Question for those with small grass paddocks

[SugarCubes]

My two horses have a dry lot attached to their stalls where they spend most of the winter. However, this year I sectioned off a small area of my pasture to give them a little grass turnout as well. I would guess this grass paddock is around 150x75.

I just pulled them off the big pasture this week, so my question to those of you with small paddocks is how long do you let your horses graze? It’s mostly for their brains, they need to go “out” even though they’re technically out 24/7 on their dry lot. Most barns in my area have very limited turnout, and several have grass paddocks smaller than my winter paddock that look to be in pretty good shape all winter long so I’m wondering how they manage that?

I did overseed with a pasture blend which included winter rye, so the small paddock is in great shape right now. I’ll aerate and overseed again in the spring so it doesn’t need to stay lush all winter, but I’d like to have enough for them to nibble when they’re out.

Any tips? I am already very cautious about turning out on soft ground, and won’t risk them tearing up the grass. What else?

[2DogsFarm]

:uhoh: Weeeelllllllll… I am undoubtedly not the best Keeper of Pasture, more like a Pasture Abuser :o
My pastures are left open to horses 24/7/365.
Roughly 2ac total in pasture on a 5ac farmette.

Are they rutted? Yes.
Are they lush? Nope.
But they do provide year-round grazing.
I feed hay all year, but a LOT less when grass is growing.
I neither reseed or fertilize and have done this for going on 14yrs.

The larger field - about twice the size of what you sectioned off - got bushhogged this year (mower went bellyup on me) at the end of the growing season & there was some mighty nice grass beneath the weeds.
No problem turning out my Herd of 3 - TWH, Hackney Pony & mini - on soft ground.

If your aim is to provide all forage from pastures then do not follow my example. :no:
But I have healthy, happy horses & that works for me.

[Mango20]

I have to agree with 2dogs that you have to decide what is more important - having beautiful pastures, or letting your horses have lots of turnout. My pastures also remain open (horses out 12-14 hrs/day). They’re only in fair shape to begin with, but the horses stay busy all day browsing around for bits of forage (in addition to the ample amount of hay they get). I think it’s better for them to move around and stay busy all day. I’d like to be able to save a section for the winter, but I have a pony who destroys electric fence, and don’t have the time or money to install a “real” fence right now.

In your case, I’d focus on keeping the larger pasture in good shape, and not worrying too much about your paddock. Let them do whatever damage they do to it over the winter, then rehab it in the spring when you put them back in the bigger area.

[trubandloki]

I think this question can not be answered if we do not know have some idea where you are in the country.

In my part of the world things do not grow all winter because they are under snow and yuck. That means once they graze the small area down it is not coming back until the next growing season.
That would great limit the amount of time they could be out there if I wanted to keep them with something to eat all winter.

[2DogsFarm]

@trubandloki my horses paw through the snow until it gets too deep - 1’ or more.
They seem to find “something” to graze on, but I do also toss out a couple flakes to keep them busy.
I put hay in the stalls as well, but they prefer what’s outside.
Go figure…

[trubandloki]

@2DogsFarm Mine do that too. And while pawing they make even more of a mess. Silly animals.

My point was simply that OP expressed she wanted to keep this grass pasture nice and I was saying that when it stops growing for the year like it does under the snow you are not getting more until spring comes.

[EmilyM]

if it’s just a small section, i say let them destroy it, and replant in the spring. close it off for 2 months and it should be in good shape.

i have some fields I use may-nov and some paddocks that have all year turnout. I try to rest and rotate 1-2 per year if possible. I like having options for when they are ramping up to full grazing-one with crappy grass for the laminitis prone, some a little better all the way up to lush.

[SugarCubes]

Thanks, all! It’s such a small area I don’t mind if it gets torn up over the winter, but I also don’t want it to turn into nothing more than a mud pit. Ideally I’d like to have some grass out there for them to pick at until spring. I’d planned on switching them back to the big pasture around April/May so I can reseed and rest the small pasture for a couple of months.

Oh, how I wish I had the land to leave them out on pasture year round, but sadly, they’ll be confined to their dry lots for a good portion of the winter.

2Dogs - I’m really hoping I can do the same as you next year. My pasture is slightly smaller (probably 1.5 acres total) but I just have a horse and a pony. I couldn’t keep them out longer than 4 hours a day this summer because most of the grass had been destroyed when my arena was built, but I seeded the heck out of it this fall and really hope it comes back nicely this spring. You give me hope that I can leave them out all day next year!!

Trub - I’m in the midwest…cold and wet most of the winter, but not a ton of snow. Temps just dropped down into the 30s-40s this week and my winter rye is taking off!

[candyappy]

My horses are dry lotted off my barn 12 hours during the active pasture growing season but are allowed 24/7 access to the pasture once it stops growing since weight gain is no longer an issue. Can you not do that?

I fertilize and pull them off completely once the grass starts growing again. Just for a few weeks to let it get some height.

[SugarCubes]

@candyappy

My horses are dry lotted off my barn 12 hours during the active pasture growing season but are allowed 24/7 access to the pasture once it stops growing since weight gain is no longer an issue. Can you not do that?

I fertilize and pull them off completely once the grass starts growing again. Just for a few weeks to let it get some height.

I’m just afraid they would eat it down to nothing if they were out 24/7 since it is such a small space. Or do you suggest giving them access to the entire pasture? We were down in the 20s last night, so I’m thinking growing season is over.

[TheJenners]

My horses on an acre, I rotate two paddocks. They are short, I keep them mucked. But other than rotating roughly once a month, they come off at night and in another month or so, they will be off completely during the wetter times so my jerk of a WB doesn’t tear everything up when he runs and slides like an idiot.

[candyappy]

@SugarCubes

I’m just afraid they would eat it down to nothing if they were out 24/7 since it is such a small space. Or do you suggest giving them access to the entire pasture? We were down in the 20s last night, so I’m thinking growing season is over.

The whole pasture. Mine is about 4 1/2 acres and they don’t do any damage to the grass once it is dormant. They do graze but it makes no difference. Once March arrives my normal protocol has been to pull them off completely, drag the pasture, fertilize and watch it re- grow. Then I reintroduce them gradually.

With the cold I prefer they have lots of area ( and desire) to move around and they always come up to eat hay. It just gives them something "green " to look for during the Winter months and keeps them from getting on each others nerves and mine since I remove all manure from the dry lot 365 days a year.

[SugarCubes]

@TheJenners

My horses on an acre, I rotate two paddocks. They are short, I keep them mucked. But other than rotating roughly once a month, they come off at night and in another month or so, they will be off completely during the wetter times so my jerk of a WB doesn’t tear everything up when he runs and slides like an idiot.

To clarify, do you have two one-acre paddocks that you rotate or two 1/2 acre paddocks? How many horses are out? I measured my fields and the main pasture is nearly an acre, my winter paddock is about 1/4 acre. I can section off another 1/4 acre for more winter turnout if I need to and still give my big pasture plenty of time to recover.

Ive been letting them graze for 2 hours then they’re back in the dry lot. I’m temped to throw a grazing muzzle on the fat pony to further save my grass this winter.

[moving_to_dc]

I rotate 3 horses thru 5 paddocks that are each ~1/3 acre in size.

Depending on the weather, they may be out 24/7 in the spring-summer-fall, or if rainfall is low/temps are hot, they will be out grazing 12 hours and drylotted the other 12. It usually takes them a week to graze down each 1/3 acre paddock. Once we have had a hard freeze and the grass is done growing, I keep them in the dry-lot to save them from tearing up the fields during our soggy wet never-quite-frozen-ground winter season.

All the paddocks open off the 40x80 dry lot where they have communal shelter and water. Makes it super easy to rotate them, I just have to open/close the appropriate gate.

We do overseed every few years, usually with just a pasture mix. We also fertilize and weed spray annually. We have LUSH grass that grows quickly with appropriate rainfall.

Our dry lot and paddocks are smaller than most with a herd of 3, but they work fine with our herd. I have had up to 4 horses and a beef steer on this property without issue, but they all co-existed peacefully. My set-up would not work for a rambunctious or grumpy herd… Too small for escaping a grouchy herd-mate.

[TheJenners]

Yeah I see the confusion :lol:.

Two one-acre paddocks, one acre each.

[TheJenners]

Oh and two horses out about 12 hours a day.

[SLW]

OP, I have 3 1/2 acres which host the house, barn & horses. Like you, my horses are in a big dry lot off of their stalls and I keep the 3 grass paddocks in good shape for supplemental warm weather grazing. In the winter they get turned out on one of the grass paddocks every other or every 3 days for no more than half the day for nothing more than mental health. When I open any of those gates you would think I was turning them loose on the wide open range.

Two of the paddocks are in the front of the house so I try to keep them decent looking. The third one is behind the barn and it gets used the most in the winter because it’s okay if it gets a little worn out.

[SugarCubes]

@SLW

OP, I have 3 1/2 acres which host the house, barn & horses. Like you, my horses are in a big dry lot off of their stalls and I keep the 3 grass paddocks in good shape for supplemental warm weather grazing. In the winter they get turned out on one of the grass paddocks every other or every 3 days for no more than half the day for nothing more than mental health. When I open any of those gates you would think I was turning them loose on the wide open range.

Two of the paddocks are in the front of the house so I try to keep them decent looking. The third one is behind the barn and it gets used the most in the winter because it’s okay if it gets a little worn out.

I was hoping someone with the same amount of land and similar setup would chime in! Like you, I have a house, septic field, barn, paddocks, and arena crammed into a little over three acres. This is the first year my pasture has been fenced so I’ve been experimenting and trying to figure the best way to manage it. All summer they had access to the entire pasture from their paddocks for 3-4 hours per day, but the grass is pretty picked down at this point - not that it was in the best shape to begin with. I had sectioned off the small winter paddock and seeded it a couple of months ago so that’s where they’ve been going out for about an hour each morning, just as a treat and chance for them to run and buck.

I keep going back and forth on splitting my pasture like you’ve done…it would be nice to be able to rotate, but I also like them having a bigger area to move around and play, which I could still do if I put in a big enough gate between the paddocks, I suppose. You said in winter they only go out every other day for a few hours, but what’s your routine like the rest of the year? In paddocks that size how often do you rotate and how long are they out on the grass?

[SLW]

@SugarCubes

I was hoping someone with the same amount of land and similar setup would chime in! Like you, I have a house, septic field, barn, paddocks, and arena crammed into a little over three acres. This is the first year my pasture has been fenced so I’ve been experimenting and trying to figure the best way to manage it. All summer they had access to the entire pasture from their paddocks for 3-4 hours per day, but the grass is pretty picked down at this point - not that it was in the best shape to begin with. I had sectioned off the small winter paddock and seeded it a couple of months ago so that’s where they’ve been going out for about an hour each morning, just as a treat and chance for them to run and buck.

I keep going back and forth on splitting my pasture like you’ve done…it would be nice to be able to rotate, but I also like them having a bigger area to move around and play, which I could still do if I put in a big enough gate between the paddocks, I suppose. You said in winter they only go out every other day for a few hours, but what’s your routine like the rest of the year? In paddocks that size how often do you rotate and how long are they out on the grass?

Couple things: Imagine a U shape. My barn is at the bottom of the U & the house is in the center flanked on both sides by dry lot & paddocks. I can open all paddock gates to let the horses roam the entire space- from one end of the U to the other. However, 2 of mine are easy keeepers & the grass is lush so they are quite restricted year round unless we have a dry spring/summer. For esthetic reasons we keep the 2 paddocks in the front looking nice.

Generally they graze one paddock for two weeks then it rest a month. Since they aren’t out full time it rarely gets eaten down , unless it’s a dry summer. I do feed hay year round, much less from April to Nov understandably.

My dry lot is 100’ by 300’ and they have 24/7 turnout in that with access to stalls. I do have 30’ runs off each stall in case I need to confine one but don’t want it stuck in just a stall.

[Libby2563]

@SLW

In the winter they get turned out on one of the grass paddocks every other or every 3 days for no more than half the day for nothing more than mental health. When I open any of those gates you would think I was turning them loose on the wide open range.

This is actually why even though I have a dry lot I typically let my horses have full-day turnout in a grass paddock during the winter as well. When they’re only turned out for short periods of time, they run and buck and generally act like idiots when the time comes. This tears up the ground as well as risking injury. If they go out all day, every day, it’s no big deal and they calmly wander around nibbling at the grass until they realize it’s not worth it, then go back to the dry lot for hay. It seems much safer to me and they are happier! I realize it’s not the best situation for the land, but I can close off all but one paddock and then rest it when spring comes, and it seems to recover pretty well. Just my two cents! (I have three one-acre grass turnouts and a dry lot for two large horses and a mini-donkey, so a bit more space than you.)