Horse Pasture Management

Transcription

1 Horse Pasture Management

2 Horse Grazing Trial Findlay, OH Looking for what works best!

3 What about feeding high sugar grasses to horses? What are high sugar grasses? Bluegrass Ryegrass Fescues Timothy Bromes Generally they are Cool season grasses grasses that horses will eat!

4 What are low sugar grasses? Switchgrass Bermudagrass Big and Little Bluestem Native grasses and warm season grasses grasses that horses won t eat or that will not withstand grazing pressure from horses.

5 How to Graze Horses ALWAYS have free-choice hay available ALWAYS have clean water readily available DO NOT turn hungry horses out to graze DO NOT graze horses on wet or frosted pasture (especially if there is clover in the pasture)

6 How to Graze Horses Gradually introduce horses to pastures in Spring Watch your horses daily for unusual behavior Walk (or ride!) your pastures daily looking for unusual weeds, downed fences, poisonous trees hanging down into pasture, etc )

7 Seed Choices: There is a Difference! Do Not use these seeds in a horse pasture! Alsike Clover Ky 31 Tall Fescue - endophyte VNS Tall Fescue - endophyte (?) Turf Type Ryegrass - endophyte and poor for grazing VNS Ryegrass - endophyte and poor for grazing

8 Seed Choices: There is a Difference! Pasture Perfect Mixes and Blends Assure improved varieties are in your mix At least 90% are improved varieties Varieties are chosen for pastures and grazing Top quality seed! Endophyte Free!

9 Pasture Perfect Mixes Show Horse Pasture Mix For: New Pastures (35-50#/ac) Grass Hay (35-50#/ac) Sow April-May Overseeding (15-25#/ac) Sow Feb-March or August

10 Pasture Perfect Mixes Renovator Special For: Overseeding (25-50#/ac) Plant March-mid April or in August Frostseeding (25-50#/ac) Sow mid-feb.-late March

11 How to have Improved Drought Tolerance for your Forages Fertilizer Program Grazing Program Variety Selection

12 Fertilizer Program Forages need Fertilizer! Spoon feed Nitrogen Keep P&K med-high+ Keep ph 6.0+ for grasses and clovers Keep ph 6.7+ for alfalfa

13 Fertilizer Program /200/300 # s fertilizer applied-msu

14 0#-Nitrogen 150#-Nitrogen MSU- Summer 2002

15 Species Fertility Yield Data-MSU Yield 0-N ( cuts) Yield 100-N Yield 200-N Yield 300-N LSD Diploid PRg * 6.39* Tetraploid PRg * 5.84* 7.03* 0.91 Festulolium * 6.20* Tall fescue * 5.43* Orchardgrass * 4.87*

16 Grazing Management Split your pasture into smaller paddocks Rotationally Graze your paddocks Graze grasses from 8 down to 4

17 Old Rule of Thumb TAKE HALF AND LEAVE HALF

18 Rest period Between Grazings is a Critical Factor! Graze or harvest your forage Before You See Seed Heads REST allows forage to Develop Root reserves which will Increase Yield

19 Let Pastures Rest! What your pasture looks like when you take the animal out (of the pasture) is more important than what it looks like when you turn them in. -Jim Gerrish U-MO

20 When to plant Late Winter-Early Spring Before or Around... Late Summer-Early Fall Around...

21 How to NOT Plant a Pasture If using oats: Plant at 1 bu/acre MAX! Cut when oats are tall Do NOT let oats go to seed!!!!!!! The pasture grass seedlings need light to grow Looking for the pasture among the trees

22 How to NOT Plant a Pasture

23 How to NOT Plant a Pasture DO NOT Plant too Deep! ¼ maximum depth Pasture grass planted with oats all at 2 deep Where is my grass? Buried too deep!

24 This field needs to be firmed more. You cannot plant your seed ¼ deep in loose soil like this.

25 Before sowing your seed you should be able to barely leave a foot print. After sowing you should be able to walk on top without sinking in.

26 Varietal Selection Choose species/varieties that exhibit improved drought tolerance Tekapo Orchardgrass Duo Festulolium Bronson TF Alfalfas

27 Forage Grasses

28 Tekapo Orchardgrass Grazing Type of Orchardgrass Persistent under heavy grazing #1 in University of Kentucky Horse Grazing Trials! Very dense, prostrate plant type Leafier Variety (less stems to poke eyes) High Quality Grass Used in: Show Horse Pasture Mix

29 Tekapo OG handles grazing! Poor Horse Pasture Mix Tekapo OG University of Kentucky Horse Grazing Trial -year 2

30 Duo Festulolium Top ranking in U-K Horse Grazing trial Endorsed and recommended by several University Forage Agronomists! Duo is a cross between Meadow Fescue and Perennial Ryegrass and is Endophyte-free

31 Varieties and Species do make a difference! Higher Yielding varieties and species Some grasses graze better than others Greater digestibility/palatability Forage Quality differences can be significant Always choose improved varieties there are no good deals on cheap seed! Be sure to use

32 Keys to Success Good Management Proper Seed & Seed Placement Fertilize Rotate Pasture Clip Pasture Good Horse Sense Know when to ask for help! Good Horse Knowledge Good Weather (At least we can control 2 out of three!)

33 THANK YOU!