Paddock Management - do you harrow?

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EquineCompare

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I have just received this months edition of 'The Listening Post' (Intelligent Horsemanship Mag) and there is a good article about paddock management. It advises that you split your grazing into 3 paddocks and then rotate. When the horses are moved on you then harrow the paddock and do this with each one as you rotate.

Does anyone harrow their land and does it make a difference? I quite fancy doing the natural way via horse power :D
 
They *should* be harrowed. Most yards i've been at haven't bothered.. Those yards that DID bother were run by farmers as opposed to 'horsey' people.
 
Weve just harrowed our winter field, and yes it does look better, but it didnt look too dreadfull before!

We will now rest it for a couple of weeks and maybe pop the horses back in for while.

Thats an idea using horse power! Great fun:)
 
I only have mine harrowed and then rolled once a year coming into spring.

Many yards have a higher stocking rate and don't poo pick and have the field harrowed after the horses have been moved off of it.

I poo pick and stick to having it done once a year.
 
I harrow mine .... only because i work full time and find it hard to poo pick the fields (OH tries but fails) ..

But you do have to be careful......... OH harrowed last year and forgot he had the harrow on the back of the quad........ and started to enjoy blatting round fields ....

not much left after that ,,,,, went and borrowed my mates paddock for a month to give it time to recover....

:D
 
devongirl62 said:
I harrow mine .... only because i work full time and find it hard to poo pick the fields (OH tries but fails) ..

But you do have to be careful......... OH harrowed last year and forgot he had the harrow on the back of the quad........ and started to enjoy blatting round fields ....

not much left after that ,,,,, went and borrowed my mates paddock for a month to give it time to recover....

:D
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Oooh I bet that went down well! Was he on poo picking duties for a three months after that?!? :D
 
We harrow coming into spring. 40 acres can't really be poo picked! We harrow & roll our gate area several times a year to try to stop the ground from turning into dunes ...
 
hey

EquineCompare said:
I have just received this months edition of 'The Listening Post' (Intelligent Horsemanship Mag) and there is a good article about paddock management. It advises that you split your grazing into 3 paddocks and then rotate. When the horses are moved on you then harrow the paddock and do this with each one as you rotate.

Does anyone harrow their land and does it make a difference? I quite fancy doing the natural way via horse power :D
Click to expand...

only problem with harrowing is it can turn up ALL sorts of weeds - especially dockans..... dockan seeds can lay dormant in the ground for 100 years or so..... harrowing is a killer for bringing them to the surface and allowing them to grow....nightmare....

im not anti harrowing - I go out with a farmer- and contractor - I let him do the decision making....our horses have been off our good grazing for a while now and they are turned out on the hill when out..... the gras was newly sown year before last so wont be harrowing the main park this year. (i don't think)
 
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Harrowing is benifical and is worth it. appaloosamare is right in saying that it can disturb seeds etc but grassland harrowing shouldn't be done to that much depth that alot of soil is disturbed.
 
my gelding got chronic grass sickness as a four year old, his field had never been harrowed!

I think also alot depends on what harrow you use, tine harrows disturb the ground more than chain harrows, and frame harrows less than drag harrows.

we tend to roll gateways in march and then use a chain harrow once a month to remove thatch and encourage grass to grow until october. I poo pick regularly and 'top' the rank grass by strip grazing with my small flock of sheep behind the horses.
 
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