Horse Pasture Management
- 2nd Edition - November 19, 2024
- Editor: Paul H. Sharpe
- Language: English
- Paperback ISBN:9 7 8 - 0 - 3 2 3 - 9 5 0 8 4 - 8
- eBook ISBN:9 7 8 - 0 - 3 2 3 - 9 5 0 8 5 - 5
Horse Pasture Management, Second Edition provides updated coverage on strategies for managing behavior, grouping, environments and feeding needs of grazing horses. Sections cover… Read more
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Request a sales quoteManagement of hay and silage are included since year-round grazing is not possible on many horse farms. Several chapters deal with interactions of a horse farm with the environment, including climate and weather and other living things. The book also covers strategies for managing manure, erosion, and water quality. It is ideal for researchers, scientists and students involved in animal science, specifically equine studies. Agriculturists, equine managers and veterinarians will also find this book useful.
- Includes information on environmental best practices, plant and soil assessments, and wildlife concerns
- Features a new section on reducing carbon emissions and increasing sustainability on horse farms
- Explains pasture-related diseases, weed management and toxic plants to avoid
- Recommends relevant published resources and extension programs
- Title of Book
- Cover image
- Title page
- Table of Contents
- Copyright
- Dedication for the second edition of horse pasture management
- Contributors
- Biography
- Preface to the first edition
- Changes for the second edition
- Acknowledgments for the second edition
- Chapter 1. Forage plant structure, function, nutrition and growth
- Structure and physiology of pasture grasses and legumes
- Plant organic compounds
- Carbohydrates (carbon containing compounds—either structural or nonstructural)
- Lignin
- Nitrogenous compounds
- The cell—The most basic structural unit of plant organization
- Organs
- Leaves: Principle photosynthetic organs
- Stems: Support and connect other organs with the root
- Buds: Embryonic stem, leaf, root or flower tissue
- Roots: Below ground portion of plant
- How grasses develop
- Establishment
- Growth following establishment
- How legumes develop
- Pasture plant growth
- Terminology
- Review questions
- Chapter 2. Identification of temperate pasture grasses and legumes
- Introduction
- Grasses
- Seedlings
- Sod versus bunch grasses
- Glossary for grasses
- The grass whorl
- Is it a grass?
- Ryegrasses
- Tall and meadow fescue
- Orchardgrass
- Timothy
- Kentucky bluegrass
- Reed canarygrass
- Smooth bromegrass
- Quackgrass
- Legumes
- Glossary for legumes
- Alfalfa
- Alsike clover
- Birdsfoot trefoil
- Crown vetch
- Hairy vetch
- Kura clover
- Red clover
- White clover
- Review questions
- Chapter 3. Nutritional composition of pasture plants and their digestion and utilization by horses
- Introduction
- Plant components
- Plant carbohydrates
- Diversity in carbohydrates
- Structural carbohydrates, non-structural carbohydrates and storage carbohydrates in plants
- Lipids
- Fatty acids of special interest
- Proteins
- Minerals
- Ingestion, digestion and utilization of plants by horses
- Mouth
- Stomach
- Small intestine
- Large intestine
- Pasture-based feeding systems for horses
- Nutrient analysis of forages
- Forage sampling for composition and herbage mass
- Meeting nutrient needs of horses in pasture-based feeding programs
- Chapter 4. Soils for horse pasture management
- Introduction
- What is soil?
- Composition of mineral soils
- Organic matter and soil humus
- Aggregation
- Nature of soil pore space
- Soil water
- Plant-available water
- Water drainage
- Soil aeration
- Soil chemistry
- Soil acidity and alkalinity
- Soil fertility
- Soil biology
- Contribution of pasture vegetation and pasture soils to ecosystem services
- Can pastures be managed to increase carbon sequestration?
- Grazing management matters to soil organic matter
- Secrets to soil management for sustainable pasture production
- Chapter 5. Introduction to pasture ecology
- Introduction
- Optimal environment versus limiting factors
- Plants
- Respiration
- Light interception: Canopy height and time of year
- Energy reserves cycle with growth
- Growth under rotational grazing
- Root growth
- Growth has two phases
- Growing points
- Cell wall content changes with season and plant type
- Forage quality, anti-quality and palatability
- Competition between plants
- Plant diversity, morphology and tolerance to grazing
- The grazing animals
- Forage mass and dry matter intake
- Selective grazing
- Relationship between plants and herbivores
- Soil ecology
- Soil
- Citizens of the soil community
- Soil health
- Nutrients and water cycle while energy flows
- Environments and niches
- Soil moisture is a controlling factor
- Nitrogen fixation and cycling
- Management is needed to help the system
- Review questions
- Chapter 6. Pasture plant establishment and management
- Characteristics of a healthy pasture
- Establishment
- Common forage species for horse pastures
- Common grass species for horse pastures
- Common legume species for horse pastures
- Management following establishment
- Soil sampling and fertilizing
- Weed control
- Clipping/grazing
- Managing endophyte-infected tall fescue
- Pasture renovation
- Resting pastures
- Review questions
- Chapter 7. Forage yield and its determination
- Introduction and questions about forage yield
- Answering the horse owner’s first three questions
- How much does a horse eat in a day?
- Does the amount that a horse eats in a day change if the horses are eating pasture versus hay?
- How much hay or how much pasture will feed a horse for a day or a month or a grazing season?
- Preparing to answer the fourth question
- Simple manual methods and tools for determining forage dry matter yield
- Direct measurement of forage height and yield
- Indirect measurement to estimate yield
- Pasture rulers and pasture sticks
- Resting plate meters
- Rising plate meters
- Capacitance probes
- Comparisons of pasture sticks and meters
- The relationship between forage height and forage yield in pasture
- Using numbers from sample measurements to estimate forage yield (mass) for an acre and a whole field
- Potential applications for forage yield information
- Grazing charts
- Possible future developments in measuring forage yield and forage quality
- Use of current forage yield assessment methods is uncommon on horse farms
- Proximal Sensing Technologies Improve Speed of Measuring Forage Yield and prediction of grass quality
- Remote sensing for forage mass: Reasons, pros and cons
- Other aids
- Guidelines from a cool, dry place
- Answering the horse owner’s fourth question
- Review questions
- Chapter 8. Grazing behavior, feed intake, and feed choices
- Introduction
- Grazing by horses compared to other herbivores
- Factors regulating feed intake
- The diets of feral horses
- Timing of grazing patterns in feral and captive horses
- Feral horses
- Captive horses
- Grazing behavior and stocking rate effects on horse growth and pasture diversity
- Measuring the amount and rate of feed intake
- Factors influencing bite rate
- Horses prefer fresh pasture to dried hay
- Forage quality affects intake rates
- How young animals learn to make feed choices
- Animals make feeding decisions based on feedback from past choices
- Applications of post-ingestive feedback
- Foraging theory
- Factors affecting the bite and plant level
- Plant species preference
- Forage nutritional quality
- Familiar versus novel forages
- Individual variation
- Factors affecting the patch and feeding site level
- Forage diversity
- Sward height
- Distance to water
- Presence of manure: Lawn and rough grazing
- Forage nutritional quality
- Terrain and slope
- Altitude and elevation: Short-term changes
- Factors affecting the camp and home range level
- Genetic factors
- Heat and shade
- Effects of grazing behavior on the environment
- Effects on local ecology
- Animal waste
- Trampling
- Overgrazing
- Positive effects of grazing on plants
- Managing grazing behavior
- Rotational grazing
- Multispecies grazing
- Conclusions
- Review questions
- Chapter 9. Managing equine grazing for pasture productivity
- Introduction
- Farm example 1
- Farm example 2
- Grazing behavior
- Stocking rate and density
- Over and under-stocking
- Grazing systems
- Continuous grazing
- Rotational grazing
- Designing and using a rotational grazing system
- Number of grazing units
- Size of grazing units
- Total acreage required
- When to graze and remove horses/length of grazing periods
- Grazing season
- Winter pasture management
- Summer pasture management
- More intensive management strategies
- Additional management
- Continuous vs. rotational grazing
- Rotational grazing and hindgut microbiome
- Grazing plans for Linda and Emily
- Conclusion
- Review questions
- Chapter 10. Mixed species grazing
- What is mixed species grazing?
- What benefits can mixed species grazing provide?
- Improved forage utilization efficiency
- Mixed species grazing helps to control parasites
- Reducing ecologic risks of avermectins
- Improved weed control, especially with training
- Why/how does multispecies grazing work?
- Utilization of forage affected by feces of other animal species
- Other influences on workability of multispecies grazing
- What are potential disadvantages to mixed species grazing on a horse farm?
- How is information about nonequine species useful in managing horses?
- Economic considerations of mixed species grazing
- Potential positive economic responses
- Potential negative economic consequences
- Managing mixed species grazing
- How will you use another livestock species on a horse farm?
- A rancher's point of view on mixed species grazing
- Mixed species grazing in action
- What research still needs to be done?
- Review questions
- Chapter 11. Production and management of Hay and Haylage
- Introduction
- What is quality hay?
- Factors affecting the nutrient value of hay
- Plant species
- Stage of maturity
- Visual and physical characteristics of high-quality hay
- Ergot alkaloids associated with the endophyte of tall fescue
- Glycosides
- Cantharadin
- Mold and dust
- Slaframine
- Nitrates
- Physically injurious plants and materials
- Chemical composition and forage quality
- Producing quality hay
- Harvesting
- Swath and windrow manipulation
- Baling
- Hay preservatives
- Bale handling
- Bale conditioning and storage
- Bale packages for horses
- Storing hay
- Choosing hay for horses
- Cleanliness first
- Matching hay type to horse type
- Is hay a nutritionally balanced diet?
- Feeding hay to individually housed horses
- Horses fed in groups
- Baling forage crops for silage
- Advantages and disadvantages of baleage
- Machinery requirements for baleage
- Bale-wrapping and bagging equipment
- Individual bags
- Individually wrapped bales
- Long tubes
- In-line bale wrappers
- Making good baleage
- Stage of maturity
- Moisture content
- Baling and wrapping
- Assessing fermentation of baleage
- Low moisture baleage
- High moisture baleage
- Feeding baleage
- Review questions
- Chapter 12. Climate, weather, and plant hardiness
- Introduction
- Solar radiation
- Air temperature
- Growing degree days
- Alfalfa
- Grasses
- Diversity among varieties
- Elevation and topographic position
- Precipitation
- Seasonal changes in forage quality
- Regional climatic effects
- Cold temperature effects
- Winter hardiness
- North to south and east to west effects in North America
- The transition zone
- Restrictions to growth
- Drought
- Flood
- High temperature stress
- Establishment
- Review questions
- Chapter 13. Matching plant species to your environment, weather, and climate
- Introduction
- Adaptation to the site and management
- Forage yield
- Forage quality
- Review questions
- Chapter 14. Managing manure, erosion, and water quality in and around horse pastures
- Summary
- Introduction
- Erosion
- Contaminated water leaching/runoff
- Parasite concerns
- Other environmental concerns
- Insects
- Salinity
- Weed seeds
- Aesthetics
- Benefits of manure on pasture
- Nutrient recycling
- Improves soil quality
- Reduces farm costs
- Spreading manure on pasture
- Composting
- Spreading guidelines
- Fertilizer Value of Pasture-Dropped Manure
- Managing pastures to alleviate environmental concerns and protect water quality
- Removing manure
- Constructing heavy use pads
- Designing proper manure storage
- Using vegetated buffers
- Keep clean water clean
- Construct berms and waterways to divert water flow
- Fence off open water and wet areas
- Grazing near streams: Riparian buffers
- Maintaining and managing riparian forest buffers
- Conclusion
- Review Questions
- Chapter 15. Fencing and watering systems
- Purposes and desired features of fences
- Planning fences
- Locations of fences
- Materials to consider
- Stones and trees
- Wood
- Metals
- Plastics
- Fiberglass
- Concrete
- Plastic coatings
- Fence types, designs and descriptions
- Relative costs of various fence types
- Post and rail fences
- Wood posts and steel strand wire
- Wood posts and steel woven wire
- Wood posts and polymer-coated wire “boards” or “rails”
- Wood post and all polymer strand
- All plastic polymer posts and rails
- Rubber belt
- Permanent electric
- Electric fence connections and current
- Safety in electric fence construction and maintenance
- Training horses to electric fencing
- Maintaining the current
- Semipermanent and temporary electric fences
- Gates
- Maintenance of fences
- Futuristic fencing technology
- Drinking water systems
- Drinking water quality
- Water sources
- Moving water from source to pasture
- Watering devices
- Goldfish as trough cleaners
- Matching water flow to horse needs
- Safety concerns
- Information sources
- Manufacturers of electric fencing
- Manufacturers of waterers
- Review questions
- Chapter 16. Pasture-related diseases and disorders
- Introduction
- Colic
- Pasture-associated laminitis
- Nitrate poisoning in horses
- Pasture-associated liver disease in the horse
- Blue-green algae or cyanobacteria in water
- Other plants that are toxic to horses
- Trees (Table 16.2)
- Seasonal Pasture Myopathy
- Mare reproductive loss syndrome
- Forbs (Table 16.3)
- Pasture-associated stringhalt
- Legumes (Table 16.4)
- Grasses (Table 16.5)
- Equine grass sickness
- Other conditions that are toxic to horses
- Pasture-associated obstructive pulmonary disease
- Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
- Summer pasture-associated obstructive pulmonary disease
- Selenium deficiency
- Selenium poisoning
- Getting help
- Review questions
- Chapter 17. Coexisting with wildlife
- Introduction
- The relationship between the abundance of species of wild organisms and ecosystem health
- Habitat
- Biodiversity and ecosystem services
- Wildlife population imbalance
- Achieving a sustainable wild horse and burro program
- Summary of A report from the Bureau of Land Management to U.S. Congress: An Analysis of Achieving a Sustainable Wild Horse and Burro Program, 2020
- Program goals
- Benefits of a diverse ecosystem
- Accommodating hunters or other consumers of a diverse ecosystem
- Effects of adding or subtracting wild species on an ecosystem
- Large scale hunting and habitat change
- Less-intentional introductions
- Australian examples of introduction of species
- Introducing a species to solve a problem: Cane toads
- Subtracting and adding plant species
- Habitat fragmentation
- Horse parasite control and unintended effects
- Subtracting, then adding a large predator animal species on an ecosystem
- Techniques of encouraging more wildlife to visit or inhabit your farm
- Diversity of forage species
- Forage management and habitat
- Haying practices
- Grazing management techniques
- Providing drinking water, feed, cover, and breeding habitat
- Subtracting and adding prolific omnivores
- Tools and resources to help you coexist with wildlife
- Explaining situations in which wild animals can be detrimental to the goals of your farm, including predation and crop damage
- Predation, injuries, and scaring
- Crop damage
- Arthropod pests
- Determining which detrimental species may be present or responsible for damage
- Predation and signs of predators
- Techniques to discourage certain animal species from visiting your farm
- Scaring nuisance animals
- Fences
- Trapping and hunting
- Evidence about killing predators
- Guardian animals
- Eliminating attractive plants, water, feed, or cover
- Integrated methods
- Dead animal disposal
- A model to watch
- Review questions
- Chapter 18. University of Kentucky Horse Pasture Evaluation Program
- Introduction
- History of the University of Kentucky Horse Pasture Evaluation Program
- Mare Reproductive Loss Syndrome
- University of Kentucky Equine Initiative
- University of Kentucky Horse Pasture Evaluation Program in 2017
- Tall Fescue toxicosis
- Pasture sampling
- Data reporting and recommendations
- Soil maps
- Pasture maps, data and photographs
- Recommendations
- Farm Data Summary Sheet
- Publications
- Case studies
- Farm #1—Large scale commercial breeding farm
- Farm #2—Medium scale commercial breeding farm
- Farm #3—Small private farm
- Challenges facing University of Kentucky Horse Pasture Evaluation Program
- Soil sampling
- Competition with commercial businesses
- Extension versus fee for service
- Securing funding
- Labor and quality control
- Other impacts of university based farm services
- Training students
- Relationships with farms
- Developing resources
- Future grants
- 2023 update
- Review questions
- Chapter 19. Control of weeds in pastures
- Introduction
- How to identify weeds
- Weed identification resources
- Why are there weeds where I want other plants?
- Ecological reasons
- Invasive plants
- Management reasons
- How long will it take to fix my weed problem?
- The seed bank
- Herbicide use
- Herbicides in the USA
- Herbicides for pasture renovation or replacement of endophyte-infected tall fescue
- Herbicides for non-grazed areas, fencerows, buildings, and similar farmstead sites
- Herbicide use in Canada: Federal guidelines
- Some general guidelines for herbicide use
- Canadian provincial herbicide laws and guidelines
- Control of weeds
- It starts with soil
- Forage species and variety selection
- Weed types and when to manage them
- Treat annual, biannual and perennial weeds appropriately
- Principle of integrated pest management
- Cultivation
- Stale seedbed
- Mowing
- Managing pasture for weed control
- Managing grazing for weed control
- Preventing grassy weeds in horse pastures
- Control of established grass weeds
- Tall fescue (cool season, perennial, good forage quality, toxic endophyte can be harmful to late-term mares)
- Nimblewill (warm-season, perennial grass, not grazed by livestock, native to Kentucky/Virginia)
- Yellow foxtail (a warm-season, annual grass, not grazed by livestock) and large crabgrass (a warm-season, annual grass with good forage quality)
- Grass weed control summary
- Take-home message on forage and grazing management in weed control
- Encouraging desired forage plants (management)
- Cultural practices: Seeding forages or renovation
- Grazing practices
- Using trained livestock to eat weeds
- Biological controls
- When the weeds are winning
- Review questions
- Chapter 20. Annual forage options for grazing horses
- Introduction
- Benefits and drawbacks of using annual forages
- Using cool-season annual forages
- Cool-season annual forage options
- Cool-season annual grasses
- Oat (Avena sativa L.)
- Barley (Hordeum vulgare L.)
- Rye (Secale cereal L.)
- Wheat (Triticum asetivum L.)
- Triticale (xTriticosecale L.)
- Annual ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum L.)
- Cool-season annual legumes
- Arrowleaf clover (Trifolium vesiculosum L.)
- Berseem clover (Trifolium alexandrinum L.)
- Crimson clover (Trifolium incarnatum L.)
- Brassicas
- Kale (Brassica oleracea L.)
- Rape (Brassica napus L.)
- Turnip (Brassica rapa L.)
- Radish (Raphanus sativus L.)
- Evaluation of cool-season annual forages under horse grazing
- Using warm-season annual forages
- Warm-season annual forage options
- Warm-season annual grasses
- Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L.)
- Sudangrass (Sorghum bicolor ssp. drummondii L.)
- Sorghum-sudangrass hybrids (Sorghum bicolor x Sorghum bicolor ssp. drummondii L.)
- Pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum L.)
- Foxtail Millet (Setaria italica L.)
- Japanese Millet (Echinochloa esculenta L.)
- Teff (Eragrostis tef L.)
- Crabgrass (Digitaria sp.)
- Warm-season annual legumes
- Striate lespedeza (Kummerowia striata L.)
- Korean lespedeza (Kummerowia stipulacea L.)
- Cowpeas (Vigna unguiculata L.)
- Evaluation of warm-season annual forages under horse grazing
- Potential issues with annual forages
- Nitrate toxicity
- Prussic acid poisoning
- Feeding concerns with brassica species
- Other toxicities
- Strategies for annual forage establishment
- Management of established annual forage stands
- Overall conclusions and recommendations
- Review questions
- Chapter 21. Forage varieties and management of horse pasture in hot and dry environments
- Introduction
- Fertility
- Weed control
- Grazing management
- Species and varieties of forage
- Bahiagrass
- Bermudagrass
- Annual crabgrass
- Interseeding of small grains in bermudagrass pastures
- Perennial peanuts
- Pearl millet
- Native warm season grasses
- Big bluestem
- Eastern gamma grass
- Indiangrass
- Switchgrass
- Other forage options
- Grazing distance from water
- Summary
- Review questions
- Chapter 22. Climate change and grazing horses
- Introduction
- The carbon cycle
- Greenhouse gases and climate change
- The nitrogen cycle and nitrous oxide in climate change
- Effects of climate change on grasses, grains, legumes and trees
- Effect of climate change on weeds
- Effect of climate change on pests
- Breeding forage cultivars for the new climate
- Effects of climate change on horses
- Heat stress in horses
- Effects of animals on climate change
- Grazing and cycling of greenhouse gases
- How can pasture managers combat climate change?
- Professional help
- Review questions
- Chapter 23. Welfare of horses on pasture
- Introduction: What is animal welfare?
- Equine welfare and grazing
- Extracts from two codes of practice for the care and handling of horses, in relation to pasture
- Canadian Code of Practice
- Pastures and yards
- Requirements from Canadian Code
- Shade and outdoor shelter
- Feeding behavior
- Recommended practices
- National Welfare Code of Practice (American Horse Council)
- Regulating body temperature with shade and shelter
- Thermoregulation
- Cold stress and providing shelter from the elements
- Wind breaks
- Mud and Related Welfare Concerns
- Heat stress in horses
- Is portable shade practical?
- Does a lack of pasture management knowledge and skill have an influence on horse welfare?
- Managing grazing behavior for horse welfare
- Rotational grazing
- Multispecies grazing
- Health and hazards
- Parasite control on pastures
- Optimizing pasture intake and nutrition
- Limiting dry matter and NSC intake
- Summary
- Review questions
- Appendix 1: Units of measurement and conversion factors
- Length
- Imperial (United States and United Kingdom) units of length and metric equivalent
- Metric units of length
- Area
- Imperial (United Kingdom) units of area
- Metric units of area
- Mass or weight
- Imperial (United Kingdom) units
- USA units of mass or weight
- Metric units of mass or weight
- Volume
- Unites States units of volume
- Imperial (United Kingdom) units of volume
- Appendix 2: Measuring forage dry matter yield using clipped forage samples
- Appendix 3: Graphic representation of changes in sward density and forage yield with increasing forage height
- Appendix 4: Independent evaluation of falling plate meter and rising plate meter
- Appendix 5: Map information
- Appendix 6: 2016 field recommendations: Central Kentucky Horse Farm
- Establishment
- Fertility
- Tall fescue
- Current irsk
- Long-term risk
- Appendix 7: Answers to review questions
- Chapter 1
- Chapter 2
- Chapter 3
- Chapter 4
- Chapter 5
- Chapter 6
- Chapter 7
- Chapter 8
- Chapter 9
- Chapter 10
- Chapter 11
- Chapter 12
- Chapter 13
- Chapter 14
- Chapter 15
- Chapter 16
- Chapter 17
- Chapter 18
- Chapter 19
- Chapter 20
- Chapter 21
- Chapter 22
- Chapter 23
- Appendix 8: Metric equivalents for hay bale sizes, as described in Chapter 11
- Appendix 9: Environmental risk assessment survey for farms
- Index
- No. of pages: 630
- Language: English
- Edition: 2
- Published: November 19, 2024
- Imprint: Academic Press
- Paperback ISBN: 9780323950848
- eBook ISBN: 9780323950855
PS
Paul H. Sharpe
Retired from University of Guelph as a lecturer, researcher, program coordinator and Associate Director of academic programs. Ph.D. in reproductive physiology, University of Saskatchewan. M.Sc. in fertility of cattle in a tropical environment, University of Guelph. B. Sc. Ag. in Animal Science, University of Manitoba. B. Sc. in Zoology and Botany, Brandon University. Conducted research into animal reproduction, forage systems, alternative forages and grazing management. Taught 22 different courses in Biology and Animal Science. Studied and worked in Australia, Jamaica and three Canadian provinces. He also developed and taught a Pasture Management course for the Equine Management degree program at the University of Guelph. Since editing the first edition of Horse Pasture Management, he developed and taught a course called Sustainable Practices in Agriculture.