Best Practices for Pasture Management:
By Connie Lechleitner
Penn State University’s Dr. Ann Swinker Shares Tips for Maintaining Your Pastures
Lush, green pastures that look almost like a golf course. When you think of the ideal pasture, many of us picture this scenario. While we all want those lush, green pastures, it’s important to determine the goal of our pastures, says Ann Swinker, PhD, equine extension specialist with Penn State University.
“Is your goal for your pasture to provide exercise and turn-out for your horse? Or is it to provide daily nutrient intake?” she asks. “For many of us, it’s somewhere in between.”
How Horses Consume Pasture
As we study pasture management, it’s important to understand the biology of horses and their forage, she noted. “Horses are grazing, herbivore animals who get most of their nutrients from plants. They’re also hind-gut fermenters, and have a digestive system that is backwards from a cow’s,” Swinker said.
“Horses are biologically set up to consume forage, and they have microorganisms in their hind gut that were made to digest pretty fibrous material. They will consume one and a half to two percent of their body weight each day, and along with clean water, salt and minerals, they can meet all of their daily nutritional requirements unless they are pushed beyond maintenance. In fact, 70 percent of their diet should be made up of forage or protein.”
The key advantages to pasture grazing are enhanced overall health, less stress and reduced feed costs. “Your neighbors like your lush pastures, too,” Swinker said. “In addition, pasturing allows you to spread compost more evenly and reduces the manure pile and bedding that accumulates.”
The Pros and Cons of Pasture
Some of the disadvantages associated with pasture grazing are soil erosion, weeds, and water contamination. “Horse owners must also deal with controlling weight gain, issues regarding colic and laminitis, and managing toxic weeds and parasites in the fields.
Swinker noted that while it is easy to say that the pasture doesn’t cost a horse owner, in reality the costs do add up. “Let’s say you spent $50,000 on three acres, paid $3,000 in taxes, $10,000 for a fence,” she said. “Add $1,000 in fertilizer, $10,000 on a tractor and $1,000 on a mower and you’ve got a $75,000 investment.”
What to Plant
Because plants provide nutrition, carbohydrates, protein, minerals and fiber to the horse’s diet, Swinker suggested providing a mix of cool season and warm season plants to allow for growing plants throughout the summer and fall seasons. Among her favorites are timothy, orchard grass or brome grass mixed with a little white clover, red clover or alfalfa to put nitrogen back into the soil.
Because different species of grass peak at different times in the growing season, Swinker noted that the number of horses that can be supported per acre will vary.
“Depending on the species and time of year, for example in April, you might only be able to support one horse per acre on a 10 acre field, but by July you might be able to support 11 horses,” she said.
Watching Grass Grow
Managing horses on pasture also means watching the maturation of the plants and responding as needed. “In the spring, grass is in its vegetative state and has the most nutrients,” she said. “Once it gets into seed head, it reaches the reproductive state and horses don’t like it as well, because it becomes more woody and fibrous. At that point you need to mow it. Mowing also gets rid of weeds.”
Swinker also suggests that seeding new pastures can be a year-long process before horses can graze on it. “If you graze young plants too soon, they’ll die, so you need to be careful putting horses on it too soon,” she said.
Weed sprays can also be helpful in the pasture. “You can spot spray weeds, and keep in mind that some sprays do require that you be licensed. Some sprays can also have a residual affect up to four years and can impact your compost and farmer’s or gardeners’ crops,” Swinker said. “If you have weeds you are unsure of, your extension service can help you identify and treat them.”
Dividing and Conquering Grass
Swinker suggests the use of rotational grazing practices to make the most efficient use of the pasture space available. “It’s tough to maintain unlimited turnout and allow higher animal density while still maintaining proper vegetative cover, unless you irrigate, mow, overseed, fertilize and rotate pasture space,” she said.
“For example, if I have a 10 acre field that is a traditional pasture, I may have a perimeter fence, a shelter and water source,” Swinker said. “If I divide that 10 acres into two, four or even eight smaller cells, and keep a corral or sacrifice dry lot near the shelter and water source, I can make more efficient use of my pasture. My horse would graze on the first cell for one to two weeks, then move to the second cell for one to two weeks, and so on. By rotating cells, I allow the different cells to recover and regenerate new grass growth, and save against overgrazing any one cell.”
Swinker recommends establishing a holding paddock, dry lot or sacrifice lot, to allow a place for horses to go when the field is too wet, or to limit grazing time on lush grass. “You want to establish the lot on a slight slope, close to a hay and water source,” she said. “Pay special attention to drainage, and consider using a geotextile under sand or limestone screenings or even wood chips. If you use wood, avoid black walnut or cherry, which is toxic to horses. The surface will be similar to a riding arena, and in fact many horse owners use the space for training and exercise if it is large enough.
Grading Your Pasture’s Condition
Just like humane officers give horses a body condition score, you can also give your pasture a condition score, Swinker said. “At Penn State, we established a Frisbee method of grading, by sending Frisbees into the field. Wherever they land, we look at the percentage of desirable plants at that spot. Less than 75 percent vegetation is considered an erosion issue, while 80 percent or more of cover is good. Weeds are better than bare ground, but having lush nutritious plants is obviously best.
Swinker reminds horse owners that pasture management is a continuous task. “You can never say you’re done,” she said. However, with proper maintenance, you can achieve the lush, green pasture that you’ve always dreamed of.
To learn more about Penn State’s Equine Pasture Evaluation Disc, visit http://mysare.sare.org/mySARE/assocfiles/940872EPED%20FactSheet1.pdf%20final%206-6.pdf.
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