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Managing Iowa Acreages: Productive Pastures
If you intend to raise horses you should know the following:
Horse Pasture NeedsIf the major nutrient source is pasture, a 1,000-pound horse consumes approximately 3,600 pounds of forage dry matter during a typical six-month grazing season. Thus, with average management, it would take about 2 to 3 acres of good pasture to meet the nutrient needs of a mature horse. Young horses can get by on less area, but realize they should be heavily supplemented to ensure appropriate growth and development. Grazing ManagementThe timing of grazing has a long-term impact on your pasture. Grazing too early in the spring can reduce the yield potential of your pasture and is the most common pasture management mistake. Allow grass to grow before grazing a horse. This grass growth varies depending on the grass species. For example, allow brome and orchard grass to grow to a height of 6 to 8 inches before grazing is initiated. To best protect your pastures from erosion and provide the most nutritional value for your horses, you should implement a rotational grazing system by dividing your pasture into cells. After a cell is grazed, move the animals to a fresh cell while the grazed cell rests and regrows. Allow the pasture to rest for at least 30 days or until the grass regrows to the original height. One good rule of thumb is that a horse should not remove more than 50 percent of the forage before rotating to a new cell. Nutrient ManagementA 1,000-pound horse can generate about 9 tons of manure per year. This is enough fertilizer for 1 to 2 acres of pasture. If manure is allowed to accumulate in piles, it will attract flies, harbor parasites and pathogens, generate offensive odors and create a pollution hazard. Rotational grazing is a pasture management technique that can be used to minimize manure build up and the cost of handling. To maximize pasture production, drag or harrow the pasture to break up the droppings and more evenly spread the manure. Horses should not be placed in a pasture that has just been dragged, as dragging spreads parasites over a wider area of the pasture. The manure should be allowed to dry and start decomposing (during the summer about one day) before placing horses on that pasture. In rotational pastures, dragging after moving animals to the next paddock works well. To protect water quality and the environment, horses should not have free access to lakes, ponds, waterways or wetlands. Implementing the PlanPasture management is more than just moving livestock from one pasture to another. It involves choosing and managing forages, soil fertility, fencing, water development and distribution, and much more. This booklet just highlights some of the first questions you need to ask yourself when developing your plan. You’ll need to check with a grassland specialists or soil conservationist for help developing your pasture management plan. Profitable PasturesMore detailed pasture management information is included in the Iowa NRCS publication Profitable Pastures. You can request a copy from your local NRCS office or download an electronic copy from ftp://ftp-fc.sc.egov.usda.gov/IA/news/pasturebook2.pdf. You should also check with your local NRCS office to see if there is financial assistance available for improving your pasture management through USDA programs like the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP). |
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Sipping
your morning coffee while overlooking a fog-drenched pasture is one of the
benefits of owning your own scenic vistas. However, like the other features of
your new acreage, it needs some attention to keep it properly maintained. How
it’s managed depends on how you intend to use it. Do you want horses? If so, how
many? Do you have enough pasture to support your horses? Are you going to use it
for wildlife habitat? Recreation? Something else?
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