Practical Pasture Management
WILL Save You Money!

Make Your Field Last Longer With Our Top Pasture Management Tips!

With consistent pasture management (and a bit of elbow grease) you can eliminate Over Grazing or "Horse Sickness" and get real value for money from your field.

Is your field the right size for your horse? Find out what we recommend in our Field Sizing Guide If you are one of several owners using the same field why not draw up a rota so you can share the chores and keep the workload to a minimum?

• Pick up droppingsfrom the field at least every week, but preferably daily.
• Keep your horses wormed and vaccinated. If you share your field, try to agree a pasture management policy between you, making sure all owners worm their horses at the same time. If a new horse is introduced they should be wormed a couple of days before being turned out.
• If your field is large enough, divide it into 2 or 3 paddocks so that you can rotate the grazing between all of them. Overweight horses will benefit from "strip-grazing" to control and limit their access to grazing.

  If your field is not big enough to sub-divide, consider renting another field during early spring and late autumn to enable your field to be rested

• Borrow a couple of sheep to graze your field - these keep down weeds that your horse does not eat and will encourage the regeneration of good quality pasture.
• Ask your feed/agricultural merchant for a good quality fertiliser and give your field a good dose during early Spring. Restrict turnout until rain has washed the fertiliser into the soil

Arrange for a friendly local farmer to "top" your field in spring before the seed heads form on weeds. Alternatively, remove or spray weeds as they appear, making sure to pull out from the root to prevent re-growth. If spraying with weedkiller you will need to remove all horses from the field for 5-7 days.

• Keep on the lookout for Deadly Ragwort This should be removed by digging out the root as soon as you see the plant. Hand-pulling is not sufficient and will leave roots behind to regrow. Dead ragwort cut down and left in the field is more deadly than the living plant.

  This toxic and deadly plant is generally ignored by horses when grass is plentiful but may be eaten accidentally when it is harvested as hay or if grazing is limited.

  Ragwort poisoning affects horses by destroying the liver and causes a slow, traumatic death. Always check thoroughly any new pasture for the presence of ragwort particularly if it has not been grazed for some time.

• Restrict turnout in very wet conditions - waterlogged grazing is easily damaged and this will reduce the quality and quantity of grass you have available when the bad weather is over.
• Fill your gateway with gravel or small hardcore if it becomes very boggy in wet weather to make it easier to get in and out. Do the same around your water source as this is another area that gets very muddy. Use larger pieces of gravel which are less likely to puncture the hoof wall and cause lameness by travelling up inside the foot.

Find out how much turnout is recommended during the winter with our helpful tips for Winter Horse Care.

If would like to find out about which type of fencing is best for horses click on this link to read our helpful advice.

Why not find out more about an innovative and increasingly popular method of pasture management - follow the link to Paddock Paradise!

Return from Practical Pasture Management to our Horse Care index for lots more information and advice.