How would you set up your pasture? 6 acres

[Jersey_Fresh]

We are getting ready to finalize our plans for building our barn, ring and pastures. We have about 7ish acres in the back of the house that we plan to use for horses, once the barn and ring are up, it leaves about 6 acres for pastures.

How would you set it up? We’ve debated 3 x 2 acres, 2 x3 acres, a 2 and a 4. Or long and narrow (gates/waterers near the barn). I have no clue what we should do and we are marking it out for the fencer on Wednesday.

If you have small acreage, how did you set it up? Max of 4-6 horses on the property, but will start with probably 2.

[js]

We have individual paddocks off each stall that open right into the pasture. No having to walk horses to and from the pasture; plus it allows 24/7 turnout. Being in the Deep South, we don’t have a need to rotate pastures, grass grows faster than horses can keep up with it; so we have 8 acres that is one large pasture for 4 horses.

[goodhors]

I would go with long and skinny, which lets horses actually run hard a bit more than more square fields of small size allows. I would go with 4 fields, which allows one empty field between animals for safety when rotating grazing if you don’t plan to double fence. Horses who can touch over fences will fight, get tangled, injured. Even old friend horses will act stupid at times over a fence, so best to avoid the situation completely.

Plan to use WIDE gates which allow machinery in easily for fertilizing, mowing, spreader emptying. Make gates so they lock open and closed. Gates left to swing get saggy, damaged, hurt horses, get hard to use easily.

[NoSuchPerson]

I’d go with long and narrow with gates/waterers all near the barn.

Among the various arrangements I’ve lived with over the years, having all pastures easily accessible from a central area is the one I like the best, by a wide margin.

[pony_grandma]

You could leave a hacking track around the perimeter or put gates at the far end between the pastures to open them using all the acreage.

If you jump we put jumps in our fence lines then have a board that slides up and off over the jump at the top line of the fence. Easier to mow than setting all of them about in the field.

[ElementFarm]

I would do one or two smaller fields (say ~1 acre) and then 2 larger fields (~2 or 2.5 acres). Then you have at least one smaller paddock to use as a sacrifice area. --where they go when you don’t want them to tear up wet/muddy pasture, or overgraze new grass. Then you have the two larger areas to rotate the horses between, to maximize grass growth/health.

as for layout, can you link a google-earth picture so the COTH audience can see the property layout? You can even import in PPT and draw in 2-4 proposed layouts and ask for feedback on the various pros/cons.

things to consider: will the horses be going out in one or two groups? It would be nice to have enough room to rotate fields, so if you plan on having two groups, you want to have 4 “large” paddocks, in addition to a sacrifice area for each group.

will the horses be living out 24/7? Or stalled part time? You want to have turnout/in as short a distance and convenient as possible. Even if you lead two at a time, turnout can take a while if you have a hike. Connecting distant fields to a closer one, or ‘airlock’ will allow you to rotate pastures by opening gate A vs B, while still having gates close to the barn.
if you will have run in sheds for feeding outdoor horses, it’s nice if those are located in fencelines or near gates.

don’t forget to allow lots of room for the ring, trailer parking and the manure pile. Manure takes more room than you might expect.
also, if you can figure it out, a big loop/turnaround is a lifesaver. You’ll have big equipment, horse trailers, etc coming in frequently, and you want a graveled/paved area for them to turnaround to leave without getting stuck, tearing up grass, or knocking down fences.

(for reference, we have 5-7 horses on ~6 acres of fenced grass)
our layout is far from ideal, but it’s what we inherited… we’re slowly improving things:

[Jersey_Fresh]

[QUOTE=ElementFarm;8655294]
I would do one or two smaller fields (say ~1 acre) and then 2 larger fields (~2 or 2.5 acres). Then you have at least one smaller paddock to use as a sacrifice area. --where they go when you don’t want them to tear up wet/muddy pasture, or overgraze new grass. Then you have the two larger areas to rotate the horses between, to maximize grass growth/health.

as for layout, can you link a google-earth picture so the COTH audience can see the property layout? You can even import in PPT and draw in 2-4 proposed layouts and ask for feedback on the various pros/cons.

things to consider: will the horses be going out in one or two groups? It would be nice to have enough room to rotate fields, so if you plan on having two groups, you want to have 4 “large” paddocks, in addition to a sacrifice area for each group.

will the horses be living out 24/7? Or stalled part time? You want to have turnout/in as short a distance and convenient as possible. Even if you lead two at a time, turnout can take a while if you have a hike. Connecting distant fields to a closer one, or ‘airlock’ will allow you to rotate pastures by opening gate A vs B, while still having gates close to the barn.
if you will have run in sheds for feeding outdoor horses, it’s nice if those are located in fencelines or near gates.

don’t forget to allow lots of room for the ring, trailer parking and the manure pile. Manure takes more room than you might expect.
also, if you can figure it out, a big loop/turnaround is a lifesaver. You’ll have big equipment, horse trailers, etc coming in frequently, and you want a graveled/paved area for them to turnaround to leave without getting stuck, tearing up grass, or knocking down fences.

(for reference, we have 5-7 horses on ~6 acres of fenced grass)
our layout is far from ideal, but it’s what we inherited… we’re slowly improving things:[/QUOTE]

Sure, let me try to figure out Google Earth. If not i can put the property map from our PVA.

Im not sure we have enough in the budget to fence in more than 2 or three pastures but it will really depend on how competitive the next guy is.

[Jersey_Fresh]

OK I couldn’t get google earth to work but I have this picture. The lot is long and narrow and about 11.5 acres. There is the front 3.5 or so, then the house is on just over 1, and back is about 7. We haven’t had it surveyed exactly but that’s our best guess based on the previous fencing quotes. We got a quote for 3 x 2 acre pastures, and a perimeter fence for the “horsey” part for safety and it was over $26k.

We are not on an unlimited budget, so we are looking for the best bang for our buck. My plan for my horses (2) will be to live out 24/7 if possible or if that does work, as many hours as I can have them outside. The blue square is the barn, the orange is the ring and the yellow is one of the options (2 x 3 acre pasture). Sorry it isn’t a great photo. I have toyed with what I would use for a sacrifice area but to be honest, I am not sure with our climate and the acreage/number of horses that I will need one. However if we do, my plan was to use the electric tape. My guess is if we end up with any additional horses aside from my two, that they would be turned out in two groups. There would be no more than 4-6 on the property and that’s only if we take a couple boarders so i have people to ride with. So that is why I keep going back and forth on all of this, I just dont know what set up would be best without busting our budget.

I realize we could use the front but I am uncomfortable having horses on the road and we have someone who can hay it so I just assume not use it for pasture.

http://s1142.photobucket.com/user/KMBrennan03/media/house%20lot_zpsmqsl4ftm.jpg.html

Here is the property with no drawings (3716)
http://s1142.photobucket.com/user/KMBrennan03/media/Arial%20View%201_zpse81qd6yk.jpg.html?o=0

[Pocket_Pony]

Based on your picture and what you said you want, I would just perimeter fence the barn, arena, and back pasture area as one big area (for me, I’d do no-climb fence, which in our area is about $10-$11/linear foot, installed). From there, you can use HG tape to cross-fence as needed and it will give you some time to “live” with it and see how you like it. You can change your cross-fencing, or then add more permanent cross fencing once you decide what you like.

Our place has a 4-stall barn. Runs (probably 80’ long) are off of each stall. Each run has a gate at the end that opens to a sacrifice area that is about 150’ wide x 80’ long. We put HG tape across that (with a gate) so that we can close off the pasture as needed. Beyond the HG tape is a 1-1.5-acre irrigated pasture. So we can have any sort of mix of horses all in for bad weather, rotate out one at a time in the sacrifice area, have all three out in the sacrifice area, rotate one at a time in the pasture, or all in the pasture. It is my main “sacrifice” pasture because it is the one I start with in the spring and it requires minimal work on my part to turn out/bring in.

On the other side of my driveway I have two other pastures separated by a gate, so I close off the farthest one and let them graze the nearest, and then I’ll open up the gate and they’ll go over to the farthest one when it is in rotation.

If you want to leave yours out 24x7, I’d have 3-4 pastures in rotation. Mine do best with 3-weeks’ rest (not 24/7 turnout, more like 8-10 hours at a time), but 2 week is acceptable. If they were to be out 24/7, I’d like more resting time for the pasture.

I really like the stall–>run–>sacrifice area–>pasture layout and I find it easiest to manage from a time standpoint and safety standpoint.

[Callista17]

Definitely following! My property is about the same thing. I have a perimeter area all the way around, then about 30’ from the one barn door, a grassy lane- 2 pastures off it. Then I have, probably 3.5 acres open right now I’d like to fence in. My father, decided he wanted to grow pumpkins, so he picked the “middle”. I am not currently really using it…I would just like to. Lol

[dog_amp_horsemom]

check out ‘paddock paradise’. Its an interesting concept. There is a facebook page and a book on it. Its for small acreage to preserve pasture and to prevent founder.

[TheJenners]

https://www.daftlogic.com/projects-google-maps-area-calculator-tool.htm

This is fun to play with it. You can select “create new area” to have more than one green area at a time.

[Jersey_Fresh]

[QUOTE=Pocket Pony;8655532]
Based on your picture and what you said you want, I would just perimeter fence the barn, arena, and back pasture area as one big area (for me, I’d do no-climb fence, which in our area is about $10-$11/linear foot, installed). From there, you can use HG tape to cross-fence as needed and it will give you some time to “live” with it and see how you like it. You can change your cross-fencing, or then add more permanent cross fencing once you decide what you like.

Our place has a 4-stall barn. Runs (probably 80’ long) are off of each stall. Each run has a gate at the end that opens to a sacrifice area that is about 150’ wide x 80’ long. We put HG tape across that (with a gate) so that we can close off the pasture as needed. Beyond the HG tape is a 1-1.5-acre irrigated pasture. So we can have any sort of mix of horses all in for bad weather, rotate out one at a time in the sacrifice area, have all three out in the sacrifice area, rotate one at a time in the pasture, or all in the pasture. It is my main “sacrifice” pasture because it is the one I start with in the spring and it requires minimal work on my part to turn out/bring in.

On the other side of my driveway I have two other pastures separated by a gate, so I close off the farthest one and let them graze the nearest, and then I’ll open up the gate and they’ll go over to the farthest one when it is in rotation.

If you want to leave yours out 24x7, I’d have 3-4 pastures in rotation. Mine do best with 3-weeks’ rest (not 24/7 turnout, more like 8-10 hours at a time), but 2 week is acceptable. If they were to be out 24/7, I’d like more resting time for the pasture.

I really like the stall–>run–>sacrifice area–>pasture layout and I find it easiest to manage from a time standpoint and safety standpoint.[/QUOTE]

Thanks for the info. No climb here is actually WAY more expensive than 3 or 4 board otherwise we would do it. And I woudl really love runs off the barn, but because we are building it all from scratch, its not financially an option for us. But ideally, yes it would awesome to have those.

Your suggestion with 3-4 is what we’re leaning towards after talking last night. With 3 2 acre pastures, we can do 2 horses per field and have one rest. I can hot tape off part of one for a sacrifice area if I find we need it. Some years we do, some years (like last year) we wouldn’t need one. However I would like the option to rest one at a time and reseed in the fall since our land was used for tobacco before we purchased it and the pasture will need a bit more reseeding from what they did.

[seabreeze]

One end of my barn opens into one of the short sides of a longish rectangle paddock. Off that paddock, there are gates to three pastures…one gate on each of the other three sides of the paddock. I can open and close any gates I want to keep them in and out of any area I want.

I highly recommend more gates than you think you’ll need. Gates between shared fence lines, more than one entrance to each section, etc… You’ll never regret them.

[moving_to_dc]

I agree with the other - LOTS of gates - BIG gates, with equipment maneuverability in mind.

I would lean toward 4+ lots. Good perimeter fence like others have suggested, and cross fenced with Horse Guard.

I also STRONGLT agree with seabreeze in having all the pasture gates open off a smaller paddock - dry lot - sacrifice area. Dry lots are priceless, and one of those things you don’t realize you need one until you don’t have one.

My personal set up has my water & shelter in the dry lot, with the pasture gates off of it. I turn everyone out in a herd, so it allows me to have just 1 water tank located in the dry lot to deal with.

[mountainhorse]

After consulting COTH, we decided to go with a track system around our outer edge, connecting to a sacrifice paddock off the barn (stalls), and have a pasture in the middle of the track, that we will eventually separate into two long fields. We went from a very large farm to 5 acres, so it was a big change for us to adjust to…used to have large fields with turn outs and access to main barn via pasture, to one large rectangle field. The track is very nice to have for hacking and monitoring grass intake. I think it keeps the horses entertained too! I put new salt or mineral blocks around, throw a log or two out there for them to navigate, etc. It’s fun!