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Horse Grazing on Small Acreages

Horse Grazing on Small Acreages Dirk Philipp, PhD, Associate Professor - Forages, University of Arkansas Property owners who want to keep horses often face a dilemma: how to fulfill a longtime wish for you loved ones with perhaps little land available. At the urban-rural interface, 5 to 10-acre patches are sometimes developed into so-called ‘ranchetts’ with the purpose of providing larger lots for potential home buyers. While those sizes are certainly large enough to keep 1-3 horses, it lacks all the infrastructure farms usually provide that would keep pasture land productive and in good shape. Here are some recommendations for keeping everyone happy, the family, the pasture, and the horse. Settle on a forage that can take some abuse In Arkansas, the most practical options are tall fescue and Bermudagrass. Tall fescue is persistent enough under grazing that fescue is a good forage to start with. Although Kentucky 31 fescue does that job, this variety should be avoided as the alkaloids it produces via the endophyte are health-adverse to pregnant mares. If landowners have the choice, they should got with one of the novel-endophyte fescue varieties that do not have any detrimental effects on livestock. Bermudagrass is more prominent in southern Arkansas, but it will readily grow in northern Arkansas as well. This warm-season perennial grass is a good choice for horse pastures as it is persistent under grazing and also under hoof traffic. One of the most important characteristics of this forage is that it can be mowed or bush-hogged very closely and paddocks can be kept tidy. On larger farms, winter annual forages are a good choice for extending the grazing season and provide horses with a nutritious diet, but this can be challenging on small properties. Planting winter annuals requires may require some form of breaking up the soil surface, so there’s a much higher potential for muddy conditions early than when horses are kept on bermudagrass entirely which is dormant between October and March. Property owners are encouraged to experiment with sod-seeding (overseeding) annual clovers or annual ryegrass into their existing bermudagrass pastures. This way year-round soil cover is maintained with a little less concern for potentially muddy spots. Get some basic equipment including a bush-hog One of the most important pieces for small-scale horse owners to own is a bush-hog. Obviously, those require a small tractor as well, but there’s no reason for owning horses and then skimping on equipment that keeps your paddocks in top shape. Horses graze very closely to the ground and will shun any undesired plant, so weeds will become even more visible and persistent. In addition, small acreages are more difficult to set up for rotational stocking, so bringing the canopy back to a single reference height will foster grass tillering and regrowth, will mechanically control weeds, and will open up the canopy for better light penetration. Managing undesirable plant populations is important not just from an aesthetic standpoint but also from the perspective of horse health. Truly poisonous herbaceous and woody plants occur only rarely in well-maintained pastures, but keep some basic sprayer equipment on hand to spot-spray plants such as curly dock or Johnsongrass which is a common plant in pastures but can pose some risks to horses. Get the hay situation sorted out If you make your own hay, assign dedicated hay pastures and keep those separately from your grazing paddocks. This also requires that you need hay equipment, but alternatively horse owners can easily purchase hay from a reputable source. Horse owners should establish a good relationship with their respective hay business contacts to ensure that a consistently good quality, including little dust or mold in the bales, is maintained. If property owners largely rely on hay during winter feeding, it is probably best to keep a certain routine, such as feeding hay in stalls while giving the horses plenty of exercise outside. Putting hay in paddocks instead will foster weed growth, soil compaction, and muddy conditions long-term.