up fairly quickly so not as much worry. Any rossettes will be next years plants. Unless you really graze the land to nothing the horse will eat around them generally. They do shrivel up a bit over winter but rest assured they will be ready to grow as soon as the warm weather arrives next spring.
To graze off the two acres of untopped i would put up a fence around the outside of it, then put up a fence inside thats going across so you can move it daily or every cople of days to strip graze with. Please dont turn out onto 2 acres of waste high grass or you will have a dead horse. Just a small area for a few days so the horses gut can adjust to it then a little fresh each day. You could use a follow up fence behind to to allow whats grazed to start resting. But i wont complicate things.
With the topping it will take a while to rot down especially if its thick as you say, so another reason to use your 2 acres wisely. Difficult to say how long it will take. Once its well rotted down the horse wont be as keen to eat the mulch. The new grass will start to come through so the horse will prefer that once you start to graze it. Horse foot fall will also help push the mulch into the ground. Topping now you should get the sept/oct autumn grass flush coming through if it rains, so you could use topped area as early as November possibly, but to be safe you might be best to leave it till jan. Plus getting the horse off the two acres gives that rest for parasite control. The topped regrowth will give you enough winter grazing.
Agree with jessey you could get it mulched up again in a few months but you wont have winter grazing if you fo that. Also be careful about getting on there with a tractor in mid winter and wet. A tractor may churn it up if its clay and also compact the ground. The mulch will help to feed the soil which is good for the land if it lacks top soil but too thick and it will kill the grass underneath. Its all a balancing act.
Please dont stress too much. You will most likely get things wrong, we all do, but you can learn from those mistakes. Its all a journey and also working out what works for you, your circumstances and your land.
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