One week on, one week off? Rotational grazing

[SugarCubes]

I just brought my horses back home from my trainer’s and this is the first summer I’ve had them home that my pasture has been divided. I now have it split into two 3/4 acre paddocks so that I can rotate. The horses have both been home exactly one week today and have been out in the front pasture for 4-6 hours a day, so today I moved them to the back pasture. After a week, the front pasture still looks good and isn’t grazed down too badly at all.

The questions I have are 1) is a week rest enough? 2) Besides picking all manure and mowing once I pull them off a pasture, is there anything else I should do to help them stay in good shape? I was thinking of getting some sprinklers so I can irrigate the resting pasture. Anything else that would help? Fertilize? Drag? Lime?

Thank you!

[Bluey]

That will depend on your region and grass mixture in your pastures.

Here, in the SW and with native short grasses, we don’t graze by the calendar or days on a pasture, but watch several times a day and, if we are having rain, rotate way more often, if it is getting dry, may let some pastures rest longer in the rotation.

A little more information on what you have would help.

[SugarCubes]

I’m in the midwest and my pastures are mainly tall fescue, with some clover, rye, and bluegrass. We’ve had an unusually hot spring and are already hitting triple digits, which usually doesn’t happen until late July or August. We’re also in a bit of a drought right now, which is why I thought irrigating the resting pasture would be a good idea.

I was happy to see how good the front pasture looked after a week of grazing, I could probably have left them on it longer but don’t want to push it with the heat/dry conditions.

[neversaynever]

Your fescue and bluegrass are cool weather grasses. Once the temperature hits about 90, it will go dormant. Irrigation will keep it alive if you don’t get enough rainfall until it gets cooler. The uptake of nutrients will be minimal during dormancy. You will want to really watch your grazing time and grass height during that time. Most fescues and bluegrass will really suffer if cut or grazed below 3 inches in height. Perennial and annual rye are also cool season grasses.

You might want to consider turning a pasture into a warm season one with grasses that grow well in your area.

[goodhors]

Watering is good, but that is a lot of ground to cover with your well pushing that distance! I would probably do shorter rotations. Maybe 5 days instead of 7 days. You have very small paddocks, so you don’t want any parts getting too short, since that is where horses will eat first when they get back in there. They love the new growth, keep it chewed down.

How high are you set for mowing? If you can mow at 5 inches, no less, the grass will improve, stay thicker and productive. You don’t want it setting seed because it will then go dormant when the seed dries. Mowing right after switching is your best time, to allow longest possible recovery, regrowth time. 5 inch height allows faster drying to prevent fungus in clover, because the fungus needs a moist environment to survive. Helps avoid Clover Slobbers, but you still get the soil benefits of legume growth. And if you do go into drought, a bit of clover may be the only green to nibble. 5 inch height also gives root protection with shade, longer leaves keep feeding the plant so it is not shocked by being mowed. Mowing often prevents taller weed growth, does not allow them to reseed.

[pony_grandma]

How many horses? What goodhors said. Mowing. You will always have the tall fescue and ungrazed poop spots. And you can’t let it seed (unless you let it grow late yr before winter, but we usually spread seed in barren areas late fall). Different weed types come up different times of the summers. Timing around rainfalls, mow before and hold them off until you get several inches of new growth. A dry lot area is your friend - we set round bales in ours yr round. We lime and drag. We won’t allow over grazing and it drives them nuts that we hold them off the fields most of the time in the winter. We only turn out for exercise when its frozen and snow covered. Otherwise its a semi-melted slip and slide and tears the turf up. I’m just overjoyed that the 1st cut of hay is done in our area and now the heat but we’ve had steady solid deep rain 2 days a week, each wk since! Yey 2nd cutting and pasture regeneration! We usually have to pull them off the fields late July or mid Aug and then wait until late Sept for another turn-out. It’s not a predictable formula… depends on your location.

[SugarCubes]

Thanks, all! I have one horse and a large pony, and they are in their drylots anytime they’re not in the pasture. I did pick the front pasture and then mowed this morning. The tallest my tractor will mow is 5", so that’s the setting I go with. IIRC, when I seeded last fall I put down a pasture blend that had both warm and cool season grasses, I’m just not remembering what the warm season species were. Maybe bermuda?

Anyway, last year when the pasture was just one 1 1/2 acre area, I was able to keep them out about the same length of time I currently am, but they definitely grazed down their favorite spots. It held up well all summer, and I actually had them out on it until January when the ground finally got too soft and then they were restricted to their drylots. It came back beautifully this spring after resting for 5ish months. My hope is that being able to flip them back and forth between paddocks I can keep the grass in better condition overall and maybe even be able to increase their grazing time. But, I guess a lot of that has to do with mother nature which isn’t being all that helpful at the moment :lol:

[SuzieQNutter]

If you irrigate when there is a drought all the wildlife will come like a moth to a flame.

The idiots in the council put ‘grass mats’ along a stretch of new road and sent a water truck to water it daily.

Everywhere else was brown and dry. This was lush and green. The carnage from the wildlife being hit wad very sad.

[Palm_Beach]

What everyone else said and OP, your horse is really cute.

[SugarCubes]

@Palm Beach

What everyone else said and OP, your horse is really cute.

Thanks, Palm Beach