Grazing Schedule for Veggie Horses

[Jesse Kayan]

Hi all,

We are in our first year fully integrating horses into our 3 acre veggie operation. We share horses with other more experienced farmers and as such have inherited their grazing routine, an intensive rotational system that produces great pasture results and limits feed well, but involves a lot of labor at the beginning and end of the day. We’re finding that this routine eats up a fair amount of time right during the part of the day most valuable for veggie work, ie. the few cool hours of the morning and evening when we often want to be planting or harvesting and limits the time the horses are available for work to the heat of the day. I’m wondering if there are other veggie (or other) folks out there using horses that could share their grazing programs and some of the rationale for why they do what they do.

Thanks!
Jesse

[dominiquer60]

We don’t have great pastures because the dairy and beef take priority with this family, but we are trying to improve what we have. We graze at night, the sun is gone, the flies are not bad and that lets us use the horses in the morning and evening. We mostly us the horses in the evening because a lot of other chores like unloading hay and such happen in the morning. I would prefer to graze in the morning when sugars are lowest, but this doesn’t always happen. Also sometimes when the weeds are large I will cultivate during the heat of the day and give the horses lots of rest in the shade. I am not sure this helps, but it is what we do.

Erika

[Stephen Leslie]

We used to night graze but our Fjords got too fat with that much access to pasture. Several years ago we switched to allowing them to graze for 2-3 hours in the middle of the day. They get fed 1st cut hay in the morning and evening (5lbs each total for the day), and 1 1/2 lbs each of grain with supplements (divided into am & pm feedings). We created two acres of grazing pasture for four Fjords that is close to the barns for ease of getting them out and in. The temporary fence is moved every three or four days. Paddocks are small, so the rotation takes 35 or more days, which theoretically exceeds parasite reproduction cycles. We clip the pasture once a year (usually in July) to knock down rank growth. This schedule allows the horses to work as early in the morning as we can get going and also in the relative cool of late afternoon. The only real downside I can think of is having to harness up again in the afternoon (rather than being in tie-stalls with harness on during mid-day as on many draft horse farms). In the winter the grazing session is replaced with a third feeding of hay.

[Brad Johnson]

Jesse-
I am primarily logging with my horses, and we always night graze, with fewer bugs and cooler temps. This limits the amount of forage they can consume, keeping them in good working shape. In my experience most folks allow too much access to grass for the horses, and as a result the have fat horses. When we did grow veggies, we used the same schedule, except the horse was in a tie stall during the day and harnessed for garden work from there. What part of the routine chews up that much time?
-Brad

[Donn Hewes]

Hi Jesse, I am not really a veggie farmer but chore of grazing horses can be a challenge for any one. We will not typically work as long or a late as our veg farming friends, but on hay baling days we can easily be putting bales in the barn with horses at 7pm. The chores of grazing horses can be time consuming.

I like the economics and health factors of grazing horses. My horses get no grain and they still gain weight if not working every day, this makes turning out late and bringing early an important part of grazing horses. We will often do the chores of moving a fence earlier in the day to make it easier to turn out when the time comes. I save time and effort by grazing my horses with no water on pasture. This permits more moves of the fence. A single strand of poly wire with tread in posts. This can usually be moved and set up in 15 minutes. We typically make paddock sizes that will last 2 – 3 nights before moving again.

On days when I can’t work horses for a variety of reasons I really like the few minutes of contact with them as they go in and out. I can also lead up to seven or eight animals at one time. that means one trip with horses to pasture. Lately we have been grazing two groups due to mares with foals, mares in heat, and an intact donkey that can not be turned out with just everyone right now (two groups of four). This has doubled the work of grazing horses and we are feeling it on the late nights and long days of hay making.

No great answers here. I know there are folks that turn out on sacrifice paddocks at night and feed horses a full ration of hay year round. Other folks will graze the horses with out rotating. This would save a lot of time if that turn out was close to the barn. This could work well if there was 5 or 10 acres that weren’t needed for other grazing animals and the horses were being monitored for parasites. Clipping half the pasture at one time and then later clipping the other half could also help.

Just some random thoughts. It is an important question, and I hope more folks will answer with there methods. donn

[Carl Russell]

I will not offer much over what anyone else has said already, just to say that these are some of the most important questions that distinguish the work we are trying to do. I believe that in all mamnagement systems we run into bottlenecks and road blocks. The challenge is how to determine where the changes need to occur. IF animal power is as important as it I think it is, then I generally look to the system that is creating the challenge, rather than the power source…… Meaning, where are my expectations creating barriers that limit my choices.

For example, and this is just my two cents, if you have established a system that is based on using mechanical devices that can be employed at anytime, and with little prep time, then bringing animals into that system is going to present challenges. This does not give you an answer to the best grazing system choices, but perhaps there are changes in the way you use the power that could accommodate the animals and their needs better.

I often dream of having the time in my schedule to bring in the horses at 3am, to be harnessed and in the woods by 5am…… But it just is not going to happen in this iteration of my life.

[Donn Hewes]

Carl, have ever though about seeing someone for these “dreams” you been having? I am just kidding of course. While I am often out of bed around 5, I have no desire to get up earlier! I really like what you wrote about thinking broadly about horses contribute to our system and our work. This can lead to ideas that satisfy the needs of the whole.

I think many of us have these bottle necks. Sometimes it is the manure management, sometimes it is the nightly turn out, sometimes it is just which horses want to be in a paddock with which other horses. Horse and mule power is integral to what we do here, and that leads to many creative solutions (new and old) that strengthen our system rather than weaken it.

[KMichelle]

More of the same… I have a team on a 4 plus acre veggie operation and the horses tie in their stalls in the morning and stand until I’m ready to use them or go out around lunch. We rotate grazing with dairy cows(who they share with – they’re not fat, yet…) and sheep(who get everything first). Usually we don’t have to fuss with fencing except every 3 days or fewer for the sheep. Mostly the horses only graze at night, it’s hot and buggy enough they choose to stand in the shed. They are also mostly trained to come up every morning for their stalls. Since I am the only one who deals with the horses, other members of the crew are doing veggie things – we don’t use the horses for transplanting. Cultivation and hay work.

Additionally I worked on a farm in Oregon where they was no grazing for the horses and we fed hay all year round in a dry pen. This was a nice system.

[Carl Russell]

I know Donn, 😯 It’s just that I love being active that early in the day, and I have to find things to do that don’t involve the horses until later in the day. If I could have them ready to go at 5am, it would be my dream state….. I guess I need some stable staff…

It’s just part of the system management. The horses allow me to work in a low capital operation, that has many other holistic components, so managing them all by myself creates a schedule that has a mind of its own, so to speak, and those ideals of what I would like to do with the horses are just an example of how expectations come up against reality, and animal power has some significant realities related to time management.

Carl

[Does’ Leap]

Hi Jesse:

My wife and run a goat dairy and manage 4 horses on pasture. Our goats get a fresh paddock of grass every 12 hours, set up with mainly net fence but also a combination of net and 6 strand high tensile. Horses follow the goats and “clean up” so to speak. They are on pasture only at night. If you have other grazing animals, I highly recommend this system. Aside from the labor efficiency (i.e. one paddock for two groups of animals), I have found better pasture utilization and improved parasite control as well. I am a strong believer in high density, short duration grazing with adequate rest periods.

The bottom line is that managing horses responsibly on pasture takes time. If you are just grazing horses, here are some suggestions to improve labor efficiency:
1. Consider high tensile perimeter fencing. One strand of high tensile wire that utilizes trees for corner posts (with J hooks and bullnose insulators) is a very good investment. This makes subdividing a pasture – with polywire and step-in posts – very efficient. High tensile is not generally recommended for horses, but as long as you stick with one strand and the horses know where it is (flag it with ribbons initially and walk the perimeter with your animals), you should be fine. I have never had a problem with horses inclosed in 6 strands of high tensile.
2. Fence the perimeter of your pasture (if you do not have high-tensile) with polywire and subdivide within it making sure you back-fence to prevent over grazing. Imagine a grid-type system.
3. Set-up an effective system of transmitting power from you fencer to your paddocks (that is if you are not using a solar fencer). Again, high tensile is the way to go. Think of it as a power transmission line. You can then tap into that line to power your paddocks. I do this via 500′ rolls of 18 gauge, single conductor, insulated, stranded copper wire on an extension cord reel and heavy-duty alligator clips (see link: https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-nf32JF8v5_o/U6tJyZ3FA4I/AAAAAAAABxc/UHIIlUvqLh4/w989-h742-no/IMG_0964.JPG ). I clip the wire at the end of the reel to the high tensile, spool the wire out on the ground (beats polywire and posts!), and clip to my fence with the double clips (the other end of the wire is bare – poking out of the extension cord reel).
4. If you don’t have them already, invest in some pigtail posts (see link: https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-aI5T7Q-pVj4/U6tJ0fADTuI/AAAAAAAABxk/OL-mPgKlPKI/w557-h742-no/IMG_0965.JPG). The biggest advantage of these posts is that you can hold 25 in one hand and your polywire in the other. The are also double pronged for easy installation.
5. Three quarter inch black plastic pipe is a cheap, efficient way to get water to horses on pasture. I get 55 gallon teat dip barrels, cut them in half, and use them as waterers with a float valve (see Gallagher fence supplies). My four horses will often drink 40 gallons of water at night, sometimes more if it is hot and have been working.

Good luck.

George

[Does’ Leap]

[wild millers]

Jesse, our horse grazing management for our market garden is focused on simplicity, rotations to keep the pastures producing, but most of all, time saving in as many ways as possible. We have done this by building a permanent woven wire paddock on a hillside about 1/8th of an acre in size that is fairly central to our gardens and pastures. This paddock is semi sacrificial. It has shade, and a frost free hydrant nearest to the barn. There are gates on all sides of the paddock, some times more than one. They all correspond to headlands and lane ways of the adjacent gardens. A single strand of aluminum wire runs the top of the woven wire fence to carry a charge. We use alligator clips to pull off of this wire for a charge and set up our fences (single strand electric tape with step in posts) to tie into the gates of this pasture. These fences go down and up pretty quickly and when one is set up and the gate opened, the horses have access to the fresh pasture but can also walk back to the shade and water whenever they want. At a whistle, they come from any pasture they are in back to the water trough to be let in to the stable for working at a moments notice. These fences get moved once or twice a week, and we just make sure to set them up on headlands that we know won’t be cultivated or plowed during that grazing period.

We do use electric tape to section out the central paddock into smaller sections to let parts of it rest and re-grow. When we have to go away for a day (or two) it is awful nice to have that solid fenced paddock with a little reserved grazing in it to keep the horses in while we are not at the farm.

One unfortunate detail to this system is when plowing with the walking plow, it is only a matter of time before the plow handles find a pile of manure in the headlands.

Good luck, happy grazing!

[wild millers]

I should say that really our design is also largely based on our topography and landscape. That and a lack of any real barn or barnyard at this farm.

[Kevin Cunningham]

I do not know much about the grazing needs of horses but I can share what we do with our oxen. Right now they are a secondary power source for our vegetable operation as I am slowly but surely transitioning to draft. But I still put a tremendous amount of time into my boys. We use net fencing almost exclusively on the farm but we have used more permanent paddocks of varying size with t posts and polywire as well. Our current grazing schedule is evening grazing following the milk cow. She gets a fresh 50 by 50 during the day then the oxen come in as clean up crew. The team will be 4 this next April so they are not yet into the weight gaining time of their lives so this might have to change. In the morning they are tied in the barn and fed hay and minerals. The dairy cow is in the barn at night for milking. This way the boys are right there if I need to yoke them and they give me their daily deposit. I have had to switch the way I think about the chores as part of the work side of working animals. One of the biggest benefits that they give us is the manure. So part of their job is concentrating nutrients in the barn so I can compost it. And when I can’t yoke on a certain day I at least have the walk to and from the pasture to work on our training out of the yoke. So it too is not a chore but part of the work. When I switched my frame of mind to make the chore part of the animals into the work side of animals it has helped me get out a little earlier, sometime still in my pajamas to work my animals.

[shoffman]

Hi everyone, right now we are grazing horses on marginal areas on the farm (basically grass that the dairy herd manager does not wish to graze) using the standard polywire-post temporary paddock method (new paddock every 1-3 days, depending on what the grazing strategy is for a given area) and a portable solar charger. For the most part, horses are brought in for work in the morning and brought back out at night, but if I know I want to work a team early the next day, I will often leave them in tie stalls in the barn (where they have hay and automatic water bowls) overnight. Unlike Donn, the horses we don’t work on a given day stay in the paddock. We are working on setting up a fenced area in a covered barnyard that is very close to our tack room so the horses being worked early the next day can run around at night instead of being tied. Again auto water and feeding hay in that scenario (although it will represent some increased manure management time).

Scott
Essex Farm

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