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As the trend toward small
ranchettes has grown, so too has the number of people with a few
horses on their acreages. Today, there are about 6.9 million
horses in the U.S., which makes a $12.1 billion economic impact
to the U.S. economy.
But with this trend toward more
horses, there’s an increasing need to help small acreage
landowners understand conservation and grazing management.
Often times small acreages are
overgrazed because landowners have too many horses and not
enough land, points out Rod Baumberger, a Sturgis, SD-based
range consultant and former Natural Resources Conservation
Service (NRCS) grazing specialist. Baumberger also owns a small
acreage and has horses himself.
Why worry about overgrazing?
Foremost, Baumberger says is that landowners need to recognize
what overgrazing does to their property. The major impacts are
reduced plant production and increased bare ground. This can
lead to noxious weed problems, wind and water erosion, soil
compaction and reduced soil fertility. All total it likely means
less available forage for livestock and may even create
nutritional deficiencies for the animals that are grazing, says
Baumberger.
How can landowners determine if
their land is being overused?
Baumberger says there are three questions horse owners should
ask themselves to determine if their land is being overused.
They are:
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Is the productivity of your
grass starting to decline?
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Do you notice an increase in
the amount of bare ground and/or weeds?
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Are you buying excessive
amounts of feed to supplement horses year-round?
If the answer to any of these
questions is yes, you likely need to evaluate the number of
horses your land can support.
What can be done to prevent
overgrazing?
Baumberger says the first step is to develop a conservation plan
for your property. This process includes gathering information
about your available resources and the horse’s requirements so
you can make management decisions. The steps to conservation
planning include:
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Make
a map of your property.
This should include existing and planned buildings and sheds,
fences, water sources, shelterbelts, etc. Any weed and erosion
problem areas should also be noted on the map. Baumberger says
creating a map can help assess how much grazing area is
available, determine where cross-fencing may be beneficial,
and help monitor if problem areas are expanding from year to
year.
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Inventory the resources on your property.
This includes gathering information on soil types, topography,
and vegetation. From this information you should be able to
calculate the available Animal Unit Months (AUMs) your land
can produce and thus a carrying capacity of the number of
horses you can graze. Extension and NRCS staff are available
to help with this inventory process.
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Understand the horse’s requirements.
These include exercise, shelter for inclement weather, fresh
water (8-12 gallons/day) and feed – about 30 pounds of grass
or hay per day. Or, for grazing purposes one average horse
equals 1.3 to 2.4 AUMs (depending on the size of the animal).
Also note that horses are continuous grazers. Thus, if grass
is in front of them, they will eat.
How do you implement the plan?
With these three steps to put together a conservation plan,
Baumberger says landowners can then evaluate grazing options for
their horse(s). Basic strategies include:
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Rotational grazing, where
existing pastures are cross-fenced into smaller paddocks to
rotate horses through; or
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Limit grazing, where horses are
let out to graze for short periods one or two times daily.
Additionally, you may consider
developing exercise paddocks, which are areas for exercise only.
Or, if a stream runs through your property, fence those areas
off so grazing can be controlled.
In devising the grazing system
that fits your situation, Baumberger says it is important to
keep in mind that timing and rest are the two critical
components. Baumberger says grazing systems can work to prevent
overgrazing and in some instances increase grazing capacity.
He speaks from his own personal experience as he created 13
paddocks using electric fence and polywire on his 22 acre
property to rotationally graze 4 horses. The horses were moved
daily or every couple days to allow about 20 days rest for each
paddock. Baumberger brought his horses into the corral each
night, so they weren’t eating grass continually. Overall, he was
able to increase grazing capacity on his property by about 30%.
Any final advice?
Landowners can rotationally graze on any size scale, Baumberger
says and emphasizes that two, three or four pastures are better
than one pasture that is continuously grazed season long. Again
he says, “The most important components for protecting the grass
are time and rest.”
He also encourages horse owners
to seek technical grazing assistance from Extension or NRCS
staff to determine how much forage is available on their land.
He adds, “Ask yourself what you want your land to look like now
and in the future. And then you may need to ask yourself the
hard question of “How many horses your land can support?”
Most importantly he says to
protect natural resources and prevent overgrazing, landowners
need to be aware that the size of their acreage may limit the
number of horses they can keep.
For more detailed information, go
online to view a publication from the Oklahoma State University
Cooperative Extension about Managing Horse Grazing at
http://pods.dasnr.okstate.edu/docushare/dsweb/Get/Document-2084/F-3981web.pdf |
