Horse field into a livestock/hay field

[ricardodba]

Hi

just bought a 3 acre field that had horses in it …not been rolled but in spring and now it’s full of grass and buttercups…whats best to do with it ?? should I leave for another month or so and then cut it… roll it to make unerlying land better and grass will bounce back in a fee weeks ? No idea What to… land isn’t that dry yet so still sprig conditions even tho it’s June!!

 

[Tarw Coch]

Hi

just bought a 3 acre field that had horses in it …not been rolled but in spring and now it’s full of grass and buttercups…whats best to do with it ?? should I leave for another month or so and then cut it… roll it to make unerlying land better and grass will bounce back in a fee weeks ? No idea What to… land isn’t that dry yet so still sprig conditions even tho it’s June!!

When you say cut it, I presume you mean to make hay/silage, that won’t be a pleasant task if it’s particularly rough.
How much grass is on it/when was it blast grazed? I’d have expected the grass to be too far forward and the ground to be to hard to roll by now.
If wanting to make hay/silage I’d be keeping an eye out for ragwort if it’s been horse ground for a while, whilst the buttercups might not do a lot for the nutritional quality of forage, they won’t do any harm unlike ragwort

 

[deleted user 837354]

If it's soft enough to make a useful go with a roller, I would roll it a couple of times until I was bored.

Then get a contractor to come and spray it with envy which will kill all those buttercups. Mow it for hay later on once it's grown on up.

 

[M-J-G]

Horse land almost always suffers from fairly severe surface compaction particularly if the horsed were shod, long term I'd be ploughing it and I'd guess it will need lime.

Short term if it's going to be cut for hay I'd be rolling it, it's always an idea to look out for bits of electric fencing, head collars and hay nets

 

[Wooly]

3 acres............... just get someone in with a mulching topper and mulch it.

Then let someone with some sheep come and graze it in a few weeks time.

 

[Daddy Pig]

If it's soft enough to make a useful go with a roller, I would roll it a couple of times until I was bored.

Then get a contractor to come and spray it with envy which will kill all those buttercups. Mow it for hay later on once it's grown on up.

Is there any point in spraying this time of year ? Buttercups are getting to the end of flowering now and all stem.

 

[deleted user 837354]

Is there any point in spraying this time of year ? Buttercups are getting to the end of flowering now and all stem.

If there is plenty of leaf you'll get them. Top them down first and hit the regrowth?

 

[Tarw Coch]

3 acres............... just get someone in with a mulching topper and mulch it.

Then let someone with some sheep come and graze it in a few weeks time.

Why mulch it and not just turn the sheep in?
A lot of dead mulched material will just smother out grass regrowth, depending on how much is there to start with

 

[Derrick Hughes]

If its compacted which it more than likely is rolling will make it worse ,
Land is like a book, , unless you have seen the said land then its hard to give an opinion ,
Im burning mine off cutting it and reseeding it , job done ,its not compacted though ,just full of weeds and shot