Are You Struggling With Your Fields? 5 Top Tips For Perfect Paddocks

A well-maintained paddock not only provides a safe and comfortable haven for our four-legged companions but also plays a pivotal role in their overall health and happiness. Whether you're a seasoned horse owner or a newcomer to the equestrian world, understanding the nuances of paddock maintenance is essential for creating a thriving environment.

 

There are 5 key things you should do to ensure your paddock has good-quality grazing and remains safe for your horse.

 

 

 

 

Endoparasites (worms) reach maturity in the gut, breed and then lay eggs in vast numbers, in excess of 80,000 eggs per day! These pass out with the faeces and infect pastures and, by ingestion, the horse. The eggs then pass through three larval stages on the pasture; the first two stages Larval Stage One 1 (L1) & Larval Stage Two (L2) will not develop into mature stages if swallowed by the horse so will not cause infection and usually remain on the faeces. However, at the L3 stage the larvae leave the droppings and rise up the grass, often on surface moisture, making them easily eaten by a horse, and if ingested, can develop into mature infectious stages.

 

Different worms will cause different infections, speak to our SQP Tom Wells for advice on treatment programmes. Infections can range from discomfort and weight loss to fatality so it’s important to get proper advice from a qualified SQP and treat accordingly.

 

The good news is that there is something you can do to prevent or at least minimise infection. Regular poo-picking is not just to make fields look tidy it serves a serious task in removing worms from the field. As we mentioned earlier, L1 & L2 larvae remain on the faeces so regular removal of faeces will significantly reduce the worm burden in the field.

 

Alongside poo-picking your field, it’s important to have a robust worming programme including routine worm counts and targeted worming with specific wormers. 

 

 

 

 

Weeds, if left uncontrolled, can grow quickly and become difficult to control. Please don’t rely on sprays alone to tackle large established weeds as they can struggle to get enough active ingredients into the plant due to several factors including hairs on the leaf, such as with nettles and water-repellent waxy leaves on many established weeds. The best practice is to top the field and then spray weeds on regrowth. Essentially, what that means is cutting/mowing them and then spraying the newly emerging weed as it will be much more susceptible to chemical control. You get better efficacy and use less spray, win-win! On our farm, we have employed this technique for years and it gives the best grassland weed control.

 

However, ragwort requires a very different approach and must be removed! Ragwort contains the toxic compound pyrrolizidine alkaloid. If eaten in any state, it can cause irreversible liver damage and fatality. When the plant is alive it has a bitter taste meaning most horses won’t immediately choose to eat it but some develop a taste for it if nothing else is available so it shouldn’t be assumed that live ragwort is safe. When ragwort is cut and dries it loses its unpalatable taste but not its toxicity meaning it is imperative to remove it.

 

Ragwort is what’s known as a biennial plant, meaning it flowers every two years – so removal of the plants is required annually for at least two years to control it. While rosettes develop between autumn and June, from June to October the plants develop flowers with distinctive yellow heads. Just one plant can produce thousands of seeds alongside an expansive root system, meaning it can quickly get out of hand so proper control is vital to prevent being overrun with the invasive plant.

 

We always advise wearing gloves when handling ragwort because of its toxicity. For most landowners, hand pulling before the plant has flowered is the best method of removal. You must ensure the whole root is removed as any fragments left will allow regrowth.

 

Ragwort must be transported and removed safely. We recommend using an old feed bag to transport from the field as any seeds left behind could grow into plants. It must not be disposed of on the muck heap or compost bin - the best method is burning or sending it to landfill.

 

 

 

 

Rotational grazing is the concept of moving horses onto different pastures at regular intervals. The intervals vary depending on the time of year and grass growth but can be anywhere from a few days to a few weeks. The main benefit of rotational grazing is that it allows grass time to recover. 

 

In an ideal world, a rotational grazing system should consist of at least 4 paddocks of roughly equal size, however, the more paddocks you have the better as you can move them more often. 

 

Even if you like to keep your horse’s grass low for dietary or health reasons, such as laminitis, then rotational grazing can still help. It’s not about moving them onto thick lush crops but optimising grass growth so you have more control over grass length with rotational grazing as you can move them on and off to suit their requirement. Another option with laminitis is to strip graze a paddock to limit intake. 

 

If you would like to take rotational grazing to the next level you can rotate it with livestock. The main advantage of this is that different animal species are affected by different worms so a sheep will not be affected by horse worms and vice versa. That means when sheep graze the grass and ingest worms the worms can be killed as the sheep digests them without the sheep being infected. This will leave a lower worm burden in the field.

 

 

 

 

Topping is not only good for weed control but it also removes old tough grass. As grasses grow they transition from the leafy vegetative phase to a woody reproductive phase in preparation to support seeds. Woody old grass has very little nutritional value, it may be fine for a horse with low energy demand on a maintenance diet but it likely won’t meet the demands of a horse with higher energy demands. Topping (cutting/mowing) the grass signals to the plant that it needs to restart its vegetative phase to grow. This means it produces more leaves and you get fresh, nutritional grass and a tidy-looking paddock. 

 

 

 

 

Sometimes you hear reseed and overseed being used interchangeably but they are different things. It’s important to know the difference so you can order the right seed. A reseed is when you sow seeds in an area with no existing grass; it may be used to cultivate and rejuvenate an old paddock but most often it just refers to areas of poached grass which have been levelled and harrowed. Overseeding is what many people mean when they talk about reseeding; it’s when you sow seeds onto an existing grass field. An overseed allows you to add beneficial species to the grass sward to tailor it to your requirements. For instance, a hay mixture will be different to a grazing mixture and the needs of a high-performance competing horse will be different to a retired horse.

 

Now is a great time to think about rejuvenating paddocks with new seed. You can reseed and overseed from spring through to autumn. Reseeding should take place in any areas where grass has disappeared. It’s important to consider which grasses you use; for example, you might like a ryegrass because of its growth yield and nutritional value but it isn’t as hardy as many other species so if you have an area that regularly has limited growth, due to high traffic for instance, consider reseeding that area with a hardy species. 

 

 

These simple tips should help you improve the quality and lifespan of your paddocks and keep your grass in tip-top condition. Remember, for all of your paddock maintenance needs, visit Farm & Country Online!