# Growing grass in pasture



## JRoyalimage (Aug 21, 2015)

Hi guys. So I just started managing a farm in the area. One of my concerns is that all of my pastures have no grass. It's all dirt. Since it is a boarding stable and a lot of the horses are on full pasture board, it not possible to keep horses off pasture completely until grass is established. 
Is it possible/practical to setup a heavy use area within each pasture? Like sectioning off the area closest to the gate. That way it's easier to get them in and out and feed them. 
Any suggestions?


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## stevenson (Sep 12, 2011)

you should have a sacrifice area, where the water trough is set and where hay/forage is thrown.
How can you call it Pasture Board when there is no pasture. You cannot grow any grass with horses on it. They need removed. The grass need to grow 4-6 inches tall , mowed , regrown to 4-6 inches height then you can let the horses on it. It is actually better to let it grow and mow twice as this helps establish a good root system. Also you need someplace for the horses to go when it is irrigated. If you put them on the wet grass it can damage the root.


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## greentree (Feb 27, 2013)

Horses do not graze evenly. Divide that pasture into smaller patches, or use portable electric fencing, and intensively graze it. It requires constant vigilance, as you should not let the grass get shorter than 3". Use an ATV with a harrow to break up the manure, but leave it in the pasture for organic matter. It helps to use a manure spreader to spread the barn manure, too. 

Have your extension office do a soil test, and lime/sulfur/ fertilize as needed. I quit using the commercial fertilizer, and my soil is much healthier, but you may need a jump start, and I would use their rec's to start....


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## Chevaux (Jun 27, 2012)

How big are the pastures and how many horses are on them?


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## JRoyalimage (Aug 21, 2015)

It's about 10 "pastures". They range from about .5 acres to about 2 acres. The 2 acre pastures have three horses in them. All of the others have two. 
I'm going to have a soil test done.
I like the portable fencing idea. It'll give the rest of the area a time to rest.


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## karliejaye (Nov 19, 2011)

First, where are you located? Establishing grasses in an area with cool season species is way different than warm species, and average precip rates make a huge difference as well.

Generally though, if you want to establish pasture, you NEED to have horses off of it for a significant amount of time, and to maintain pasture it NEEDS rest! Sounds like they are absolutely hammered with 2 horses on 0.5 acre "pastures". Sorry, but I am not sure that without rotation and rest that you will be able to maintain forage.


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## Chevaux (Jun 27, 2012)

I'm afraid to say that at first blush, this isn't looking good for establishing proper grazing pastures. Where I am, we need a minimum of two acres per horse for sustainable grazing, sometimes more if the soil is less than rich.

For your smaller spots, I think the size is detrimental if nothing else as the horses will be moving around trampling growing material and depositing manure piles (fresh manure tends to burn the spot where it lands plus horses don't like to eat around it). If you did manage to seed and grow grass in one of those areas, it would probably be gone after a month of putting one horse on it and much sooner if multiple horses.

As far as seeding goes, you'd need some equipment and seed, both of which are not cheap (at least where I am) plus you'll probably want to keep the horses off the space for basically a year to let roots establish. So that makes the logistics tricky because you'd essentially need at least double what you have now for pastures to make this happen plus give the horses suitable space. 

I'm not familiar with irrigation practices but if you're in an area that does this, perhaps that would add a favourable option to solutions and allow more extensive grazing to happen.


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## Joel Reiter (Feb 9, 2015)

You have a tough challenge establishing grass with that many horses in that small of an area. Don't waste your money on a conventional pasture mix; most of them contain timothy and other tall hay grasses which won't survive intensive grazing. You really need to stick with bluegrass and perennial ryegrass, preferably developed especially for pastures and not lawns. I wish I could point you to a supplier.


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## QtrBel (May 31, 2012)

Basically you have dry lots and with that number of horses on such limited ground only in the larger "pastures" could I see you having any spare ground to grow grass on. You have 10 turn outs but what number are smaller with two and what number are larger with three? I am figuring about 24 horses on 10 - 12 acres. Is there any way to reconfigure the entire property or is fencing permanent and you are looking at a small sacrifice area for each pen and the rest trying to grow grass on? Where are you located (general area wise) for determining pasture grass and what is your soil type and average rainfall? All of that goes into determining if there is any chance at even having areas that can be used for what I call treat grazing. The smallest area I have had three turned in on was 36x64 but that area was attached to 3 12x12 ft stalls so they were separate for feeding and I could rotate turn out if need be. Mostly I kept 1 in and two out as three really crowded the area and one mare was an absolute witch about others in her space. A half acre is roughly 110x200. You could take out a 64x64 (less than 1/4th of the area) area in each half acre as sacrifice and establish grass on the rest but it would take more time than you would likely be willing to devote to the process. If the horses are being adequately exercised each day and there are no issues with mud then perhaps it could work. Turn out time once established would be just a few hours at time and you would still need a recovery time. Manure management now is probably your biggest issue and doing this would make it even more so. We live in the deep south, good soils, adequate rainfall and a long warm season. I have a one acre pen that we seed with annual rye every year ( we plant in fall for cool season grazing). It takes a good 6 - 8 weeks here for it to pop and get to 6 inches. That can vary depending on planting time and actual rainfall. It takes just a few hours for the five in the large adjacent pasture to mow it down then I have to keep them off for a few days. The number of days depends again on temp and rain. Now we also over seed the pastures they are in but we have 3 on 5 and 5 on 8 and both have access to a larger lightly wooded area (6 acres each) that we keep round bales in during the cool season to get them off the pasture for at least some period of time a day. Parts of that are open enough for some grass growth as well. This allows for the pastures overseeded to actually have some growth.


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## stevenson (Sep 12, 2011)

You also need to find the type of grass that grows best in your region. 
I am located where it is hot and dry and in a drought. 
I planted grazing bermuda grass (this is also the type that will make hay as it is a giant hybrid ) BLue grass dies here. Nematode free fescue dies, orchard grass died, rye used to much water for winter. 
In a year that we have had enough water i had pasutre grass up to mid December. 
If you see a nice horse pasture in your area, stop by the persons house , introduce yourself, explain that you live in the area and admire their pasture, and ask for the type of grass they planted.


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