Five Steps To Horse Pasture Management

There are five steps to a great horse pasture. These include:

1. Learn What You Have: Test the soil.

2. Fix What You Have: Overseed And Renovate

3. Keep What You Have: Make A Sacrifice Area

4. Control Grazing Patterns

5. Control Weeds

OK. Let's get started.

Step 1. Learn What You Have: Test The Soil

If your pastures have not been tested for nutrient levels within the last 2-3 years, now is a good time to do it. Your local Agricultural Extension can perform an analysis, send you the results, and recommend quantities of fertilizer and lime needed to produce maximum pasture yield.

Follow the recommendations for fertilizer application and repeat yearly. While fertilization can be done at any time of the year, you will get the most benefit if you fertilize cool season grasses in the fall. This is when most weeds die back, and grasses are dormant in their “above ground” growth. During this time, fertilizers penetrate more deeply into the soil and help build strong, drought-resistant roots.

Proper pH levels will ensure that pasture grasses can readily absorb their much-needed nutrients and provide the maximum yield.

Lime applications are equally effective at any time of the time of the year. However, no more than the total recommended amount should be applied over a three year period. After three years, you will need to re-test the soil.

Step 2. Fix What You Have: Overseed And Renovate

Over-seeding replenishes the grass in an existing pasture area. For pastures with cool season grass mix, it is best to over-seed during the late summer or early fall.

Usually over-seeding requires some soil preparation, unless the process is combined with pasture renovation. Pasture renovation includes filling depressions and eroding areas with topsoil (not composted material), and then seeding. This is a routine pasture management task.

Do not allow horses to graze the field for one full year after you have achieved growth in the renovated pasture area. During the wait, consider cutting the grass for hay. If you cannot keep the field unused for an entire year, then renovate the area in sections, a year at a time.

Step 3. Keep What You Have: Make A Sacrifice Area

Sacrifice areas are key to successful pasture management, especially if your have limited acreage. They allow your pastures to rest and recover from intense grazing. For one or two horses, a sacrifice area can be as little as a 350 sq. ft. (14’ X 25’) fenced in area. Provide hay and drinking water and your horses can exercise without harm to your pastures.

In a newly established pasture, keep the horses in the sacrifice area until after a year of growth. After a year, allow up to half of the available grass to be grazed. Then give the field a chance to recover, until re-growth is about six inches.

A good sacrifice area will have good drainage. It also helps to divert all runoff away from the area. Every day (and especially before a rain) remove waste from your sacrifice area.

Step 4. Control Grazing Patterns

Fencing off separate grazing areas into smaller fields can control how, when and where your horses graze. Shorter grazing periods and rotation through pastures keeps the grass resilient, prevents weed growth, provides a longer grazing season, controls erosion and evenly distributes manure. Just a few hours of grazing on a good stand of pasture can be combined with supplementary feed to meet your horse's nutritional needs.

Creating separate grazing field can be done with temporary fencing. Once a pasture area has been grazed down to about 2–3 inches high, rest the area. If the pasture is unevenly grazed, mow it for uniform regrowth. Clean up manure piles and keep horses out of water-saturated pastures to prevent damage. This is a helpful pasture management technique and helps keep flies to a minimum.

Step 5. Control Weeds

Fertilization, liming, regular mowing and controlled grazing will all help keep weeds to a minimum. But pasture management is not always enough to control difficult weeds. Learn to identify the common weeds in your area so you can determine how best to control them. Contact your cooperative extension for information to learn what herbicides work best in your area and when to apply them. Choosing the right herbicide will ensure that your use the least amount possible. There are also some non-toxic herbicides that may work for your situation.

Always compost horse manure to kill weed seeds and use a high quality seed mix that contains low percentage of weed seeds.

These steps will help keep your horses (and your pastures) healthy.

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