Pasture Management 101: Drought, Excess Rain, and Erosion

Protect pastures by using rotational grazing and managing manure.
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Pasture Management 101: Drought, Excess Rain, and Erosion
During times of drought, manage horses to reduce grazing time or provided additional forage to reduce grazing pressure. | Photo: Photos.com
Since pasture development and renovation can be expensive endeavors, owners can and should take steps to ensure that fields continue to thrive. Environmental factors, in particular, can impact pasture quality.

For example, during times of drought, grasses might become dormant or die altogether, allowing weeds (sometimes toxic) to take their place. Overgrazing can make this even worse.

“Owners should be cautious if horses are hungry as they may increase consumption of weeds or toxic plants and thus alternative safe forage sources should be provided in those instances,” said Jennie Ivey, MS, PhD, assistant professor and extension equine specialist at the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture.

During times of drought, manage horses to reduce grazing time or provided additional forage to reduce grazing pressure

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Written by:

Hope Ellis-Ashburn, MS, lives with her husband and daughter near Chattanooga, Tennessee, where the family raises Black Angus cattle and hay on her husband’s family’s farm, which has been in operation for over a century. She is a former Extension agent, a current high school teacher, and has owned horses for more than thirty years. She currently owns a half-Arabian mare named Sally. She began writing freelance articles three years ago, authored The Story of Kimbrook Arabians, and posts a range of horse-related content weekly on her blog, Red Horse on a Red Hill.

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