Question
Hi, I抳e have 3 horses, 2 draft Percherons and one Tennessee walker! For several years we have been grazing them on rolled hay and at times many, many, many square bales do to the fact that our pasture are is mostly dirt. The horses are fenced in an area approximately 4 ?acres, with some sporadic trees here and there. The horses usually stay up close to the house and barn on about ?the fenced area. I would like to start sectioning off different areas in order to get some GRASS growing!

Here抯 my problem, what should I plant??? It抯 December and I live in North Florida, I own a small tractor and a tractor mount tiller as well as a box blade. Last year I tried to plant rye grass put it never took??(Someone told me I planted it to deep?)

I抦 ready to section of different areas but don抰 have a clue what to plant or for that point how! I抦 trying to eventually have good grazing land all year, and get away from buying rolls and many, many, many bales of hay! We do supplement with sweet feed! And the horses are very healthy, just would like to grow Hay, Grass, Oats, anything!

Jack  

Answer
I don't know what the ideal grass for horses would be, so you'd definitely need to talk to an animal expert there, but I can tell you that whatever seed you choose would need to be planted within the top 1/2 inch at the surface. Any deeper and the initial shoot just won't be able to break through to get the sunlight the plant needs to survive.

The seed will also need to be kept wet pretty much constantly until it fills in. That's a big part of the equation that many folks leave out. Without constant moisture, grass simply won't grow.

SO, find out the ideal horse grazing grass from somebody who knows about horses, then plant the seed very close to the surface, then water, water, water!

I hope this helps.

-C.J. Brown
www.TheLawnCoach.com