Reclaiming the roughs?

[buck22]

I generally pick paddocks daily, just 2 horses on 2 acres. I love the compost, its good exercise, good chance to check fences, etc, and good daily mental therapy :lol:

Keeping on top of the manure has kept the roughs to a minimum.

Over the years, life sometimes gets in the way and the paddocks go unpicked for sometimes several days. The toilet areas get larger when I’m not there, and as noted in another thread, once a horse craps someplace he has a long memory and will not eat there again.

This spring, I had huge flocks of wild turkeys come and scratch the manure daily to smithereens. There was nothing to pick up. I loved the turkeys! Saved me a lot of time. But in the process, the toilet areas got even larger.

Now, towards the end of this season, I find I’m having to mow over 50% of their space. Good grass gone ungrazed and a lot of extra work for me.

Is there any possible way of sweetening the roughs?

They have some permanent toilet spots which of course I wouldn’t expect to be returned to grazing, but the “fringe” has expanded exponentially this year and I’m hoping there is a way to reclaim a bit of it.

Currently I just make sure its very well picked, especially so before a heavy rain, and I intend to lime the areas heavily soon.

Thanks for any advice!

[Texarkana]

Cross-sectioning your field into smaller chunks may force them to graze down the roughs.

Otherwise, it’s a completely natural behavior. Horses naturally create lawns and roughs because they both prefer to eat the immature growth and prefer not to eat where they defecate.

[Showbizz]

I did ^ just this year. Helped a lot!

[Plainandtall]

I think the traditional “fix” is to rotate cattle after horses on the pastures. I’ve never done it to know how well it works to make the horses use more of their own pasture- or if it’s simply a multi tasking land management technique to get the most of the pasture by letting cattle get fat on what the horses snubbed.

[arapaloosa_lady]

[QUOTE=Plainandtall;7816318]
I think the traditional “fix” is to rotate cattle after horses on the pastures. I’ve never done it to know how well it works to make the horses use more of their own pasture- or if it’s simply a multi tasking land management technique to get the most of the pasture by letting cattle get fat on what the horses snubbed.[/QUOTE]

They like different length grass than horses, so it’s logical to rotate them. I wouldn’t add more livestock to overgrazed land, though.

Don’t have a good suggestion beyond reseeding the area & praying.

[buck22]

Thank you! Yes, additional livestock isn’t in the picture, and partitioning it down and forcing them isn’t really what I had in mind.

Its just a pity that for years they had established toilet spots that were fairly minimal and easy to maintain, but this year the spots doubled in size, cutting their grazing in half and doubling my work. Oh well.

Reseeding and praying sounds about the best bet. :lol:

[AmarachAcres]

I like the idea of cross fencing a bit more. You can rotate more often and they will eat it all down.

[Foxglove]

Mowing? I must have 5 horses that don’t have good memories. Every spring in May we spray with broad leaf weed killer to kill the thistles and burrs and nettles; in the spray is a fertilizer to encourage the grass. July 4 weekend we mow the entire place (20 acres). We don’t have roughs --we have great pastures. There are two places where the horses roll that turn to dust. We tarp those for a week or two to keep the horses off, then replant with pasture mix and keep the horses out of that area until the grass is established (a couple of weeks). Usually by then they’ve found another place to roll. The “potty spots” move around the pastures --not really in one place. But as I said, my boys might have short memories.

Foxglove

[FarmerBrown]

Not to highjack this thread, but Foxglove, do you spray your entire pasture in the spring? What do you use, and can your horses still graze right away? I would love to do something like this at my place.

Thanks!

[Alagirl]

You could maybe borrow a couple of cows for a week or two, but that seems to be the only way I can recall that kind of keeps the loo areas in check.
Our pasture was really rather large, and a couple of times a year my uncle would let the cows on there. They like the longer grass and don’t mind the horse poop, but most of the time they had their own pastures.

[Foxglove]

We spray every spring with a liquid mix of Trimec and a liquid fertilizer to promote grass growth. The first thing we did (about 10 years ago) was have the soil tested to see what we needed to do. Since then, it’s been better every single year. I took my soil sample to Helena Chemical (they supply the big farms) and they sold me the chemicals. We don’t put the horses on the pasture until 7 days have passed or there is a heavy rain. According to the vet and the literature, our horses (all geldings) would not be affected; however, mare in foal would be. Still, since we have three pastures, we treat each one in 7 day intervals and avoid any problem. We also use it on our yard and it kills weeds there too. Our cost is $40 acre, but it’s offset by what we save on hay and mowing. Husband is an accountant --he keeps careful track of stuff like that.

Have your soil tested and maybe take your most pervasive weed in with you. As long as you’re paying --might as well get something specific to your soil.

Foxglove

[SuckerForHorses]

We drag our fields with one of these after each rotation (our paddocks are quite large, so we have the same issue with the roughs): http://www.tractorsupply.com/en/store/loyal-drag-harrow-8-ft-x-8-ft
They make smaller ones, we just have the bigger one.

It helps to break the piles up and they essentially become fertilizer. We have found that this prevents them from establishing the same places every time as their poop spot.

Also, if you drag to break up the piles, its easier to mow because you’re not running over mounds of poop with your mower deck

We pull our drag with the 4-wheeler or tractor.

[S1969]

There was another thread recently about this and I posted that I had read (will try to find a source) that horses will avoid their roughs as grazing areas for as long as 3 years. So, it doesn’t sound very easy to reclaim them unless you have tons of pasture available.

What would probably work (but is equally difficult…although might eventually have to be done here) would be to plow/replant or maybe just disc/reseed/roll one portion a year. For me, that would cut my grazing down in half for a year…but in theory, might reclaim enough pasture the following year to make it easier to do the next section.

Since I’m fighting foxtail grass in my pastures as well, I might do it anyway, and hope that it manages a few problems at once.

All I can say is I feel your pain.

[merrygoround]

posted that I had read (will try to find a source) that horses will avoid their roughs as grazing areas for as long as 3 years. So, it doesn’t sound very easy to reclaim them unless you have tons of pasture available.:)[/QUOTE]

This too is my observation. So I simply drag the fields come Spring. Mow, re mow, and mow again and let the S— fall where it may.

[merrygoround]

[QUOTE=S1969;7829313]
There was another thread recently about this and I posted that I had read (will try to find a source) that horses will avoid their roughs as grazing areas for as long as 3 years. So, it doesn’t sound very easy to reclaim them unless you have tons of pasture available. :)[/QUOTE]

I’ve made this observation too, and they are very determined about it. so every spring I drag, then mow when the grass grows, and remow, and mow again. And let the piles fall where they may.