Buying Advice You folks with tractors, horses & pastures

[WhisperingWinds]

Yes, you need a chain-link drag harrow. This is the one I have, and it's the best that I've ever seen:
Tarzan chain link drag harrow

Thanks, Bigfoot. Is yours the regular drag or the 3 point model? Any major advantages to choose one over the other?

 

[whistlepig]

I have one of these. I transport it by rolling it up and picking it up with the loader. A three point lift would be a lot handier to use. Welcome to FHM Equipment LLC

 

[Johndeere3720]

My grandparents have a boarding stables with 78 horses. For mud, the only way to control all the divots was bring in hog fuel, about 4-5' of it on top the dirt. For pastures, we have several runs, typically 3-6 horses per run, they all have their buddy groups. We always just haul the manure off to a local farmer and there is no grass that needs to be mowed in the pastures, it is all hog fuel. Were talking over an acre of barns, on a 4 acre piece of land. At my dads I actually don't like using the chain harrow. The manure dries up so much that it just wont spread out well, you just use your bucket and slowly dump and drive forward at the same time. Our horses seem to like standing in the same spot their whole lives, i have to go out with the tractor quite often to scrape the mud back.

 

[whistlepig]

If you are using round bales with horses you need to ensure they are not just dropped and left. If they get moldy or dusty it can sensitize your horses and hurt their breathing. If you use rounds roll em out don't use a feeder.

I use squares that are put up in a barn as soon as they are ready to come off the field. I find one bale a day for two horses is lots unless they are working hard or they will fatten up. Also why I stay away from rounds.

Moldy hay can cause a horse to die from colic also.

 

[WhisperingWinds]

I have one of these. I transport it by rolling it up and picking it up with the loader. A three point lift would be a lot handier to use. Welcome to FHM Equipment LLC

Good point. The dealer actually mentioned it could easily be stored by rolling it up and putting it off to the side somewhere. I was just curious if the 3 point offered some really great advantage over the pull type.

 

[WhisperingWinds]

My grandparents have a boarding stables with 78 horses. For mud, the only way to control all the divots was bring in hog fuel, about 4-5' of it on top the dirt. For pastures, we have several runs, typically 3-6 horses per run, they all have their buddy groups. We always just haul the manure off to a local farmer and there is no grass that needs to be mowed in the pastures, it is all hog fuel. Were talking over an acre of barns, on a 4 acre piece of land. At my dads I actually don't like using the chain harrow. The manure dries up so much that it just wont spread out well, you just use your bucket and slowly dump and drive forward at the same time. Our horses seem to like standing in the same spot their whole lives, i have to go out with the tractor quite often to scrape the mud back.

I don't mind so much going around picking up the piles for just the one horse, but as we add more, the fun might start going out of it I figure for exercise sake, I would still go around and muck rake a lot of it but use the harrow to spread around the ones I miss or whatever doesn't come up with the first sweep of the rake.

 

[whistlepig]

Good point. The dealer actually mentioned it could easily be stored by rolling it up and putting it off to the side somewhere. I was just curious if the 3 point offered some really great advantage over the pull type.

These things are pretty heavy. They have a tendency to get tangled up a bit when rolled up. They can be a little aggravating to get untangled. For occasional use it's not that big of a deal. For frequent use the untangling would get old.

 

[WhisperingWinds]

These things are pretty heavy. They have a tendency to get tangled up a bit when rolled up. They can be a little aggravating to get untangled. For occasional use it's not that big of a deal. For frequent use the untangling would get old.

Untangling something gets old for me the first time, let alone having to do it every couple of days. Thanks for pointing that out. Never imagined there'd be so many things to consider when getting a tractor & attachments :confused2: Guess there's more option weighing to do....but I suppose it's better to take my time and figure things out first than be unhappy with snap decisions.

 

[dmay]

Untangling something gets old for me the first time, let alone having to do it every couple of days. Thanks for pointing that out. Never imagined there'd be so many things to consider when getting a tractor & attachments :confused2: Guess there's more option weighing to do....but I suppose it's better to take my time and figure things out first than be unhappy with snap decisions.

Hence I'll return to recommending a landscape rake. No untangling required.

 

[Gizmo2]

A chain harrow or drag is a "must have" implement with horses and pastures. Gotta break the manure up and disperse it so it'll break down and incorporate into the root zone and organic layer.

Couple of things that I've had to learn the hard way -- cross fence your pasture into small sections -- depending upon the number of horses you have to graze.

We have 2 permanent horses and sometimes a guest or two and our pastures are each about 1/2 acre. Currently have 3 sections and we put the horses on them for ~10 days per month; usually works out to a week/month and only for about 8-10 hours a day. Each pasture is used once a month. If we get alot of rain - the horses stay in the corral and eat hay until the ground dries out and firms up.

Divots or "bomb craters" are to be avoided at all costs! Try to replace the sod clumps into the ground and tamp them down. If the pasture is that soft and the horses are blowing things up - they go back to the barn! (My wife gets pissed -- but she's not the one that has to keep everything growing!)

In short, you need to develop a grazing rotation system.

And you'll find that the horses will "selectively graze" with the end result being a patchwork field (if you let things go too long) of areas of pool table grass height and jungle patches with grass that's 24" or more. Mow it and try to keep everything a uniform height. That minimizes the situation of "old grass and young grass". The young grass areas will eventually get stressed and those locations are where the weeds will start showing up. You don't want that situation to develop...

JD 2520 - great machine! My ER doc buddy has one. They've got horses, too.

AKfish

This sounds exactly correct and it fits our way of doing things to a "T"
Well written.

Thanks for the info. We do have a paddock area right off the barn we could use as a sacraficial pasture. It's not all that big (maybe 1000 sq ft or so) but does open into the arena for wandering room. We'll have to keep that in mind for next winter.

This is what we do also.
I will add, we had 4 horses on approximately 5 acres for 20 some years. We used a JD 650 for those 20 some years and now own a JD 2320. The JD 650 did very well the JD 2320 is...well, VERY capable. It was a toss up between the 2520 and the 2320 but did not see the need for the 2520, still don't, for our use.
Note, rainy weather promotes good hoof growth.