Newbie - in both senses

Greetings LSBers

Hubby and I have just moved onto our first LSB - 5.5 acres in West Auckland. I've been around horses for a long time so have a reasonable idea about things, but hubby is just about to buy his first ever pair of gumboots - eek! So you get the idea.

Looking forward to asking questions of all you knowledgeable people as the previous owners seem to have ignored driveways, fencing, water etc for the last 9 years whilst they grazed pet sheep and pet Highland cattle. Thankfully they've taken all those with them along with the 8 cats, the dog and the blind old goose. They did leave us about 50 goldfish and a lot of very hopeful ducks which they fed every day. Our dogs lurve the ducks - particularly the sight of them flying away . I've also found homes for all the goldfish so now we are down to land and dogs. We're going to leave it empty for a little while as it's been badly overgrazed and then decide what to do.

Hello and welcome horseychick. Exciting for you both. Lots of helpful people and information in here. The latest for me, was to obtain liability insurance. About $15 a month for one million worth of cover. A must.

I wish you all the best with your future endeavours.

good idea about the insurance - problem is getting them to pay out!

I guess the water supply is your first priority? I recently fitted 30 micron and 1 micron filters to the house supply and it made a big difference to the water quality. You can get filters quite cheaply on TradeMe.

When was the septic tank last cleaned out? It's a myth that you can pour organic stuff in them and they clean themselves!

A quick check of the boundary pegs is another good idea, it's surprising how boundaries can creep over the years.

You can't beat sheep netting for fencing, and with horses a hot wire is great, but I guess you know this already.

If you like bird life, ask the local dog ranger if you can borrow a cat trap, you will be amazed how many cats are sneaking around.

Good luck with the block, don't make the mistake of getting involved with IRD and GST!!

Welcome to LSB!

Probably pay to get soil samples tested and fertilize as needed, a bit of lime usually helps sweeten the soil too, and if you need to clean it up borrowing some sheep can be useful in getting rid of docks etc. []

It's amazing what a good mow, selective weed spray and fertiliser will do, also letting it go fallow for a few months .....build up some organic matter .....spread a bit of grass seed around any bare patches as well. Reseeding is an expensive option.

Thanks everyone. Definitely intending to put some fertiliser down in a month or so. Not too many weeds as the previous owners had sheep and cattle grazing it. More concerned about getting the fencing in a reasonable state as it seems to have been repaired with bits of string and bits of plastic!

Thankfully we are on town water so troughs won't be too difficult once I get the feeds sorted, but for the moment it can all wait a while until we settle into the house.

is it true that with horses, you only need to show them a photo of grass and they get fat?!

For a newbie with limited machinery, fencing with steel standards is a good way to go.

You will need a hot wire for horses or they will push even the strongest fence over.

I guess you will need smaller paddocks so you can limit their grazing.

My first fences were 50mm hardwood posts and alternate hot and cold wire. Troughs were recycled baths.
Nothing got out unless the power went off, but nowadays you can get solar energizers with a battery.

Goats can get out of anything, electric or not.

Liming is not the be all and end all - if the land has not been worked for many years it could be very compacted and no matter what you put on, it won't produce. You will soon make farming friends who are keen to show off their 'real' toys, a bit of subsoiling works wonders.

tony ...
1. It depends on the equine. We have 18 here and some just need to sniff grass, and others eat huge amounts and don't put on much weight.
2 Steel standards (preferably made by BHP Waratah) are easy, but to be more safe from the horses getting spiked, the steel post needs to be topped by an insulator.
3. Electrics if the horses are hot wire trained, but ensure that the power unit only puts out about 2000 volts. Sheep and goat ones that put out 8000 volts will kill an equine very quickly if it gets caught in the wire.

I will Never put metal stakes in for fencing for horses.....see too many staked and seen the damage done....horses tend to charge round the paddocks and it only takes a slip , skid or push and it's all over rover.....
Rather put in a proper fence and fork out the money, than pay out for vet bills. Also don't like pig tails, have had a horse get the halter caught in a pigtail and pull the whole electric wire down.....horses and wire are not a good combination either.

Welcome anyway

tonybaker;509550 wrote:
For a newbie with limited machinery, fencing with steel standards is a good way to go.
.

If Horseychick has been around horses, then she will know that steel standards is the last thing to use with horses. They can and have done real damage to horses including death. Horses gallop in paddocks. You need good post and batten fences, preferably with #8 wire as it's more forgiving and less likely to strip tendons or tear off heels if a horse gets its legs in the fence (and they do) and you also need good outrigger electric fences (pinlock outriggers are the best) to prevent them grazing over the fence or play fighting with a neighbouring horse.

Welcome to the LSB Horseychick

Welcome Horseychick.
You may already be aware there is a fencing netting that is available which is designed specifically for horses. It has a much closer spacing so hooves are very unlikely to pass through the holes, although you'd need to check with miniature horses. It is higher than most netting, (1.2m?), so if you are using existing fenceposts, might not suit. Electric outriggers and this would be a good horse fence, but it is of course a bit more $/m.

Re using standards - I defer to those who keep horses! I did for a little while and never had any galloping around, and used a hot wire above a very skimpy fence. After a while I could turn the fence off providing there was adequate feed in the paddock.

Of course, if you have the cash a "proper"' fence is appropriate, but if one has the cash one wouldn't be asking for advice? Just call a fencing contractor!

tonybaker;509550 wrote: is it true that with horses, you only need to show them a photo of grass and they get fat?!

For a newbie with limited machinery, fencing with steel standards is a good way to go.

You will need a hot wire for horses or they will push even the strongest fence over.

I guess you will need smaller paddocks so you can limit their grazing.

My first fences were 50mm hardwood posts and alternate hot and cold wire. Troughs were recycled baths.
Nothing got out unless the power went off, but nowadays you can get solar energizers with a battery.

Goats can get out of anything, electric or not.

Liming is not the be all and end all - if the land has not been worked for many years it could be very compacted and no matter what you put on, it won't produce. You will soon make farming friends who are keen to show off their 'real' toys, a bit of subsoiling works wonders.

Depends on the breed of horse. Mine are all Spanish which means they can live on the smell of an oily rag, in some of the areas they come from in Spain the horses live on dirt and eat straw because there is no grass, mine all wear grazing muzzles to stop them pigging out too much on our excellent grass!

Do NOT EVER use steel waratahs around horses! [!]
I have seen photos of impaled horses on them, they are just the worst fencing ever to have around a horse.

I have dairy type hi tensile fences [now with battens to keep sheep and goats in] with hot outriggers on the tops to keep horses away from fences, use a good high power mains energizer to ensure they respect the fences. I will be putting height extensions on the stallion paddocks shortly just as a safety precaution.

If you have foals make sure they learn about electric fences safely... use at low power to start with then when they have learnt to keep away from them you can put the voltage back to normal.

Pay the money to get a good fencing contractor to do the fences for you, it is the best way to ensure the job is well done and safe.

As well as having to keep donkeys contained, I also have to keep sheep and goats in where I want them to be. Thus I have a knee high electric wire. A couple of donkeys have been caught in this wire, but fortunately the other wires are tied to at least one steel post, so that the hot wire shorts out when it touches another wire. My fences are cattle height (1.1 meters), and our donkeys are less than 1.1 m at the shoulder, so the risk of being staked is reduced, especially as they don't jump. But I am able to turn the power off to the low hot wires, which I usually remember to do.

Hi and welcome.

Our horse paddocks are fenced with equi rope - fabulous to work with and so easy to use. We have 2 strands on some sides and 3 on the side which borders a sheep paddock - we have had no problems with them getting through since we added the extra strand. We have also used it on outriggers to stop our housecow leaning on her fence to 'talk' to the neighbours cattle[}]

Another option is X fence - the netting designed for horses. The gaps are so small they can't get hooves through it, let alone caught in it. It is expensive but great. A stink to use though so my farmhand told me. We used it on our chook run - it saved putting chicken wire over deer netting to stop escapees!

I agree with no metal standards in horse paddocks - wooden posts are so much safer.

All the best.