stabling during pasture season

[Anonymous]

i’m trying to plan for grazing and housing this season’s and wondering how folks prefer to graze their animals during the heat of the summer. heard lots of suggestions to put the horse in the barn during midday for heat and bug relief and graze at night. do those who do this notice significantly increased comfort/relief for the animal?

i have a small budget, no hay available without purchase, and just a simple moveable lean-to shelter. when not working i’m planning on putting the horse out on pasture with 24h access to small shelter. any thoughts suggestions?

-evan

[mitchmaine]

hi evan, not sure i mentioned it during your visit, but the stalls in the old barn where i have the heifers tied, was our old horse barn. the stalls had a tie up and plank floor under a leanto, and the horses were never tied. they came and went on their own time. food and water was up in the stalls. a splash of grain brought them in and harnessed on the floor and off we’d go. similar to your idea and worked great. the disadvantages was rain and snow coming off the shed roof landed right where they passed into the stalls and it was a mess sometimes of the year. we are so far off the road, dead end road to boot, that after haying,we could just let them go and graze in the fields without fencing, but lots of cars and people on the road now prevent that. don’t know about your area, but maine is rich in bugs, flies, and offensive creatures. bug dope don’t put a dent in it. good luck there. mitch

[Anonymous]

Last summer I would bring the Mares in during the day so that they were ready to work when I needed them, they would stay cool, and to collect manure for the garden. It worked well and they still got fat on the pasture just grazing at night. I noticed a lot less of the big horse flies when I would rotate them through different pastures every week in different corners of the farm, the bugs in the barn were obsolete once the barn swallows moved in. From my experience if you dont have swallows in the run in shelter in your field you will get a lot of bugs. If the shelter is on skids the horses could drag it to new spots to keep the manure from building up and breeding bugs, or give the horses access to dark woods when it gets too hot.

Jared

[Anonymous]

jared,

did you feed hay while they were in or just graze at night?

evan

[Gabe Ayers]

Evan-
The strategy I was taught is to have the horses in during the day on most days, unless they are not to be used at all. That way they are close at hand for harnessing and out of the sun on really hot days. If you do leave them out in the heat of the day, provide some shade and plenty of water and they will be comfortable. I use night pasture and feed nothing during the day, except grain at the beginning and the end of the work day. When I do leave them out on a rest day, they are in a paddock with no grass during the day and then they get fresh pasture at night. That way, they stay in the routine of filling up at night and they don’t get fat.
-Brad

[Anonymous]

I followed basically the same as bradbury.

Jared

[Author]

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