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UK’s Horse Pasture
Evaluation Program Shares Fall Tips for Healthy Spring Pastures
By
Holly Wiemers
LEXINGTON, Ky., (September 12, 2007) – As the University of
Kentucky’s Horse Pasture Evaluation Program begins to wrap up
its third year serving Central Kentucky horse farms, forage
experts share some of the horse pasture trends they’ve seen
during the past three years and recommend steps farms should
take now to ensure healthy pastures next year.
“The UK forage extension team has been extremely pleased with
the success of the Horse Pasture Evaluation Program,” said Ray
Smith, UK forage extension specialist. “We have thoroughly
enjoyed working with the farms that enrolled in the program and
have been very impressed with the professional animal care and
handling that we have observed on all farms. The majority of
farms are to be commended for the good job they are doing in
their pasture management programs.”
From the three years of pastureland study done by his team,
Smith said some common trends have emerged. One trend should
trouble area farms because it directly limits the number of
horses that can be supported on area pastures. Currently, close
to one-third of the pastureland Smith’s team has evaluated is
nonproductive, meaning it is covered by weeds or bare soil
instead of grass.
The other two-thirds of evaluated area pastures break down as
follows: 26 percent bluegrass, 24 percent tall fescue, 12
percent orchard grass and 8 percent white clover. Bluegrass and
orchard grass are considered most desirable for horse pastures,
whereas a high percentage of tall fescue is worrisome to many
area horse farms with broodmares. Ergovaline, commonly found in
tall fescue, is toxic and can cause foal loss in pregnant mares.
Smith says the percentage of tall fescue found on many farms has
been high enough to warrant control methods such as herbicide
treatments or even total replanting.
Smith also noted some trends specific to 2007. He said the
freeze in April slowed pasture growth. That was closely followed
by a severe drought in late spring and into the summer, also
followed by hotter than normal temperatures in August, all of
which limited pasture growth throughout the summer across
Kentucky and much of the Southeast. This meant that bluegrass
went dormant early this year.
Smith also reported that tall fescue and summer annual grasses
handled the dry weather better, as did, unsurprisingly, weeds.
He added that pasture grasses have an amazing ability to
green-up with fall rains and lower temperatures.
To combat the stresses of this year and to get pastures in shape
for next year, Smith recommends that farms take steps now.
According to Smith, fall is the optimal time to improve a
pasture’s health. He offers a few tips that will be useful to
large horse farms as well as those with only a few head of
horses on a handful of acres. Those tips include:
• Take soil samples. Work with your local county extension agent
to determine fertilizer requirements, and apply recommended lime
and potassium and phosphorus fertilizer at any time of year.
Nitrogen should be applied in late fall for cool-season grasses
to encourage root growth and establishment. Often, spring
application of nitrogen to cool season grasses causes excessive
above ground growth instead.
• Seed pastures with bare areas now through late September.
There is a much higher chance of success with cool season
grasses by seeding now instead of late winter or early spring.
Use a no-till drill if at all possible. Once seedlings
germinate, try to keep animals off of the area until the grass
has had time to establish. A good reference is “Establishing and
Managing Horse Pastures,” found on
UK’s forages Web site.
• Avoid damaging pastures during the winter and early spring.
Periodically move hay feeding areas and limit vehicle traffic on
wet soils. Establishing a sacrifice paddock will also be
helpful.
• Control broadleaf weeds. Spray in late September through late
October when weeds are actively growing but still small. Use
recommended herbicides. Kentucky’s recommendations can be found
at
http://www.uky.edu/Ag/Forage. Be sure to review
herbicide labels before reseeding to avoid residues and remember
that new seedlings can be sensitive. The safest thing is not to
spray until grass seedlings are well established. Check label
recommendations on the herbicide and talk to your county
extension agent to get information specific to your location.
• Rotate horses between pastures. This will enhance stand
recovery, interrupt parasite cycles, help grasses out-compete
weeds and increase grass growth and carrying capacity. Smith
said carrying capacity for horses on pastures year round during
an average year runs at two acres per horse on the best soils up
to five to six acres per horse on farms with less desirable soil
and/or less available forage.
• Contact your county extension agent for assistance with all
general agricultural questions.
Finally, Smith said it’s not too late for farms to sign up with
the Horse Pasture Evaluation Program. His team will continue to
evaluate horse pastures for the next couple of months and then
start up again in March 2008. The program is generally available
to horse farms in Fayette, Bourbon, Woodford, Scott, Jessamine
and Clark counties, but can be opened up on a limited basis to
counties outside these five central bluegrass counties.
Participation in the program is on a first-come, first-served
basis, and the cost is $750.
Since its inception, UK’s Pasture Evaluation Program, housed in
the College of Agriculture’s Department of Plant and Soil
Sciences, has worked with approximately 50 area horse farms and
analyzed more than 3,700 acres of horse pastures.
The program, which gets its foundational research funding
support from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agriculture
Research Service’s Forage-Animal Production Unit based in
Lexington, provides each farm a comprehensive assessment of its
pastures, including soil type and soil productivity, types and
ratios of grasses and weeds present in each pasture, an
estimation of forage available and a laboratory evaluation of
endophyte (a fungus commonly found in tall fescue) and
associated levels of ergovaline (a compound toxic to pregnant
mares).
Because of the overwhelmingly positive response generated during
its first two years, this year’s program has expanded the
services it provides to area farms. Enhancements for this year
include increased acreage (up to an entire farm if requested), a
fecal egg count pilot study, a grazing distribution map and
follow-up measurements of ergovaline. The team providing pasture
evaluation includes Ray Smith and Tom Keene, UK hay specialist.
Farms interested in enrolling in the Pasture Evaluation Program
should contact Keene at 859-257-3144,
tom.keene@uky.edu, or Smith at 859-257-3358,
raysmith1@uky.edu. The team will then make an initial
visit to participating farms to explain program details. More
information can also be found by visiting
http://www.uky.edu/Ag/Forage. |
Contact: Ray Smith, 859-257-3358
Tom Keene, 859-257-3144 |
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