I am moving my horses to my own property and am pretty clueless about pasture management. Do I need to remove waste from the pasture on a regular basis or will nature take care of that? I am sure this depends on the amount of space per horse…my estimate is each pasture is about 2 acres and there are no more than 2 horses per pasture. I know this is a personal preference depending on your horses physical state and the quality of the grass but I’d like to know if you supplement your horse with hay even though they are free to graze or is grass enough? Thanks!
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you should go and pick up your horses dung every day or so, especially if only horses will grazing your pasture. If you dont the grass will go sour and the horses wont like it, it will also increase the chance of worms. If you dont have time to pick it up and remove it another way is to just walk through the paddock and kick the poo around to spread it out a bit, this will help stop souring the grass and expose parasites to sunlight, which they dont like. also make sure you have a good knowledge of poisonous plants so that you can remove them from your pasture. Make sure also that your fences are well maintained, no loose wire etc.
In summer grass can be enough but in the winter it is a good idea to supplement with hay atleast.
If you worm your horses regularly and rotate the pastures, nature will take care of it. I don’t pick my pastures (paddocks, yes; pastures, no).
Horses will naturally avoid eating near their piles, and usually establish toilet areas where they go to ****. Because they don’t eat near the manure, they’re less likely to pick up parasite eggs/larvae. Don’t harrow them - spreading the manure out will just spread the parasites far and wide; it does not harm them. If you spread the piles, the horses cannot avoid ingesting the parasites with the grass.
The most important thing is not to let the fields get overgrazed - rotate between them. It’s a good idea to have one small paddock as a mud lot and for winter turnout so you don’t destroy the grass.
Mow the fields regularly to discourage weeds and rank grass.
I supplement with hay from October through May, as in my area the grass doesn’t grow then. In the summer, there’s more than enough, and no hay is necessary… in fact, if I offer it, they don’t eat it.
Enjoy having your horses at home! I love looking out my windows and watching mine.
I have a chain drag that I use on my field once a week. It breaks up the manure.
I also mow the ‘potty’ rough area down very low.
In my small pasture area (about an acre and a half) I will pick up the manure that is close to the barn so the ground doesn’t get soggy and help keep the flies down.
My pastures total approximately 8+ acres. 3 horses.
Acreage in ( )
I have them divided up into a paddock (.25), a small pasture(1.25) a large pasture (4) and a medium pasture (3) and my front yard (2). I rotate them around so one pasture will have at least 3 weeks of rest between grazing.
By mid/late September all pastures are opened.
In the spring the fields are closed and limed. They are kept in a paddock. After a minimum of 30 days after lime and grass is growing well we then do a slow release out (20 minutes and work up to 2 hours in 3 weeks) and during the mid afternoon sun only. No morning sun or dusk grazing. Hay is provided.
Summer: No hay. Rotate fields. You can supplement with a flake of hay each and see if they will eat it. Mine won’t as I don’t have Timothy. If I had that…they would eat that over grazing for grass! (and they wouldn’t be so dang fat now!)
Autumn: Start hay when grass is short and stopped growing. For me it’s in October (South east USA)
Winter: fenced off pastures except paddock and small pasture. Horses are digging up the grass roots and destroying field. Give plenty of hay
All of this pasture did wonderfully until I got the third horse. Now it’s tough grazing BUT..this grass is high in calories and sugar. My horses are obese even with no hay or grain! This spring they will not have 24/7 turnout and will be monitored closely.
I have always been able to keep my horses on my own farm. The place has always been set up for livestock of some description. The horses are allowed shelter in the barn at all times if they want it, so 24/7 they also have access to pasture, it is their choice. No I do not clean up their poo in the pasture, nature looks after that. During the summer the horses do fine with out me giving them hay. I have one small pasture that is not adjacent to the barn, it is more or less used as “the extra pasture. Most of the time the horses are put in there for the day. If I see that the grass in any of those pasture is beginning to look over grazed, I will let it “rest” till it gets some growth on it. As you say we all have our own way of feeding and managing our pastures, what ever works. A horse will be happy to be out in the fresh air and having fresh water and grass to eat and the social life with other horses…they do not ask for a lot nor do they need a lot of pampering. Allow them to be a horse.
Cleaning there pasture isnt nessasary if u keep up with there worming and proper pestisite care but its fine and usualy horses will develop and spot to **** after a while. Also, depending what you do with your horse you should supplement with hay and possible grain. Your correct with the qualty of the grass they are grazzing on. If its poor then hay 3 times a day might be needed. If you do any physica work with your horse i would feed hay and grain. But dont forget the most important Water offered 24/7!!! =) Good luck….
You will need to pick up manure….it is amazing how much two horses make, and how fast it accumulates. Our pastures are of similar size and we have two horses. If they are out day and night, it will be needed more often. If they are only out during the day, then you might get by for a couple of weeks. We used to do it every day before we got a harrow and drag. Now, we use that once a week in the pastures and it does a great job of dispersing the manure into tiny bits so they degrade into the ground. we also mow it to 4 inches periodically to maintain the quality of the grass. A good amount of our manure is dropped around the run in shelter, and that all gets picked up twice a day and put into garbage containers. When all ten are full, we haul them to the composting facility down the road. Do you have a place to put all your manure? That was a big issue for us when we first moved here. We tried our own compost heap, but that didn’t work out. Luckily, the composting facility opened up just in time for us to benefit.
We have two horses and they have hay 24/7 free choice year round….much more in winter, but it is always available. My hard keeper gelding gets that, pasture, and senior feed about 4 lb a day in summer and 5 to 6 lbs in winter. Each horse is different. My easy keeper mare has to wear a grazing muzzle part of the time or she gets huge. I would plan on feeding hay in addition to pasture. Also be sure they have a salt block and a mineral block. I keep mine in the run in shelter next to the water trough.
I am guessing by your wording, that you are an adult with some experience; you got answers at both ends of the spectrum so I don’t know if you are closer than before in knowing what to do.
Be sure to have a dry/mud lot to move them into when
a) new grass comes in and you have to restrict the time on it to prevent founder
b) they have overgrazed or lack of rain takes it below 4″ high (root damage to your pasture grass results)
c) the ground is so wet due to rain/snow melt that turning them on it would destroy the pasture ( like when it ***** your boots off)
Supplementing: if you are not giving grain or pellets, Purina and others make a mineral supplement (not a standard red salt/mineral block) that provides the nutrients needed for horses on pasture or hay forage. You will know if your horses need hay based on whether they leave it and waste it when grass is in green and what their body condition is like.
Cattlemen have this down to a science. Visit your ag office, your County Extension Office and your USDA office. We are always getting notices on meetings on how to increase forage and properly set up pastures and grazing. Just this week we went to a free dinner sponsored by a feed and seed store that had reps in to lecture about seed available and distancing from water, etc. I’ve learned a lot going to these cattle and forage workshops.
Lastly, we use fly predators in our pastures. They virtually wipe out most flies (not horse flies or the little black ones that bite in their ears).
It makes life so much easier not to have to spray everybody. We just use fly masks with ears.
Don’t be upset when your lush pastures look like barren spots or mud holes. It will happen at one time. Put them in the mud lot and reseed and tell the bad ponies that they are stuck there because they ate everything in sight. They will still love you.
