Horse Pasture Rotation

By practicing pasture rotation, you can reduce orheight rather than by your calendar you can easily
eliminate the cost of hay during the growing season.maintain a good pasture.
If you put a little thought into how you rotate theUneven Grazing
pastures, you'll not only save money, you will provideHorses will graze younger, tastier pasture plants.
your horse with quality food. After reading thisWhen you rotate them out of the pasture, they
article, you will know when to rotate your horses onmay leave behind an uneven pasture with some tall
and off pastures.legumes. If you allow the ungrazed plants to remain,
Pasture Mixthey can shade out and stunt the growth of other
If you are starting from scratch and seeding a newforages.
pasture, you can use this 'recipe' for seeding:Mowing Your Pasture
Pasture mix per acreRegular mowing makes pastures more productive. It
8 pounds alfalfacan also reduce herbicide usage.
3 pounds orchard grassAfter rotating your horses out of the pasture, mow
5 pounds bromegrassif you want to add somethe pasture with your mower set at about four
clover, 1/2 pound will be plenty.inches. This will allow the good stuff to grow back.
Once you turn your horses out in the spring, you willThe bottom 2-3 inches of grasses are where the
being your management. If you have included alfalfasugars and proteins are stored. These sugars and
and don't rotate the horses out of the pasture whenproteins are needed for regrowth.
they have grazed it to the right height, you will startDragging Your Pasture
finding thistles and other weeds taking over. So, ifAs soon as your horses are rotated out of the
you don't plan to manage rotation carefully, andpasture, you will want to drag it. Dragging a pasture
horses are allowed to graze too close, alfalfa maybreaks up clumps of manure and spreads it evenly
not be your choice. Perhaps you should add bluegrassaround. By breaking up the manure and exposing it to
instead. Your county extension office will have morethe sun, parasites are killed. By the time your horses
information on the right types of grasses andare moved back into the pasture, the manure has
legumes in your area.turned into fertilizer and most parasites have been
Grasses will do best during the cooler days at theeliminated. Keep in mind that, although dragging
beginning and end of the growing season. Grassesbreaks down manure faster, it will not kill all the
are more durable and resist trampling by horses.parasites present. Keep your horses on a worming
Legumes (alfalfa and other clovers) are moreschedule.
productive in warmer months. Legumes add proteinYou can use almost anything to drag your pasture.
for your horse and nitrogen for the grasses. TheyI've seen people use old bed springs and chain link
are more susceptible to trampling and overgrazing.fences with bricks laid on top. Most people around
Pastures with a large percentage of legumes can leadhere use four wheelers to drag. They are easier to
to bloat. You want to introduce horses to grass/handle and it seems like everyone owns one now. If
legume pasture slowly. In the spring, when you andyou have a lot of money to spare, you can buy a
your horse are eager to get into the pasture, startpasture drag.
slowly. Let the horses into the pasture for 20Horse Pasture Rotation - Putting it All Together
minutes or a half hour the first couple of days. DoI've crammed a lot of information in the above article.
not turn hungry horses into the pasture - feed themThe actual management of horse pastures is really
hay before turning them out. Lengthen the time ineasy and doesn't require much work. Using the
the pasture a little bit over the next week or two,information above, here is what it actually looks like in
always feeding them hay before turning them outpractice:
and provide a salt block and plenty of water toStarting with three or four pastures (I've got two
newly pastured horses.horses on 3 - one acre pastures).
If you plan on doing pasture rotation correctly, youPut horses in pasture number one.
will include a few hours of mowing and dragging afterWhen the pasture is grazed down to about 3 inches
moving your horses off each pasture. If you don'taverage (nope, I don't go out with a tape measure -
think you will do the mowing and dragging, it probablyI simply guestimate that the average height is about
won't be worth the extra money to include legumes3 inches), I move the horses to pasture number two.
in your pasture.Hopefully pasture number two is at least six inches
Carefully monitor grazing. I'm not going to get realhigh.
technical here, I'll just tell you the rule of thumb -Now, I take my drag into pasture number one and
when the forages reach 6 - 8 inches, put yourdrag the pasture. Then I mow it with my mower set
horses in the pasture. Remove them after they haveto four inches. It takes about a half hour to drag and
grazed to an average height of 3 or 4 inches. Keep in15 minutes to mow. I'm done for a week or so.
mind that if you have not planted alfalfa, and theWhen pasture number two is grazed down to about
pasture is mostly grass, you can let your horses3 inches, I rotate the horses to pasture number
graze it down to about 2 inches average.three. I drag and mow pasture number one. I'm done
Also remember that plants will grow faster in thefor a week or so.
spring and slower in the summer and fall. You mayWhen pasture number three is grazed down to
find that you need to mow a pasture because theabout three inches, I move the horses back to
grass is growing faster than the horses are eating. Ifpasture number one and I drag and mow...
the grass reaches higher than 8 inches and it is notVery simple. Saves money. Makes my horses happy
time to move your horses to this pasture, mow it toand healthy.
about 4 inches. By timing your rotation to pasture