# Arable land - can it become suitable grazing??



## fine_and_dandy (5 March 2009)

I'm going to put my hands up from the off and say right now I don't really have a clue what arable land is?!!  I'm assuming it is land that has crops on it or has been ploughed - is that correct??

This is only relevant if arable land is what I think it may be.  If it is ploughed land or land that has crops on it, is it possible to turn it into grazing land, and if so how is this done and how long does it take (guestimates are fine 
	
	
		
		
	


	




 )

Has anyone bought arable land and managed to successfully turn it round into grazing land?  Does the quality of grass suffer from the lands previously being arable, do the fields get trashed that little bit quicker??

Apologies for all the questions! Just need to know 
	
	
		
		
	


	





Thank you for any help you can give


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## miller (5 March 2009)

Ours was arable - you are correct, crop land - very nice silty soil.

When we bough our property it was a ploughed field, we then had to get change of use agreement from local council to 'equestrian use'.

Was seeded late in the March and we bought the horses home in the august.  Used one half the first 6 months and constantly topped the other half. Not ideal but we needed to get the horses home to save paying huge mortgage and full livery on one horse at one yard and DIY at another.

To be honest the grazing is fine - we have had the horses on it for nearly 3 years now and have had to reseed the side we use in the winter once (fairly thinly 1 acre bag of seed did the whole 2.25 acres 

In the summer we have far too much grass! We are grazing 2 16.2's on it.

It will really all depend on the type of soil as much as anything


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## fine_and_dandy (5 March 2009)

Ahhh.  I thought that seeding may take a while to be established and was thinking along the lines of initially seeding the whole area, but have a particular area to be used over the winter (an area big enough that they can moved across if that part got trashed).  

My theory was that for example, in a year's time from the original seeding, horses could be moved to the other grazing and then rotated as needed to ensure the land is rested.  The land used over the winter could then be sorted out and given a while to sort itself out (we're talking approx 30 acres 
	
	
		
		
	


	




 ) so there wouldn't be an issue of not being establish the grazing.

Interesting about changing the use of the land - how difficult did you find it?  Is it generally difficult to change the original use of the land to one for equestrian use?


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## mrdarcy (5 March 2009)

I think they recommend you reseed and then don't graze for two years to allow a proper root structure to build up.  However that's in an ideal world and not practical for most of us.  My horses were out all winter on 4 acres that has been wheat and carrots in it's time.  This was the second winter it's been down to grass and have to admit it has got pretty trashed but nothing that a bit of reseeding won't fix.  And if you've got 30 acres to play with you're laughing.  

re the change of use - I imagine it will depend on your local council as to how easy it will be.  I believe in some areas its quite difficult but easy enough to ring your council and ask before you buy the land.


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## AlexThe Arab (5 March 2009)

Grass, whether it's been there a year or one hundred needs looking after if you want  *good*  grazing.  

After this years crop we will be putting 50 acres of land into arable reversion (for the cows) and will be using it next year.  
	
	
		
		
	


	





What was the last crop grown on the land you are interested in?


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## Donkeymad (5 March 2009)

I bought arable land and it is generally very healthy soil, as mine was. When I purchased mine it had been ploughed and re seeded. It took a few months before we 'actually' owned it and knew that we should leave the land for a year before starting to graze on it. We could not do this and very quickly moved one small pony into a corner. Although not ideal, because the pony was small, there was no damage done, but we refrained from grazing our cob until twelve months later. We have a lovely field now, supporting 7 animals.


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