Herd Grazing

$120 p/w

*includes all feed

Full Livery options available

Herd Grazing at Makino provides your horse with the ‘3 Fs’. Friends – Forage – Freedom. This option caters for a wide range of horses and ponies, from weanlings to retirees and everything in between. Herds are matched based on the horses social and dietary needs and horses are checked at least twice daily and fed daily.

Your horse will be fed each morning with an individual feed of Harvest Grain Timothy Smart Feed and Kohnke’s Own Cell Vital minerals, which of course is warm in winter! We are more than happy to add in any supplements you might provide for your horse.

Our herd grazing option includes the use of all the facilities at Makino as well as the organised group hacks and outings.

Paddocks are strip grazed the majority of the year, rested and crossed grazed with cattle to help keep parasites in check and maintain a sustainable, healthy pasture sward to nourish your horse all year round. All paddock management including daily tape moving, harrowing or mucking out and weed control is carried out by Makino. All you need to do is come and enjoy your horse.

Our large paddocks ensure plenty of space to encourage movement and natural horse behaviour, with a maximum group size of around 6 horses.

Over winter our herds are fed hay or haylage daily as well as a break of fresh grass. Our low stocking rates and sustainable pasture management means there is always a break of grass in front of your horse, even in the middle of winter. Hay for our herds is grown right here at Makino so we can ensure they are provided with the best quality forage with equine appropriate, low sugar species. Click here for more info on our low sugar pastures.

Herd grazing includes all paddock management and daily care with full livery options available should you require rugging, holding for the vet or farrier, handling or exercise. Click here for further information on livery options.

As well as general herd grazing suitable for the majority of horses, Makino has dedicated herds for horses with more specific needs.

Young horses

We have a dedicated youngster herd established with the young, growing horse in mind. This herd ensures appropriate socialisation with other youngsters and an older mare to keep everyone in line. Our paddocks for youngsters are spacious with lots of variation in topography and natural aspects to keep curious minds and bodies active.  These pastures are managed to ensure young ones are exposed to electric tapes in a controlled environment with grass break fed over much of the year to ensure a managed diet of horse appropriate forage. Ad lib hay and haylage is fed to this herd over winter, keeping bellies full and bodies warm and growing. Our young horse grazing combines the best aspects of ‘hill country’ turnout and managed livery. Your horse can find its feet on the hills within a social herd while still receiving all the nutrients and daily care as if they were in your back yard. This herd is close enough to the facilities that it is an easy walk to bring them in to the yards for handling, vet and hoof care visits, or just a pamper day. We provide options for weanlings to allow for a smooth transition into our youngster herd while ensuring they receive plenty of handling and education to help ensure they become a well educated and mannered friend for life.

Retirees and Special Needs

While every horse is special, Makino has a huge soft spot for our older friends and horses with additional needs. We provide turnout grazing with carefully managed pastures to reduce the risk of laminitis for horses with metabolic issues, equine metabolic syndrome (EMS) or cushings (PPID). Our retiree herd is suitable for horses that require a more laid back lifestyle while still having a varied environment, lots of space to move and plenty of shelter.  Many of our ‘retirees’ are very much still enjoying the ridden part of their life while others are enjoying their days in relaxed environment with friends and freedom.

FAQs

  • Yes! There is plenty of space for you to store your tack, gear and rugs.

  • We have limited float parking on site however we normally have space to store floats if needed. Please note that floats stored on the property must be well maintained and have a current registration and WOF.

  • No. Our pastures are very carefully managed to minimise weeds and unwanted pasture species. Bringing hay onto the property introduces seeds which might not be desirable. We have plenty of hay available on site for you to use in hay nets when yarding or floating your horses. All winter hay and balage is included in the weekly grazing charge so you don’t need to worry about sourcing or storing any hay.

  • Yes! You’re more than welcome to store additional feed at Makino and feed it when you come out to visit your horse.

  • Of course. We’re more than happy to add one or two supplements to your horses daily feeds such as 4Cyte, Digest rite or any other supplement we can fit into our containers on the motorbike!

  • You’re more than welcome to ride your horse on our property at any time. There is also quiet road riding available and some farm hacking which we organise for group rides with a neighbouring farm.

  • You can bring your dog with you but they must be kept on a lead when around the yards and house. Please note that we have entire dogs (male and female) that are out and about so please leave your bitch on heat or entire male dog at home.

  • For the safely of our herd members only front steel shoes are appropriate. You’re more than welcome to have fully shod horses in private paddocking.

  • You can visit your horse as little or as often as you wish! Regardless of how often you visit your horse is treated as one of our own and is checked on at least twice daily. We will notify you of anything out of the ordinary ASAP.

  • If you think you want to use the arena on your own, we have a fb page for you to let others know things like this. Otherwise, it is a shared facility free to use at any time.

  • Lizzie Maundrell from Hoofcare and Horsemanship has us on her schedule and visits us every 5 weeks. Lizzie is a superb hoofcare professional and we recommend her while you are grazing at Makino.

  • Definitely! We have floats available for casual hire. If you don’t have a tow vehicle, we are more than happy to help where possible.

  • In the very sad event that your horse passes away while grazing at Makino we can offer to bury them on the property for you should ground conditions allow. The bond which is paid at the beginning of your time here will cover all the costs of burying your friend.