Many horse owners rely on pasture for their horse’s feed during the
summer months, buying hay only for the winter. If you keep your horse pasture maintained
(and provide fresh water and trace-mineralized salt) your horse can be maintained,
without supplementing hay, on your pasture during the growing season.
Without proper maintenance, your pasture will not be able to support
the nutritional needs of your horse
If your pasture has many weeds and/or brush you will want to revive it
before putting your horses out.
If broadleaf weeds are a problem, you may need to apply herbicides.
When using an herbicide, do not allow your horses to graze in this pasture for two
months.
Apply 2-4-D in the spring before weeds are taller than three inches.
The trick to using a product like 2-4-D is to apply it when weeds are actively growing. I
like to apply it in the spring, just before a light rain or, better yet, when it is
drizzling out. The weeds soak the poison up and quickly die.
I’m not saying that you can’t kill weeds later in the summer with
2-4-D, but it is important to understand that the spring season is when weeds are greedy
for growing and will soak up the poison much faster. You’ll get more bang for your buck
when you do this task in the spring.
Keep in mind that legumes are broad leafed. An herbicide will kill
legumes. If the pasture contains legumes, apply herbicides to weed infested areas only or
plan to replant the legumes in your pasture.
Replanting legumes must be done occasionally whether you use herbicides
or not. How often depends on where you live and how well you manage your pasture. When
you notice less than 2 legumes per square foot in your pasture, plan to replant.
If you have a small pasture, it is possible to reseed by hand. Larger
pastures require either a tractor attached broadcaster or a no-till drill.
Best Practices for Pasture Management
Pasture Rotation – If you want your pasture to provide your
horse with all the nutrition he needs, you must use pasture rotation. If you only have
one small pasture, and cannot rotate to another pasture, take the horse off the pasture
when he has grazed it down to about 3 inches. You’ll have to experiment until you find
out how long it takes for your horse to graze to this height.
The pasture needs to rest for about three weeks before allowing your
horse to graze it again.
Mowing – After our horses have grazed a pasture, and we have
rotated them to a new pasture, we mow the “just grazed pasture” to about four inches (the
height of your mower will depend on the type of grass in your pasture. - Shorter grass
like Kentucky Bluegrass and perennial ryegrass should be mowed to about 3 inches. Taller
grasses like orchardgrass and tall fescue should be mowed to about 4 inches.) Mowing
keeps any existing legume from becoming tough and more palatable. It also reduces weeds
and the risk of eye irritation caused by plants going to seed.
Dragging - Dragging your pasture after mowing will break up
the manure and evenly distribute the nutrients. Dragging exposes parasite eggs to the
sun which kills them. Dragging will also reduce “selective grazing” because horses tend
to avoid grazing areas soiled by manure.
Managing your horse pasture isn’t hard once you establish your
management procedures. It takes very little time and saves quite a bit of money.
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