Posts Tagged ‘Legume’

By practicing pasture rotation, you can reduce or eliminate the cost of hay during the growing season. If you put a little thought into how you rotate the pastures, you’ll not only save money, you will provide your horse with quality food. After reading this article, you will know when to rotate your horses on and off pastures.

Pasture Mix

If you are starting from scratch and seeding a new pasture, you can use this ‘recipe’ for seeding:

Pasture mix per acre
8 pounds alfalfa
3 pounds orchard grass
5 pounds bromegrass
if you want to add some clover, 1/2 pound will be plenty.

Once you turn your horses out in the spring, you will being your management. If you have included alfalfa and don’t rotate the horses out of the pasture when they have grazed it to the right height, you will start finding thistles and other weeds taking over. So, if you don’t plan to manage rotation carefully, and horses are allowed to graze too close, alfalfa may not be your choice. Perhaps you should add bluegrass instead. Your county extension office will have more information on the right types of grasses and legumes in your area.

Grasses will do best during the cooler days at the beginning and end of the growing season. Grasses are more durable and resist trampling by horses.

Legumes (alfalfa and other clovers) are more productive in warmer months. Legumes add protein for your horse and nitrogen for the grasses. They are more susceptible to trampling and overgrazing.

Pastures with a large percentage of legumes can lead to bloat. You want to introduce horses to grass/ legume pasture slowly. In the spring, when you and your horse are eager to get into the pasture, start slowly. Let the horses into the pasture for 20 minutes or a half hour the first couple of days. Do not turn hungry horses into the pasture – feed them hay before turning them out. Lengthen the time in the pasture a little bit over the next week or two, always feeding them hay before turning them out and provide a salt block and plenty of water to newly pastured horses.

If you plan on doing pasture rotation correctly, you will include a few hours of mowing and dragging after moving your horses off each pasture. If you don’t think you will do the mowing and dragging, it probably won’t be worth the extra money to include legumes in your pasture.

Carefully monitor grazing. I’m not going to get real technical here, I’ll just tell you the rule of thumb – when the forages reach 6 – 8 inches, put your horses in the pasture. Remove them after they have grazed to an average height of 3 or 4 inches. Keep in mind that if you have not planted alfalfa, and the pasture is mostly grass, you can let your horses graze it down to about 2 inches average.

Also remember that plants will grow faster in the spring and slower in the summer and fall. You may find that you need to mow a pasture because the grass is growing faster than the horses are eating. If the grass reaches higher than 8 inches and it is not time to move your horses to this pasture, mow it to about 4 inches. By timing your rotation to pasture height rather than by your calendar you can easily maintain a good pasture.

Uneven Grazing

Horses will graze younger, tastier pasture plants. When you rotate them out of the pasture, they may leave behind an uneven pasture with some tall legumes. If you allow the ungrazed plants to remain, they can shade out and stunt the growth of other forages.

Mowing Your Pasture

Regular mowing makes pastures more productive. It can also reduce herbicide usage.

After rotating your horses out of the pasture, mow the pasture with your mower set at about four inches. This will allow the good stuff to grow back. The bottom 2-3 inches of grasses are where the sugars and proteins are stored. These sugars and proteins are needed for regrowth.

Dragging Your Pasture

As soon as your horses are rotated out of the pasture, you will want to drag it. Dragging a pasture breaks up clumps of manure and spreads it evenly around. By breaking up the manure and exposing it to the sun, parasites are killed. By the time your horses are moved back into the pasture, the manure has turned into fertilizer and most parasites have been eliminated. Keep in mind that, although dragging breaks down manure faster, it will not kill all the parasites present. Keep your horses on a worming schedule.

You can use almost anything to drag your pasture. I’ve seen people use old bed springs and chain link fences with bricks laid on top. Most people around here use four wheelers to drag. They are easier to handle and it seems like everyone owns one now. If you have a lot of money to spare, you can buy a pasture drag.

Horse Pasture Rotation – Putting it All Together

I’ve crammed a lot of information in the above article. The actual management of horse pastures is really easy and doesn’t require much work. Using the information above, here is what it actually looks like in practice:

Starting with three or four pastures (I’ve got two horses on 3 – one acre pastures).

Put horses in pasture number one.

When the pasture is grazed down to about 3 inches average (nope, I don’t go out with a tape measure – I simply guestimate that the average height is about 3 inches), I move the horses to pasture number two. Hopefully pasture number two is at least six inches high.

Now, I take my drag into pasture number one and drag the pasture. Then I mow it with my mower set to four inches. It takes about a half hour to drag and 15 minutes to mow. I’m done for a week or so.

When pasture number two is grazed down to about 3 inches, I rotate the horses to pasture number three. I drag and mow pasture number one. I’m done for a week or so.

When pasture number three is grazed down to about three inches, I move the horses back to pasture number one and I drag and mow…

Very simple. Saves money. Makes my horses happy and healthy.

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Author: Di Stalter
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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Even more essential to horses than humans, a steady supply of good food and water is vital to horse health. Horses naturally spend most of their time chewing, swallowing, and digesting. As with most herd animals, the equine digestive system is meant to be constantly on the go and to process vast quantities of fibrous food that we would find utterly impossible. To give your horse the best chance at a happy, long life, I will outline the basics of food and water for your horse.

Food for Your Horse

There are understandable disagreements about the best food for a horse. After all, there are so many factors to consider, and each horse is unique within different environments. Individual horses have different nutritional requirements. Where and how the horse lives, the age of the horse, what kind of work the horse does, and the horse’s own physiology affects the optimal diet. In general, horses that are ridden hard in demanding disciplines, such as cattle work, need more calories than horses used for casual trail use. Therefore, the advice below will provide you with a solid understanding of the needs of most horses. Horse veterinarians will be your best source for your horse’s specific food requirements. He’ll have access to the horse’s records, and will be familiar with his nutritional needs. He will also be more aware of the types of locally available hay for your animal. What is plentiful in one part of the country may be far too expensive in another.

Hay is basically composed of plants that have been cut, dried, and baled. There are two types of hay, legumes and grasses. Alfalfa, rich in protein, calcium, and other nutrients, is the legume horses most commonly eat, though some vets believe it’s far too rich for horses, and should be left for cattle. The most common grass hays are timothy, orchard, and bermuda. Hay is a proper stable food for a horse. It provides roughage in addition to nutrition. Roughage is vital to keep the horse’s digestive system working properly and also satisfies the horse’s natural tendency to chew.

Hay cubes are concentrated blocks of hay. Hay cubes tend to be cheaper than hay and are good for older horses with worn-down teeth. This is because the cubes break apart easily when chewed. Cubes are less dusty, as well, so it’s easier on horses that may have respiratory problems. Cubes are also ideal for horses who have trouble maintaining a good weight. Nonetheless, most horses prefer baled hay to cubes because the normal hay gives them plenty on which to chew.

Pasture grass is the ideal staple food if there is enough volume and diversity of its content. Horses are happiest in pastures, and follow their instincts honed over thousands of years of browsing. You can verify that your pasture is of good quality by calling your local agricultural office. Ask an expert to inspect your pasture, and to help you analyze its nutritional content. Otherwise, supplementation of ordinary hay may be required. If it is less than optimal, measures can taken for fortify and improve a horse pasture. If you don’t have pasture land, and wish to create it, don’t begin without contacting a local agricultural agent for knowledge and help. Be forewarned; starting and maintaining a quality horse pasture can be a big undertaking.

Watering Your Horse

I can’t overemphasize the importance of providing plenty of clean, fresh water as part your horse’s daily care. Humans unwisely do without it daily, but a horse’s need for water is even more acute. The horse’s health and digestive ability heavily depends upon it. An automatic watering device that can be set up in the horse’s stall is best. A large bucket that you refill several times a day is an alternative, or a trough that holds enough water for a day or two at a time.

If you stable your horse where temperatures fall below freezing, you need to keep your horse’s water supply from turning to ice. Consider using a heating element made especially to work with horse watering devices or manually break the ice whenever it forms. Cold water doesn’t do horses any good. I recommend the heating element because it requires less work on your part and also keeps the water at a warmer temperature, encouraging your horse to drink.

Tanya Vorgan believes in the easiest way to learn — to teach others as she is learning. Her many interests have lead her to many exciting experiences, but sometimes nothing compares to the richness of quiet moments in which to reflect and grow. Tanya is also among those committed to the never-ending quest for the perfect cup of coffee, which for her begins with the best bar none Bunn coffee makers.

If you already own a Bunn, always use Bunn coffee filters to prevent overflow and to remove all chances of a bitter or papery taste in your coffee.

Author: Tanya Vorgan
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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