Winter pasture management on small acreage

[Simkie]

I have perhaps 6 acres fenced this year and no all weather surface. I thought it would get cold, and snow, and stay frozen? But no…it’s gotten wet, and it melts, and everything turns to mud.

I have a sacrifice area to keep the horses off the grass and it’s just a hard, rutted mess. We have warm temps coming this weekend and I’m just dreading how icky it’s going to get…and yet I don’t want to put the horses out on grass, for fear of them tearing that up.

Next year we’ll install an honest to god all weather sacrifice area with geotextile. But what to do now?

And what do people do for pasture management even WITH an all weather surface?? Do you keep your horses off the dormant grass all winter, or allow them restricted access?

[UrbanHennery]

I’m in Seattle so it’s a bit different. I have good size sacrifice paddocks attached to stalls. They are pretty much off pasture from the time the rain hits (early October) until it dries out a bit (May). I turn them out here and there to run when we’ve had a stretch of dry weather and the ground isn’t saturated. Everyone survives. Of course, I haul my gelding out to ride 3-4 days per week and the other is a mini mule.

[PonyTales]

I used to put out the Alfalfa mix round bale on days like that. In hope that their appetite would over-ride their desire to tear-up or overgraze the paddock. Hopefully you don’t have too many days like this.

For me the alternative was to keep them inside all day. Yah- That wasn’t gonna happen on a warm day (a barn full of mad horses) they would kick the barn down. Lol

[Pehsness]

I haven’t a clue, Simkie, outside of trying to keep it as clear of manure as possible? But I’ll be reading with interest. And I’m jealous of your 6 acres.

I think I’m discovering why people keep their horses in stalls. (Though personally I prefer not to do that).

[SPF10]

We have had a “chain” of rain/snow/sleet showers over the last couple weeks. Finally calling for a stretch of about 5 days without any precipitation!! Woohoo!

I have roughly 4 acres/2 horses. From November-April they are kept completely off the grass. They both have a 30x100 run with access to a run in. The run in has good footing for drainage, they are a bit “potty” trained. The rest of the sacrifice is just dirt/mud. It drains fairly well over all with some wet areas, usually around the gates where it is worn lower so holds more water. DH did some drainage work around the fence line to redirect water. They have room to goof off, and can visit over the fence. I pick the manure every/every other day. Once it starts to dry out and get tacky I will ride the RTV back and forth and smooth out some of the high traffic areas to try to keep the frozen hoof prints to a minimum. Use grazer boxes and small hole nets to cut down on wasted hay and try to keep those areas cleaned up as well. This method has served us and our pastures well for the last six years.

I will give them treat days out on the grass but the ground does need to be frozen or dry.

I will also let them out after a big snow storm, at least 8 inches. Figure their hooves aren’t reaching the ground with that much snow, but once it starts to thaw back to the sacrifice they go, and I clean up any left over hay as it will kill the grass in the spring

[knightrider]

I just keep my horses in the sacrifice paddock for the winter and will only turn them out front on the good grass when the footing is solid. I worried last year that my sacrifice paddock would not grow grass in the spring/summer, but it was lush. Its just not pretty in the winter!

[Texarkana]

This is bad pasture management advice, but I’ve been amazed at how resilient my pasture is.

It’s mud all winter here-- no escaping it. I don’t have a sacrifice area and I don’t keep my horses off the grass.

The pasture comes back fine every spring.

Could I better manage it? Absolutely. But we lease our property. The property owner is a backyard cattle guy-- the pasture is fine “as is” to him. I’m not going to invest my own money in anything permanent.

One winter is not likely to destroy your fields permanently. Do the best you can for now and the pasture will bounce back. Four horses on six acres is plenty of space-- they’re not going to wreck the field so badly that you lose grazing for the summertime. And by next year, you’ll hopefully have a nice sacrifice paddock to keep them in.

[SMF11]

[QUOTE=knightrider;7904776]
I just keep my horses in the sacrifice paddock for the winter and will only turn them out front on the good grass when the footing is solid. I worried last year that my sacrifice paddock would not grow grass in the spring/summer, but it was lush. Its just not pretty in the winter![/QUOTE]

I keep the horses in the sacrifice area any time it is really muddy; if the footing is solid then they also have access to the big grass field.

I wouldn’t follow Texarakana’s advice (sorry, Texarkana!) – yes, your pastures will grow grass next summer, but in the meantime, all you’ll do is create that muddy rutted mess in a bigger area, not improving your winter conditions at all.

My entire sacrifice area is not a mud pit, only about 1/4 of it, and the run-ins are dry, so that’s good enough for me.

[goodhors]

I just let the horses onto the pastures in wet fall and winter. It USUALLY freezes the ground eventually, so the going is not deep, just rough on top. We have a sand riding arena with grass in the center with some grassy area beside the arena as our sacrifice place. However with 6-7 horses, they can’t all be in there at one time. I let horses have one of the larger field/paddocks along with a good sized barnyard, for the other half of group turnout. Usually rotate the groups daily, so they get every-other-day on sand or small paddock.

I do lock them out of all the fields come spring melt, when the ground is SO SOFT they sink in deeply. I will work the field soil with my disc and chain drag when I can safely get the tractor in and not leave ruts. Working the dirt lightly (actually just slicing the ground with disc), then fertilizing, dragging it smooth works well. Then fields have time off to get dirt even more solid, grass started growing, works well in having nice, fairly rut-free pastures. As mentioned, each group of horses has the freedom of the arena area every 2nd day to run and tear around in.

When ground gets more solid (I have heavy clay dirt) then we start letting horses out to graze on LIMITED time. They are fed hay first, stomachs are pretty full before getting grazing time. Helps reduce intake slightly, don’t want any colics or laminitus from being on new grass. I start with once-a-day turnout of 15 minutes, which may add up to a few more minutes as they SLOWWLLY walk back to the barnyard, locked off the pasture. Not enough grazing time to hurt them. It takes TIME to get their stomach flora developed again for managing grass instead of hay.

My pastures have great plant roots, and despite the rough treatment of hooves in wet fall and winter, being disced and dragged come spring, the growth comes back FINE with a little time. I will need to mow once or twice, before horses are fully acclimated back to full time grazing again in May or June.

I would rather have them out on a large space, spreading out the hoof damage, running and playing hard, than churning my barnyards into goo. My young horses need space to run to grow and develop bodies properly!

OP might consider doing the fabric and adding surface material to sacrifice area when ground is barely soft. Then you WILL have a place to put them, off the really soft pasture that happens as the frost goes out of the dirt.

[Equibrit]

I have 6 seperate fenced areas and three turnout groups of 2/2/3. I rotate year round from grazed to grown. (In Georgia) We are still enjoying juicey bright green new growth.

[goodhors]

[QUOTE=Equibrit;7905064]
I have 6 seperate fenced areas and three turnout groups of 2/2/3. I rotate year round from grazed to grown. (In Georgia) We are still enjoying juicey bright green new growth.[/QUOTE]

OHHH! Gloating is not nice when we are wearing boots and coats outside!!

[Equibrit]

I apologize - but rejoice in the benefits of location. I do have to throw hay later in the winter !

[secuono]

Mine are out free on about 3.5 acres, Once a week, I move where I toss hay and there’s very little mud issue then.

Do yours need to be locked up?
With so little land, they should of eaten most of it away, so letting them stay on it after, keeps them clean and reduces mud.

[AmarachAcres]

We have 6 acres as well. We have a small lot that is connected to a 12’ wide track that circles the pasture perimeter so they can still go run.

They are off pasture from Oct-May.

[Showbizz]

We leave horses off pasture from Oct until mid-April.

[Texarkana]

[QUOTE=SMF11;7904898]
I keep the horses in the sacrifice area any time it is really muddy; if the footing is solid then they also have access to the big grass field.

I wouldn’t follow Texarakana’s advice (sorry, Texarkana!) – yes, your pastures will grow grass next summer, but in the meantime, all you’ll do is create that muddy rutted mess in a bigger area, not improving your winter conditions at all.

My entire sacrifice area is not a mud pit, only about 1/4 of it, and the run-ins are dry, so that’s good enough for me.[/QUOTE]

No offense taken. I even said myself it was “bad advice.” :lol:

But I do think we have a lot of really knowledgeable and attentive horse people who are waaaaay OCD about pasture management, causing themselves undue stress and worry. Not wanting horses to stand in mud all day is one thing, but the grass damage is much less of a concern so long as the field isn’t utterly overcrowded.

In my mind, 6 acres for 4 horses isn’t truly “small acreage” that needs to be micromanaged. The horses may make a muddy mess near the gate and high traffic areas during the winter months, but there’s enough space that they’re unlikely to do any permanent damage to the pasture as a whole. I would much rather risk my grass than have my horses limited to a muddy sacrifice area with poor footing. Grass comes back.

[PiedmontSporthorses]

We also keep horses off of our pastures from about October thru April/May time frame. We will let them on the pasture in the winter if it is hard / on the frozen side for an occassional romp. We have a major issue with mud in our area, so they would destroy our fields in one season. In the winter we keep them in our two all weather blue stone sacrifice paddocks with geotextile fabric (highly recommend this when you can OP!). Each paddock is about 100 x 65 and each attaches to our barn. They have hay 24x7 in the paddocks. I will say though… while the sacrifice paddocks are sooooo nice and keep my pastures nice - they also have their downsides… They require a lot of work! To keep the all weather footing nice and the paddocks in good condition, we have to pick the paddocks every, single, day! And because you are picking manure and hay up, you are also picking up blue stone… which gets heavy and means you also have to replace the blue stone. No avoiding it. So once a year, I have to add back about 15 tons of blue stone between the ground settling and to replace what I’ve picked out. But all-in-all, I’m so glad I have them! I’ll also add, that we did a lot of the work ourselves and saved a significant amount of money. We ordered the fabric, hired someone to do the excavation (including leveling and compacting), ordered the blue stone direct from the quarry, laid the fabric ourselves, and spread the blue stone around ourselves.

[SMF11]

All good points, Texarkana, and I actually agree with them. Depending on the field, you are right, six acres for 4 horses is plenty . . . I have four horses on approx. 3 acres and it works (though, the field is sloped, so it never gets muddy, except by the gate). Anyway, I digress. I think your point about the grass coming back is excellent. In my climate you don’t even need to seed bare areas, the grass just comes back on its own, if left alone.

[Simkie]

[QUOTE=Texarkana;7905273]
I would much rather risk my grass than have my horses limited to a muddy sacrifice area with poor footing. Grass comes back.[/QUOTE]

Yeah, there’s the rub, eh? :lol:

Going into winter, I really figured it would get cold, stay cold and snow. That’s what it does here, right? Thought I’d keep the horses in the sacrifice area until we had some decent snow cover, and then do limited turnout in the fields when there was enough snow to limit the damage. Good plan! Soooooo not how the weather has behaved.

They really did a number on the grass over the summer–I don’t think they trashed it, but I think winter out on it full time would be problematic. It’s also three fields (roughly 2 acres each), but only one has water access, so that just adds another level of difficulty.

I guess there’s not a magic, easy answer here, huh? Spring is going to be terrible–I should enjoy the mostly frozen ground now. Really CAN’T WAIT for next year when we can put in the all weather surface. We’ll do the runs off the stalls (which are yet to be built) and a large portion of the area behind the barn. What I’m using as the sacrifice area this year will be reseeded and allowed to rest/grow before the ponies go back out on it. Horses are only out during daylight, so at least they’re not on the frozen or muddy surface full time.

We do have a pile of lime that’s left over from the barn floor project that we’ll hopefully be able to move into the sacrifice area this weekend. The pile froze awhile ago, but I think it should be warm enough to melt and move. I know it will just sink into the mud, but hopefully it will help stabilize the soil right at the gate for now.

[Emilia]

[QUOTE=Simkie;7904589]

And what do people do for pasture management even WITH an all weather surface?? Do you keep your horses off the dormant grass all winter, or allow them restricted access?[/QUOTE]

When considering, what to do, you might also want to take into account your horses’ mental make-up.

I know many people, who leave horses locked up in sacrifice paddocks the entire winter and they seem to be fine with it.

Some people, including me, cannot do that, because our horses would not thrive mentally on that kind of management.

We keep horses in a sacrifice paddock with stone dust overnight and they are out on the pastures (about 6 acres) during the day. They do tear pastures up some, especially the Morgan, who likes to do long sliding stops. So far, pastures were coming back, fortunately.

If I locked them up in the paddock, I would soon have three nuclear missiles flying around and zooming on anything that could get them exploded.