How much pasture?

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Karen
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How much pasture?

Post by Karen » Fri May 25, 2012 7:49 am

Hubby and I are starting to consider buying a "horse property" or house on enough land for a farmette. We currently have 2 horses, but want enough property to keep 4 horses, and would like enough property so we only have to hay them from late fall until the grass starts growing again.

So how much land is enough? And what's overkill?
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Re: How much pasture?

Post by ezzy333 » Fri May 25, 2012 7:52 am

Depends where it's located and the quality of the soil. Talk to you farm extension office if you have one or something similar.

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Re: How much pasture?

Post by markj » Fri May 25, 2012 7:58 am

Get as much land now as you can. They stopped making it a long time ago :) really tho, get more than you need, you wont regret it.
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Re: How much pasture?

Post by ElhewPointer » Fri May 25, 2012 8:31 am

What I have found is the layout is more important than the amount. Granted you have to have enough, but I've found that if you have 5 acres, 1 for the home and 4 for the horses, they will burn through that fast. However, if you have that 4 acres split into 4 different lots, it will last you all summer. Rotate them once a week. That gives each lot 3 weeks off for growth. Makes a huge difference.

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Re: How much pasture?

Post by Karen » Fri May 25, 2012 8:36 am

Is a dry lot for the winter also important? Between the snow, ice, and mud, do they kill the pasture in the winter?
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Re: How much pasture?

Post by shags » Fri May 25, 2012 10:18 am

The county extension office should have good information about establishing and maintaining horse pasture in your area. Before you buy a place, check the zoning laws, some areas have acreage/animal ratios to worry about, or watershed considerations that might prohibit horsekeeping.

Where we live, the soil is mostly clay. A 'dry lot' quickly turns into hock-deep mud in the wet seasons. So our horses just hang out wherever and it hasn't seemed to kill much pasture. It can look fairly poor in the winter but grasses up pretty well once the weather warms. We mow several times during the season to keep weeds down and to encourage grass.

Something else to think about is manure disposal. Four horses produce huge amounts of it and it can be a major headache unless you have a plan.

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Re: How much pasture?

Post by dan v » Fri May 25, 2012 1:14 pm

Karen,

Once the grass stops actively growing, horse will keep right on eating until it's all gone. It's best to move them into a pen, dry lot, and just start feeding hay, it's ultimately better for the pastures. And as Elhew noted, rotational grazing is the key. As Ezzy hinted around at, much depends on the soil, the condition of the soil, what types of grasses make-up the pastures and the growing season.
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Re: How much pasture?

Post by jimbo&rooster » Fri May 25, 2012 3:07 pm

We havnt had horses on straight pasture for a long time. When I was a kid we had 3 on 6acres split into 3 2acre sections, and other than supplementing them with some hay and grain in the winter we would rotated them every 2-3 weeks.

for about 3yrs when we didn't have cattle, one of dads nighbors would put 4 horses on a 7acre pasture from mid spring through early fall.

One thing that you might consider aside from the amount of ground and how you split it up, is that you might want to consider sewing in a good quality pasture mix. A good quality feed will help keep them up better longer than just grass pasture will.

If you rotate them periodically I would say 1-2 acres per head could be sufficient, thats about what we figure for cattle around here. But i know of some places where they figure 10-15 acre/head. It all depends where you are at.

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Re: How much pasture?

Post by Kmack » Wed May 30, 2012 6:31 pm

Beyond 20 acres would be overkill assuming you have good grass.

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Re: How much pasture?

Post by RayGubernat » Wed May 30, 2012 6:59 pm

Karen -

I have two horses and my main pasture is about three acres. There is a small area(3/4 acre) I can gate off and a separate small pasture(approx. 1 acre) that I don't generally use for pasture unless I am working on the main pasture or spraying or something. The soil is pretty decent...a slightly sandy loam.

The horses don't use up the main 3 acres and it stays pretty decent if I spray it for weeds once a year and every couple of years I fertilize in the spring and topdress with seed. I crack seeded a section of pasture with Ladino Clover one winter and the stuff litereally took over that part of the pasture. It was too high octane for the horses, so I had to kill it off and re-seed with orchard grass and rye.

The horses spend most of the coldest part of the winter in the small area I mentioned above and that gets pretty beat up over the winter. I have renovated that small pasture twice in the nine years we are down here, keeping the horses off it for about two months, until the grass was well established.

I could probably keep at least four horses on the property as it is. The previous owners had at least that many. However, i would most likely have to do a lot more renovating, seeding and fertilizing than I do currently.

It does not get all that cold, for all that long here in central DE. Grass is growing well into November most years and starts again in mid-March most years. I only have to feed hay for about three months on average. I do supplement with pelleted stock feed all year 'round to assure that they get what they need in terms of micronutrients, minerals and such.

Hope this helps.

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Re: How much pasture?

Post by fourseasons » Wed May 30, 2012 8:42 pm

On our 12+ acre 'lifestyle' farm in DE we have about 4/5 in grass pasture - have had four horses on pasture and did as others have suggested -- ran temp fencing (3-4 grazing areas) and rotated horses from section to section...

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Re: How much pasture?

Post by Karen » Thu May 31, 2012 8:02 am

Now you've gone and done it! I'm going to have to HIDE this thread (somehow!) from my sailor/husband who dreams of a slip on the Chesapeake!
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Re: How much pasture?

Post by RayGubernat » Fri Jun 01, 2012 8:16 am

Karen -

I don't want to add fuel to the fire, BUT, it is also a fact that folks on the Delmarva have a choice a to which waters they choose to cruise/fish/sail. I live about 15 inutes west of Dover, Delaware. That puts me less than 1/2 hour from the Delaware Bay with direct access to the Atlantic Ocean and slightly more than 1/2 hour to the mid Chesapeake. There are places in New Castle county, DE, the nothernmost and most expensive county in DE, where you can have direct access to both bodies of water via the C & D canal. The proximity of most of New Castle county to Philly and New Jersey, as well as Wilmington does make it pricey and a little crowded though.

I live 20 minutes from the trial grounds at Petersburg, just about an hour from Wye Island, two hours from the English Setter Club and about two and a half hours from Greenwood Forest and York Pointer and Setter Club. Four hours to Amelia WMA in VA, slightly less to Phelps.

About the only downside of living where I do, is that I have found is that you have to cross at least one toll bridge to get here which makes it a bit more expensive and a bit less convenient to travel to and from.

It does, however, tend to keep out the riff raff! :lol: :lol:

Seriously, we are just far enough off the standard track to Washington, DC and points south, that folks just don't "drop by" on their way somewhere, which is sometimes unfortunate.

RayG

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Re: How much pasture?

Post by Karen » Fri Jun 01, 2012 8:24 am

I'm afraid we're entrenched in NEPA for a while. John has a 9 yr old daughter who, if her mother has anything to say about it, will never leave a 10 mile radius of Wilkes-Barre, so we need to stay within a reasonable distance of Wilkes-Barre, plus work is NEPA also....and we're stuck doing that for a while longer too.
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Re: How much pasture?

Post by markj » Fri Jun 01, 2012 9:06 am

We used to run race horses, when off season they would be at my Dads. was 30 acres, had 15 in 1 acre lots each horse was kept in the rest was for haying. Have stalls in a large barn for birthing, belive me more is better when talking about land. I would love to have another 40 acres in corn :) or more hay as it is going for a premium these days. We had 35 horses at one time and also kept 5 for another person just kept them there as pets. got 12.00 a day each.
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Re: How much pasture?

Post by Buckeye_V » Wed Jun 13, 2012 9:32 am

Rotate, rotate, rotate.

As long as they have a dry place out of the wind to stand in the winter they won't mind otherwise. I just fixed a really muddy mess outside of my barn where the horses kept churning up the clay in wet weather. I fixed the drainage issue, added lots of stone and keep augmenting as needed.

I try and move the horses to a new area as often as possible. Once I move them, I mow to about 3 inches, drag the area witha piece of chainlink wired to a timber to break up the big manure piles and if I need to spray any nasty weed areas I do that too. Then in about a m onth they can get back on that nice lush area.

You can buy the temporary fencing pretty reasonable at TSC and it's worth every penny when you rotate them.

Good luck!

Also, if you don't have a barn, don't panic. You can get a pre-built run-in shelter delivered to your site pretty cheaply. I know folks who also use those all-steel garages with steel added all the way to ground. They work out nicely and can be moved or torn down if ever needed. Something to think about.

My only regret is not getting a better watering system in place. Right now my tank sits aoutside int eh rbight sun and it grows all kinds of crud.
We have done something with nothing for so long we are now qualified to do everything with anything....

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Re: How much pasture?

Post by Karen » Wed Oct 31, 2012 2:02 pm

Well, we did it! Yesterday we closed on a house on 32 acres!!! It's ALL wooded, so we have our work cut out for us, but it has a 30' x 50' clear span metal building on the property (cement floor so will be hay storage and a workshop for my hubby to work on his boat and the horse trialer), a wood shed and small equipment shed already.

I have a lead on a 2 stall shedrow barn with feed room...just waiting for a quote on having it moved, then some electric fence and the horses are home!

The property has truck trails all through the woods so they will be roading trails for the dogs.

I think my parents/sister/neices will be living there until power is restored at their homes in NJ, but we'll get moved in by the end of November. Can't wait!! :D :D
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Re: How much pasture?

Post by shags » Wed Oct 31, 2012 6:55 pm

Congratulations, and best wishes for happy times there.

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Re: How much pasture?

Post by brad27 » Wed Oct 31, 2012 7:45 pm

shags wrote:Congratulations, and best wishes for happy times there.
+1

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Re: How much pasture?

Post by ezzy333 » Wed Oct 31, 2012 8:34 pm

Sounds like found a real nice place for all of your hobbies. Have fun.

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Re: How much pasture?

Post by fourseasons » Thu Nov 01, 2012 12:20 pm

Woo hoo!!! Heartiest congratulations - now the REAL fun begins ;-)

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Re: How much pasture?

Post by UpNorthHuntin » Thu Nov 01, 2012 12:28 pm

Growing up in Northern Michigan my family raised Quarter Horses. I have unforgettable memories of those days, but I would have to agree, they will limit your travel if you have nobody nearby that can check on them for you during trips or while you are gone for an extended period. It's just not as easy as leaving them out to graze for the week while you are gone. Especially in the colder months. A Barn or at least a small shelter with some box-stalls is a must as well. They have to have some way to escape the elements if the weather gets really nasty. During the winter months as well, we fed oats and grain in addition to the Hay because they needed the extra energy. They were a lot of work and did take away from many of the summer trips we had taken before. We had some really great neighbors though and eventually they would help by feeding them and checking to make sure they had water while we were gone and it all worked out.

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Re: How much pasture?

Post by Karen » Fri Nov 09, 2012 6:09 am

Thank you! Ordered a run-in shed earlier this week, it's to be delivered right after Thanksgiving. John and I will be prepping the site this weekend and clearing some trees (and rocks) out of what's to be our paddock. Dog fencing is scheduled to start next week, then we'll run electrobraid on the outside of the dog fence and to trees in the paddock for the horses.

My 20 yr old son will be earning his keep by taking care of horses and dogs on the rare occasion we are able to travel without them. Vacations that don't involve dogs & horses have been non-existant for the last several years, but beleive it or not, we are downsizing with this house so we've downsized our mortgage AND no more horse board, so someday we might actually be able to afford a real vacation without dogs or horses.
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Re: How much pasture?

Post by setternewbie » Fri Nov 09, 2012 7:25 am

In my experience you're asking the entirely wrong question. There is never "enough". It's kind of like my wife saying "isn't one bird dog enough" or "don't you already have one shotgun..(guitar...junk car...hobby...job) too many?" :D The question probably should be how much MORE do I need. Then find something affordable that you can make happen within your budget and double it. Just my opinion based on careful research and testing.

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Re: How much pasture?

Post by Karen » Sat Dec 01, 2012 5:39 am

And today is the day! God willing, we've written our last check for board. The horses come home today!
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Re: How much pasture?

Post by RoostersMom » Mon Dec 03, 2012 5:03 pm

Congratulations Karen - great to have a nice place to call your own. The downside to having timbered ground is that the soils (if they are woodland derived) will not support a quality grassland (rocks, poor soil, shallow soil bank, etc.). However, you have the horses home now and you can always buy hay!

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Re: How much pasture?

Post by ezzy333 » Mon Dec 03, 2012 6:10 pm

RoostersMom wrote:Congratulations Karen - great to have a nice place to call your own. The downside to having timbered ground is that the soils (if they are woodland derived) will not support a quality grassland (rocks, poor soil, shallow soil bank, etc.). However, you have the horses home now and you can always buy hay!
The soil can be improved to grow grass pretty easily. Rocks can be a problem but you should be able to improve it for grass with little if any cultivation.

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Re: How much pasture?

Post by Karen » Mon Dec 03, 2012 8:50 pm

Yup, we'll be buying hay for at least a couple of years, but the horses are HERE! They're settling in nicely, the run in shed is scheduled to arrive on Wednesday, and with a little luck, we'll be riding the property this weekend.
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