Healthy Pastures, Healthy Horses

23/06/2025

~ Utilizing hay waste in pastures ~

Nearly every barn will have some wasted hay at one time or another. The amounts vary of course with the number of animals and the quality of hay fed. Turnout into pastures also has an effect, since equines with access to grazing are pickier about hay.

We have two good options for dealing with the waste: we can compost it along with the manure or we can sweep it up separately and spread it directly on pastures. Each has advantages and disadvantages.

Composting: it's simpler to pick it up with manure and just make one trip to the compost pile, and it adds dry/green matter to the composting process. However, it does create the need for more trips, and it can fill compost bins up quickly. If composting space is limited, this may not be the better option.

Spreading: sweeping it up and taking it directly to pastures or a holding area is quick and easy. It's not always easy to separate from manure though, and separating it creates the need for two destinations, one for manure to composting and one for hay to pastures. If it's not spread immediately and left in a holding area (usually a trailer), it will need to be covered or risk a slimy mess if it rains. If there is unused space in the barn to store it for weekly or monthly spreading, that's always a good option.

Which provides more benefits to pastures? That varies for a couple of reasons.

Compost is a superb addition to soil nutrition and soil biota health, without question. The nutrients in compost are available immediately to soil and its organisms, which is a big plus. The composting process does take time though, and as we mentioned, not all composting systems are large enough to handle hay waste.

Dry hay waste added to grazing areas can be very beneficial too. It can cover bare areas, which helps add nutrients and organic matter (OM), giving wee soil wildlife a boost. If spread too heavily, however, it can inhibit the growth of good grasses. It can also take awhile to break down, during which time its nutrients are unavailable to soils/biota.

It often contains seeds, which can be good for pastures *if* they are species we want. The seeds can also be from w**ds or w**dy species, which can create future populations of plants we may not want.

It really comes down to the question of what works best for the situation, since each methods has benefits and downfalls. If it's possibly w**dy hay and there isn't room to store it or time to spread it, it should probably be composted. If it's clean and there's space for storing or time for spreading, putting it directly on pastures can be a good thing.

It's worth giving it some thought and developing a process that works best for each barn. Regardless of how wasted hay is handled, it's a great resource that shouldn't be squandered. Every bit of goodness we put into pastures is returned to us and our equines in significant and beneficial ways.

22/06/2025

21/06/2025

More on our FrIDay toxic plant, red elderberry (Sambucus racemosa). As we mentioned, this isn't a plant equines ordinarily would eat. However, when pastures are depleted, horses chase green.

This is one of the many plants (like Prunus tree species) that contain cyanogenic glycosides, which are converted to hydrogen cyanide (prussic acid or hydrocyanic acid). Wilted leaves and young growth after stress are the most toxic. Calcium oxalate crystals are also found in the woody parts.

Clinical signs are similar for all hydrogen cyanide toxicity: bright cherry-red blood and mucous membranes, increased heart rate and respiration, difficulty breathing, muscle spasms, weakness, excitability/nervousness/anxiety, bitter almond odor to breath, ataxia, staggering, collapse, death, and possible spontaneous abortions. Recovery depends on severity of toxicity.

It's not a plant to be alarmed about but it isn't one we want in or near pastures.

20/06/2025

Cyndi has identified it correctly as red elderberry (Sambucus racemosa). We'll post more tomorrow about its toxicity. Thanks to Cyndi for playing along!

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It can't be time already for our FrIDay toxic plant and w**d ID quiz!

But it is, apparently. :) So this week's plant is not one found in all ecosystems, nor is it one that horses would normally eat. However in drought conditions or in/near depleted pastures, they may be tempted to help themselves and get into trouble.

The first person to comment with the correct ID will get a free month's subscription to our weekly info-letter. If you're a current subscriber we'll extend your subscription a month.

**Remember: If you've already won a free month we kindly ask that you hold off answering until Sunday if it's not identified by then. We'll still give you another month free but this gives the new folks a chance to ID new plants for at least two days (cuz some of you guys are legit ID wizards). :)

We'd like this to be about really getting to know the plants so prefer no apps but do your thing.

So have fun with it and we hope to meet some new stewards who we haven't met before. (Not that we don't adore our regulars as well. 😘)

20/06/2025

This week's issue of our E2E Info-letter Healthy Pastures, Healthy Horses is now ready for subscribers to enjoy. :)

Info-letter subscriptions are how we're able to continue to donate a thousand plus hours a year to keeping your equines safe and your pastures healthy.

This week we explore: Soil cover and its effect on pasture health ~ The fallacy that horses avoid eating toxic plants ~ Deadliest horse diseases ~ Mesquite and control of gastric parasites ~ Another reason to provide plentiful clean water ~ The importance of live plant cover ~ Animal stress and plant toxicity ~ Is it plant toxicity or heat stress/exhaustion? ~ Body condition impacts toxic events ~ What are 'undesirable plant species'? ~ Minimum heights for forage species for initiating/terminating grazing ~

Subscriptions are available monthly ($5.00, 4-5 issues) or yearly ($50.00, 52 issues). You can also order a sample issue for $1.00. The topics we include aren't covered in our FB posts, so you won't see the material repeated here. See the pinned post above for info on how to subscribe (Buy Me a Coffee, PayPal, Zelle, Venmo). We work hard and long to ensure that you get your money's worth. :)

The info-letters contain three pages of informative, original, easy-to read content for all equine stewards. An entire month of issues costs less than a stop at a coffee stand, so treat yourself or someone you care about, support the work we do, and keep your equines safe and your pastures healthy!

We'd like to thank our loyal subscribers for their support and also for their very kind words of appreciation. Those mean a lot and we're always gratified that folks are enjoying our efforts and knowledge!

19/06/2025

We had a question this week on the nutritive value of pasture grasses in the fall, so let's take a moment to address that.

Providing grasses have not been grazed down to levels where roots are damaged (which is 3-4" for most forage species) and soils are not too moist for heavy animals with sharp hooves, grazing in the fall into winter still provides some nutrition. However, with shorter days and weaker sunlight, grasses won't have the sugars (non-structural carbohydrates) they do earlier in the season.

The growth stage of grasses has a big impact on nutrition, palatability, and calories. There are essentially four: vegetative, elongation, reproductive, and senescence. Dormancy is a fifth 'stage' but it is not a growth stage.

The vegetative stage is the most tender and easily digested, which means it takes fewer calories to digest it. It's also the highest in bioavailable nutrients. Late in the vegetation stage, before elongation, is when yields and growth rate meet. Grazing this stage results in the swiftest rate of regrowth.

The next stage is elongation, which is where the grasses increase in height along with lignin and cellulose. During this stage there is a slight drop in palatability, but it still retains nutrients, so late vegetative to elongation is the prime time for putting weight on animals and still ensuring good regrowth of forage plants.

The third stage, reproduction, has the lowest nutrition. This is when the plant sends its energy into seed production, so sugars and nutrients drop significantly. That means tall grasses are low in digestibility as well as nutrition.

The fourth and last stage, senescence, is when the crown stores sugars for the winter, so leaves during this stage aren't very palatable or nutritious at all. Grazing during this stage also has dangers, because if animals seeking sugars graze the crowns, plants won't have the energy they need to maintain root integrity and survive over winter.

Grazing after/during senescence must be managed carefully, because heavy grazing pressure during this stage can delay regrowth in the spring for several weeks. Grazing dormant plants to under 5-6" is not advisable because plants are depending on the sugars stored in the crown and roots for survival.

As pasture stewards, we have control over the grazing pressure on forage plants. If we ignore grazing science and good sense, we do so at the peril of animal and pasture well-being as well as our feed budgets.

18/06/2025

~ It's WeedsDay ~

Most equine stewards won't likely recognize milkw**d as a toxic plant, because it's so highly touted as a beneficial plant for monarch butterflies.

The very compounds that make it attractive to those butterflies, however, are precisely what make it a potential danger. Monarchs derive their toxic defenses by eating plant compounds, including the galitoxin and cardiac glycosides found in milkw**d plants.

Gardeners often work hard to encourage milkw**ds, which is one reason it's so common in pastures. The tufted seeds in Asclepias species become airborne and can travel for miles.

While some sources may claim that milkw**ds are only slightly toxic, that isn't true. Some species present a true danger. As little as a pound of plant material has the potential for causing death in a 1000 lb equine.

Clinical signs of toxicity may include hypersalivation, lack of coordination, staggers, cardiac irregularities, colic, diarrhea, tremors, weakness, unsteadiness, nervousness, respiratory difficulties, low blood pressure, paralysis, collapse, coma, and death.

Treatment needs to be swift, as death can occur in as little as 24 hours after ingestion. There is not one specific antidote; treatment is mostly supportive based on signs.

Ingestion does not have to be in one dose; repeated amounts over time may be toxic. Fortunately, milkw**ds are not highly palatable, though it's also those factors that create toxicity.
Local w**d boards and SWCDs will know the control methods best for local species.

We all want monarch butterflies, but not at a cost to our equines, so let's confine milkw**d to gardens.

17/06/2025

We often get requests for information on ergot toxicity. Ergotism isn't common in equines in all regions but it can and does happen, so it's good to be aware of it. It has been confused with annual ryegrass staggers, but that is caused by a bacteria.

Ergots (sclerotias) are organisms that develop in and replace seeds of grains or forage grasses. The cause is the fungus Claviceps purpurea. They appear black to purple, sometimes brown, and have roughly an oval shape. In early infections they may appear as honey dew, a sticky yellow to orange secretion. Ergots differ in the amount of mycotoxins (ergot alkaloids) they contain, but all have some.

Some of the pasture grasses they may affect include ryes or ryegrasses, fescues, quackgrass, bluegrasses, dallisgrass, timothy, wheatgrasses and bromes. Climate and weather can impact the growth of the fungi. When the ergots are ingested, they cause the disease called ergotism. This can come in four basic forms: hyperthermic, convulsive, gangrenous/cutaneous, and reproductive/teratogenic.

Hyperthermic type: creates the inability of the body to cool itself, resulting in intolerance to heat, and generally is the result of the cumulative effect of ergots.

Convulsive type: the least common form. It causes odd behavior, excitation, tremors, muscle spasms, convulsions, and death. It is the acute form, resulting from ingestion of a large number of ergots over a short time.

Gangrenous type: causes a lack of blood flow, and results in sloughing of tissues along with the typical odor of rotting flesh. It is also a chronic form, resulting from ingestion of ergots over long periods.

Reproductive type: affects mares, pregnancies, fetuses, and newborn foals. It can result in spontaneous abortion, stillborns, unhealthy or small foals, foals lacking suckling reflex, inability of mare to become pregnant, and lack of lactation.

Treatments usually consist of supportive therapies. Domperidone has been found effective in treating mares' inability to lactate. Care should be taken that future exposure does not occur. Some animals, particularly those with gangrene, may not recover.

Ergot bodies are generally easy to see in grain or seed heads, both for their color and size. They may appear similar to rat droppings in grains. Ergot are not as visible in ground or pelleted feed, for which laboratory testing may be necessary.

Proper grazing and pasture management helps prevent ergotism. Grasses should not be allowed to form seed heads, and if grazing isn't sufficient, topping of pastures helps in the prevention of flower and seed production. Walking pastures weekly also helps to spot the characteristic purple-black coloration of ergots. Hay producers should be vetted properly and care taken to inspect hay when feeding.

As with most potential toxicities, prevention is key. Being vigilant and proactive helps keep them safe.

16/06/2025

Our FrIDay toxic plant and w**d ID quiz was on rattlebox or rattlepod. This one is showy crotalaria (Crotalaria spectabilis).

The toxins in this genus are pyrrolizidine alkaloids, hepatotoxins similar to those found in tansy ragwort. The seeds are the most toxic but all plant parts contain the toxins. They also don't lose toxicity when dried or in hay.

Toxicity can be either acute or chronic. The ingestion of a fair amount can cause swift and severe toxicity, where ingesting small amounts over weeks to months can also be deadly.

Clinical signs of liver damage aren't usually observed until the liver is 70% compromised, at which time recovery isn't possible.

Some of the signs include weight loss, yellowing of the eyes and mucous membranes, head pressing and other neurological issues, lack of appetite, colic, diarrhea, fever, secondary photosensitization from liver damage, and death.

This is not a plant we want in or near pastures or trails, so it's a very good one to be able to identify.

15/06/2025

This week's issue of our E2E Info-letter Healthy Pastures, Healthy Horses is now ready for subscribers to enjoy. :)

Info-letter subscriptions are how we're able to continue to donate a thousand plus hours a year to keeping your equines safe and your pastures healthy.

This week we explore: How do we choose forage grass species? ~ Toxicity highlight: Indian h**p (Apocynum cannabinum) ~ Why equine stewards should care about invasive w**ds ~ The toxicity of brackenfern in grazing animals ~ Equine stomach size ~ More about rotational grazing ~ Water and its importance in the equine body ~ The digestive system, in simple terms ~ Why horses need to graze so much of the day ~ Firew**d in Australia ~ Quality of forage affects intake ~ Daily water consumption by class of horse ~

Subscriptions are available monthly ($5.00, 4-5 issues) or yearly ($50.00, 52 issues). You can also order a sample issue for $1.00. The topics we include aren't covered in our FB posts, so you won't see the material repeated here. See the pinned post above for info on how to subscribe (Buy Me a Coffee, PayPal, Zelle, Venmo). We work hard and long to ensure that you get your money's worth. :)

The info-letters contain three pages of informative, original, easy-to read content for all equine stewards. An entire month of issues costs less than a stop at a coffee stand, so treat yourself or someone you care about, support the work we do, and keep your equines safe and your pastures healthy!

We'd like to thank our loyal subscribers for their support and also for their very kind words of appreciation. Those mean a lot and we're always gratified that folks are enjoying our efforts and knowledge!

15/06/2025

Hope you all have a safe and fun Sunday!

14/06/2025

Stay safe on all of your adventures today!