FACT SHEET
Department of Animal
Science, University of Connecticut
Effective Horse Management - Third in
the Best Practices Series
Pasture: Evaluation and Management of Existing
Pasture
By Dr. Jenifer Nadeau,
Equine Extension Specialist
University of Connecticut
Pasture management
is very important for horse owners. By
managing horse pastures more effectively, horse managers can increase forage
production, lower production costs, improve aesthetics, and promote a healthier
environment. The benefits of a
well-managed pasture include reducing environmental impacts of your operation,
including movement of soil and manure to water bodies; improving property
aesthetics, which makes for good neighbor relations and increases property
value; and providing feed and recreation for your horses. Using a rotational grazing system can enhance
these benefits.
For
optimal health, horses need to eat 1 to 1.5% of their body weight in hay or
pasture grasses and legumes daily (15 lbs of dry matter intake for a 1,000 lb
horse). Horses will generally eat about
1-1.4 lbs of pasture grasses and legumes per hour on a dry matter basis if they
have enough pasture available. With
24-hour access to good quality pasture, a horse grazing 17 hours each day can
consume up to 25 lbs as forage, which is more than enough to satisfy his daily
dry matter intake. A minimum of 11-15
hours per day on good quality pasture would be needed to meet the dry matter
intake of 1.5% body weight.
Evaluation of
Current Pasture
Begin by
evaluating your pasture. Move hay and
water troughs every year to encourage even plant growth and reseed with grass
species that can stand up to horses’ hooves (such as orchardgrass,
Kentucky bluegrass, and perennial ryegrass).
When planting, check to see if bare areas are heavily compacted. If you can’t push the blade of a trowel into
the ground, loosen the soil with a tiller before reseeding. Next, eliminate areas of standing water by regrading the area or installing drains after checking with
your local government environmental agency to be sure that it is not a
wetland. Eliminating standing water will
benefit your pasture; it will also be an aid in disease control, since
mosquitoes and other insects tend to breed in standing water. Identify plants in your pasture and see if
what you seeded last spring is present.
If plants you seeded last spring are not present, you need to reevaluate
your seeding methods and try planting again.
You also want to remove poisonous plants with an herbicide.
Management
Resting
pastures is critical! Recovery time for grasses ranges from 10 to as many as 60
days, depending upon season, weather, and soil characteristics. Generally
expect to wait at least 14 days for grasses to regrow
to grazing height in spring, and 30 or more days in summer. A good rule of
thumb for grazing in
A rule of thumb is to graze animals
when grass is 6 to 8 inches high. Rest grass when it is grazed down halfway (3
to 4 inches high). “Graze ˝, leave ˝.” Grazing 50% only removes 2-4% of
growth but grazing it 60% removes over 50% of growth! Grazing plants too short may
cause horses to ingest soil resulting in sand colic, remove growing points of
grass and take longer to recover pasture, allow more weeds to invade the
pastures, increase the chance for consumption of toxic plants and increase the
need for weed control. However, a
Kentucky bluegrass and white clover pasture can be grazed beginning at 4 inches
of height. Bluegrass
is tolerant of shorter grazing heights, and sunshine will stimulate al grasses
and legumes.
In
springtime when grasses are growing quickly, you may need to move horses
through the rotation faster or work in a mowing regime as well in order to
prevent plants from getting too mature and unpalatable before they’ve been grazed.
If you make hay, you may choose instead to withhold 1/2 of your pasture from
your grazing system so that you can harvest a first cutting from it. After regrowth, this area may be added back into your rotation
system.
Experiment
with portable electric fencing systems to subdivide pastures into paddocks.
Paddocks are usually large pens or a small pasture that encompass one-half to
several acres. Ensure that the permanent perimeter fencing is sturdy and
reliable. Portable or temporary fencing allows flexibility in how much area you
give your horses daily. It also facilitates mowing and haying operations due to
the ease of picking it up and getting it out of the way. Subfencing is not
good for foals and weanlings, however.
Over time you may find that you are placing your fences in the same
places, and choose to erect permanent fencing in its place.
Keep
grasses in their "vegetative" state with a combination of grazing and
mowing. Harvesting grass before it gets too tall will prevent it from becoming
reproductive, also known as "going to seed." Mature grass is coarser,
stemmy, and not as palatable or nutritious as leafy,
actively growing plants. Clip weeds before they form a seed head to reduce the
weed seed in your pastures and control woody plants such as tree and shrub
seedlings, which may invade open areas. Ideally, a paddock should be mowed as
soon as possible every time animals are removed and rotated on to the next
paddock. Just like grazing, you should
allow grasses to grow to
Soil
test pastures to determine the need for fertilizer and lime, and follow
recommendations. If pasture is new or has not received lime and fertilizer for
many years, you may wish to test for 2-3 years in a row to establish a healthy
fertility level. After that, a test every 3 years is sufficient. Remember that
if soil pH is too low, any fertilizer you apply may not be accessible to the
grass, resulting in a waste of money!
“Drag” or chain harrow pastures as needed to break up and
spread manure piles. This will help
manure to be broken down more quickly, spread fertility more uniformly, and dry
out parasite eggs more quickly. During
wet weather, parasites may not be controlled by this method, so manure should
only be spread during dry weather periods.
Be sure to follow a regular deworming
program. Removing feces twice weekly
from pasture, is an effective parasite control method according to a study by
RP Herd in 1986.
Animals
should be fenced out of wetland areas, because they can cause damage to these
fragile environments. When thinking
about fencing, you should consider safety first. Fences should be clearly visible to horses
and not located at the base of a hill where horses can easily run into
them. Some good options for fencing are
small wire mesh, post and rail, PVC, or electric fencing. Fences should be designed so that horses
cannot get their hooves caught in the openings.
Barbed wire should never be used around horses.
Introduction
of Horses to Pasture
If not grazing year round, be sure to gradually introduce horses to spring pasture. There is no need to do this if horses are
maintained on pasture year round, since the growth of pastures in the spring is
not rapid enough to warrant stalling horses that are typically turned out. The only time to worry about this is if
horses are stalled with no turnout and all of a sudden in the spring are going
to be allowed pasture. Pasture grasses
are high in sugars (sucrose, glucose, fructose and fructan)
particularly during rapid growth. The
simple sugars (sucrose, glucose, and fructose) can be digested in the small
intestine by the horse but not the fructans, which
reach the horse’s large intestine undigested.
The fructans are then rapidly fermented by the
action of microbial enzymes with the production of lactic acid and a decrease
in cecal pH leading to colic and laminitis. The first day or two after the onset of
pasture growth, try to limit grazing to 30 minutes to 1 hour. Then gradually increase the time over the
next 7-10 days. Avoid grazing laminitis
prone horses and ponies on spring or lush pasture that may trigger laminitis. Use a dry lot for overweight horses and
ponies.
Careful
management of land resources will ensure greater production of healthy
grasses. Managing horses carefully on
grasses will enable you to maintain them in good health and prevent laminitis
and other problems from occurring. By
following these guidelines, you will be more able to maintain healthy horses
and healthy pastures.
Sources:
Flack S. Undated. Pasture
Management for Horses.
Herd RP. Jan 1986. Pasture
hygiene: a nonchemical approach to equine endoparasite control. Modern
Veterinary Practice 67(1): 36-38.
Hill C. 1990. Horsekeeping On A Small Acreage: Facilities Design and
Management. p. 106.
Peterson P.R. March 1997.
Developing a Grazing Management Plan for Horses. Crop and Soil Environmental
News.
Russell MA, White HE, and Antoniewicz RJ. 1993. Pastures for Horses. Horse Industry Handbook 730-1-730-9.
Singer JW, Bobsin N, Bamka WJ, Kluchinshi D. Sept 1999. Horse Pasture Management. Journal of Equine Veterinary Science 19(9):
540-545,585-586,588-592.
Washko W. 1968. An Outline for Pasture Improvement.