Maintenance of small pasture for a horse?

HawgBonz

HawgBonz

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We've got a coupla acres of pasture for one, and occasionally 2 horses. We've had this place for a coupla years and the folks before us used to hay this area.
Since we've taken it over it's gotten steadily worse as far as the quality of the pasture goes. The ground is pretty hard packed. We put lime down last fall or spring and that def helped with the buttercups. But not much else. There's a lot of that tough to mow stalky grass growing and I've been mowing it to try and keep the stalky stuff at bay.. We drag a harrow behind the golf cart to break up the horse piles (Poop Patrol!) There are occasional spots of what looks like real grass in some areas.
We did a soil test and she's got the results somewhere. I think the gist of it was to lay some lime.
The university sites make it sound pretty complicated. Curious if there's a middle ground.
FWIW we do have a small 30HP tractor..
Any of you guys have experience messin with this? Thanks.. šŸ¤ 
 
I have been doing it pasture maintenance for some time with (eventually) some success.
First most lawn care advice applies here: cutting, aeration lime and so on.
Specifically for pasture spraying for weeds at least twice, usually early spring then early summer. I use Cimarron (link below) as it is safe to spray and then let livestock on.
It is best to pick the manure from the field on a frequent basis. First the piles will stunt the grass underneath. It also makes a perfect breeding ground for flies. Drag harrowing the piles visually eliminates the poop it does not help it to decompose which further hurts the soil chemistry. It is best to pile manure as high as possible where it will decompose quickly and makes excellent fertilizer.
You will also need to pick a seeding strategy. This can be as controversial as 9mm vs 45 acp but I will tell you what I do. Spring I overseed with Bermuda grass. In the fall I overseed with winter rye. This has two effects: First grass is always growing. Second if you do not put nitrogen down in the fall the rye will take nitrogen from the air and put it back in the soil, this creates a nice cycle.

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Rotational grazing will likely do the trick. You can use polywire on reels to make temporary paddocks if needed. The goal is to give the grass a recovery period. Grasses will out compete a lot of weeds given the resources. Weeds will win if it over grazed.

Check out Greg Judy on YouTube. He is a pro.

Use the soil test results to see where your pH started. An online calculator should get you an estimate on how much of an impact the lime you applied will make. You probably want it in the 6.xx range.
 
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Culper said:
Rotational grazing will likely do the trick. You can use polywire on reels to make temporary paddocks if needed. The goal is to give the grass a recovery period. Grasses will out compete a lot of weeds given the resources. Weeds will win if it over grazed.

Check out Greg Judy on YouTube. He is a pro.

Use the soil test results to see where your pH started. An online calculator should get you an estimate on how much of an impact the lime you applied will make. You probably want it in the 6.xx range.
Click to expand...

This is pretty solid advice. The rotational grazing gives the areas a chance to rest and recover which helps greatly. Ideally you do not want to let the animal over graze it to the ground but thats extremely hard with a horse since they eat so low. The lime will help it just takes time and a process to keep up over time. Do not remove the manure you are doing the right thing dragging it and spreading it out. If you remove the manure your taking the nutrients away the grass removed since the animal is eating so you would have to replace the nutrients with even more fertilizer and the manure will help compost into the soil naturally. Dragging it helps it break down faster and not create the grass clumps or fly problems.
 
The wife grazes two on a small pasture like an acre, usually a few hours a day or they'll eat to the ground, they get hay in the dry lot the rest of the day. We needed lime, like tons, probably need to test again. Aeration, overseeding, pasture safe weed control and keep it mowed and try to keep them off when it's wet.
 
In a perfect world, I would do the following.

1 - split the pasture into two pastures and a small paddock.
2 - kill everything growing in one of the pastures with roundup.
3 - disk harrow the pasture to break up the hard soil. You might need to use a spring tooth harrow to break deeper into the soil.
4 - lime as needed. A good number to use is 2.5 tons / acre.
5 - plant a cool season grass - such as fescue or a fescue / orchard grass / clover mix in the pasture. Fertilize as needed. Plant no later than October 15 but anywhere between Aug 15 and Oct 15 is acceptable for a cool season grass.

Next spring, treat as needed with a pre-emergent to control the weeks.

Then, move the horses to the dry paddock and feed hay. Till up the second pasture and repeat items 1 - 4. But instead, plant a warm season grass such as bermuda or a hybrid. Rotate the horses between the dry paddock and the fescue/orchard grass pasture - being careful not to overgraze.

A different option would be to feed hay and keep the horses in the dry paddock, and do items 1 - 5 for the entire acreage this fall. You'll end up with a really nice pasture next summer. I would divide it into three sections for rotational grazing - shifting pastures every 5 - 7 days and dragging the manure at that time. That will provide you with one week on and two weeks of recovery.

Usually it's a good idea to let new grass get established for a full year before grazing on it, but you should be ok if you keep the horses off of it until June.

Be careful not to let them graze too much in the spring when the nitrogen rates are high in the grass. This is one of the leading causes of founder.
 
A friend has 2 horses on about 1 3/4 acre. It is in 2 sections with a dry paddock area.

He picks up the poop every other day and composts it. Several piles in rotation; when 1 is ready he fertilizes with it. Overseed with winter rye in the fall and iirc fescue in spring.

Every year in fall he takes 1 section and aerates it to keep it from packing too badly.

When it is soggy wet the horses stay in the dry lot and get extra hay.
 
Thanks much for the input, fellas.
She's digesting it all now and continuing to research.. :cool:
 
You need to section off portions of the pasture to allow it to come back , while they occupy another section.
Use a disc or spike harrow to rough up an area that the horses arenā€™t in - this will mix the manure with the dirt- use some lime to bring the pH under control.
re-seed the area and let it grow
 
@HawgBonz

A couple more thoughts:

I did assume you were using electric fencing, or at least a hot wire.

You could look into making a temporary paddock outside of the pasture. I have grazed cows in my yard, using a single strand of hot polywire. I would let them out when I get home from work, put them back in the pasture that night. If you feel it is safe to do, that could be a option.

As we get into late August and September, it a good time to consider "stockpiling" cool season grasses so they can be grazed later on in the winter. Be aware of mowing too late in the season, I've done that before.

I've gotten away from fertilizing myself, but this fall would be a good time to hit it with some nutrients, at least some nitrogen, if you would like. That would give the cool season grass a boost.
 
Also, if you are feeding hay, putting it in small piles where the grass is struggling can help. Each new pile, a new spot. It can help reseed, add organic matter and reduce traffic in the same spot.
 
On our place,we have taken pretty compacted clay that was near-useless scrub forest 5 years ago and turned it into productive pasture by using rotation grazing, cycling the meat bird tractor for light tillage, pest control and manure fertilization.
Resting 60 days between animal cycles is best. Of course we started from scratch after clearing with a forestry mulcher.
On existing pasture, there's no easier, healthier or better way to add fertility than letting the birds do what they do. They scratch out manure patties from large ruminants when searching out fly larvae. Plus give you meat and/or eggs depending on what you want. We run meat chickens on our pastures 2x a year in 8 week cycles, but we're considering a 3rd cycle. They must move every day.
20230413_194445.jpg

We also use laying hens in a similar way, with less movement.

20230811_174124.jpg

As was mentioned earlier, Greg Judy has mastered rotational grazing of small ruminants like sheep along with cattle.
We visited Polyface Farms last year, and were amazed that the Salatin family has NEVER planted pasture grass, and hardly ever done anything but use compost, manure and animal hoof action to improve their Shenandoah farmland. Compared to his neighbors, Joel's pastures look like paradise.
 
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Ikarus1 said:
On our place,we have taken pretty compacted clay that was near-useless scrub forest 5 years ago and turned it into productive pasture by using rotation grazing, cycling the meat bird tractor for light tillage, pest control and manure fertilization.
Resting 60 days between animal cycles is best. Of course we started from scratch after clearing with a forestry mulcher.
On existing pasture, there's no easier, healthier or better way to add fertility than letting the birds do what they do. They scratch out manure patties from large ruminants when searching out fly larvae. Plus give you meat and/or eggs depending on what you want. We run meat chickens on our pastures 2x a year in 8 week cycles, but we're considering a 3rd cycle. They must move every day.
View attachment 657370

We also use laying hens in a similar way, with less movement.

View attachment 657368

As was mentioned earlier, Greg Judy has mastered rotational grazing of small ruminants like sheep along with cattle.
We visited Polyface Farms last year, and were amazed that the Salatin family has NEVER planted pasture grass, and hardly ever done anything but use compost, manure and animal hoof action to improve their Shenandoah farmland. Compared to his neighbors, Joel's pastures look like paradise.
Click to expand...

You aren't messing around, that's awesome! I need to check out Polyface sometime.
 
Culper said:
You aren't messing around, that's awesome! I need to check out Polyface sometime.
Click to expand...
Granted, we are starting small with chickens, goats, and Kunekune pigs. In fact, the largest animal we have is a 450lb pig of a mini donkey but he poops as much as a horse because he eats as much šŸ¤£.

But we are rehabbing this old farm in anticipation of more animals. Sheep is next on the list because we have buyers for lambs lining up.
 
Ikarus1 said:
Granted, we are starting small with chickens, goats, and Kunekune pigs. In fact, the largest animal we have is a 450lb pig of a mini donkey but he poops as much as a horse because he eats as much šŸ¤£.

But we are rehabbing this old farm in anticipation of more animals. Sheep is next on the list because we have buyers for lambs lining up.
Click to expand...

That's great, logical progression too. Does the donkey keep the canines away? Predators are why I haven't tried any small ruminants yet.
 
Culper said:
That's great, logical progression too. Does the donkey keep the canines away? Predators are why I haven't tried any small ruminants yet.
Click to expand...
He protects against anything that approaches the herd. But he is my wife's pet also.We use electric net fences mostly which deters most ground predation.
 
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