|
Fincas are not for the faint hearted. Before embarking on buying one you should try to read up on the subject. One book I recommend is Sierras of the South by Alastare Boyd.
His account of his own heart breaking battle with the land should be enough to put anybody off. However for those of you who forged ahead with reckless abandon let me offer the benefit of my personal experience.
I have found the best and simplest way to feed horses off your own land is to grow oats.
These I sow just before San Miguel in September (this is our local feria so it’s guaranteed to rain). I simply walk over the field scattering the seed in the time honoured fashion.
Afterwards a liberal sprinkling of 15/15/15
fertiliser is sprinkled on the land AFTER the seed has been ploughed in. The horses are then tethered so they can “creep feed”. This saves you having to scythe the crop.
Then
just wait for the crop to appear. Keep the horses off for at least a month to let the toxicity of the abono (fertiliser) wear off. I let the horses graze this green freely all winter. Alternatively you can tether them and let them creep feed it.
Yet another method is to keep them off altogether and scythe it when ripe in May or June.
|
