Prevent Accidents or Illnesses Through Grazing

We’ve already experienced the first truly pleasant days of 2020. Some horses are already grazing in the pasture, while most are still in the paddock due to the prolonged rain we’ve had, which has made the pasture less than ideal.

In this article, we’ll briefly discuss maintenance and also the inspection of your fencing.

We’d like to provide you with information on which grasses are best for your horse pasture, drinking water facilities, and fencing.

Which grass?

When grass lacks sufficient nutrients, it becomes “stressed.” This means the grass produces a lot of fructan, which is converted into sugars that your horse or pony cannot tolerate well. Most pastures in the Netherlands contain ryegrass, which is rich in proteins and lacks structure. This is ideal for cows but less suitable for horses.

Grass suitable for cows is not suitable for horses because it contains a lot of protein. Horses eat the grass close to the root, whereas cows graze much higher with their tongues. The grass mixture used for horse pastures should have a low growth point to prevent weeds as much as possible.

Therefore, ensure you use a good grass mixture for horses when reseeding or sowing a pasture. These mixtures contain various herbs and grasses that are lower in proteins, sugars, and energy, and higher in fiber. This also helps prevent obesity in your horse.

Pasture Maintenance

Fertilizing the pasture ensures the necessary nutrients are available for grass growth. It’s best to fertilize in early spring or autumn when the soil is wetter, allowing for better nutrient absorption.

Lime application is most effective up to February. By liming your pasture, you prepare the soil for fertilization, improving nutrient uptake and reducing runoff. Over time, the pasture can become acidic, lowering the pH. Applying lime raises the pH and reduces acidity.

To determine how often to fertilize and lime your pasture, it’s advisable to conduct a soil test every 4 to 5 years. For example, you can have this done at Eurofins.

If you’ve had your pasture mowed, you can safely turn your horse out immediately. If it was mowed short, it’s best to wait until the grass grows a bit taller.

Providing Water in Your Pasture

You can offer water to your horse in various ways. We still often see large tubs that are filled daily. Ensure these containers are regularly cleaned.

We offer various types of drinkers for your horses, including standard drinkers and frost-free drinkers that prevent water from freezing in winter.

There are also various types of pasture drinkers. Consider a pasture pump, which draws drinking water from the ground. By pressing the handle, they pump water from depths up to 7 meters into the drinking bowl. This may take some getting used to for your horse, but they learn quickly.

Additionally, there are the more familiar pasture drinkers available in many different sizes. These are made from high-quality UV-resistant polyethylene. The inward-curved edges reduce water spillage. They are available from 70 liters to 1500 liters, with corresponding float valves (low and high pressure).

It’s crucial that your horse always has access to fresh drinking water.

Fencing

There are various types of fencing for your horse, ranging from complete wooden enclosures to wooden posts with electric wire or electric wire with step-in posts..

Before your horses go back into the pasture, check that the fencing is intact and that your horse cannot injure itself on nails, screws, or protruding wood.

It’s also important that the electric wire is still taut. For wire and cord rotating tensioners can be used. For cord, it’s advisable to use a spring, so you rarely need to tension it, and for wire, we have wire tensioners.

Always remember that barbed wire or steel wire is not suitable for fencing pastures for horses.

The safest fencing method is Hippowire. It offers optimal conductivity, minimal risk of injury, and high durability. It’s 2.5 mm steel wire coated with conductive plastic. The steel core ensures optimal conductivity, the thick plastic coating provides excellent visibility with minimal injury risk, and the black conductive carbon components ensure optimal electrical effect.

It’s also important to check if there’s sufficient tension on the electric wire. You can do this with a digital voltmeter.

When walking along the fence, you can measure if there’s adequate voltage everywhere or if there are issues hindering conductivity. This could be a break in the wire or overgrown grass or bushes causing leakage. Also, check if the insulators are in good condition; broken insulators can cause leakage.

This device can also be used to test the voltage of the electric fence unit or the grounding.

As you can see, there’s quite a bit involved when preparing your pasture to safely let your horses graze in the upcoming summer period.

If you need advice on your fencing, If you need advice on your or pasture drinkers? Please contact us at 0(+31)342 444 585 or via info@nedlandic.com

Blog by Leane