With the intense weather hitting Kentucky and much of the United States this summer, University of Kentucky College of Agriculture experts are recommending horse owners take stock of their pastures and consider other management options such as supplementing with hay.

According to Laurie Lawrence, PhD, a nutrition researcher and faculty member in the Department of Animal and Food Sciences, the combination of high heat and low moisture has caused cool-season grasses like Kentucky bluegrass and orchardgrass to dry up in many horse pastures. Dry pastures mean low forage availability for grazing horses and a potential need for supplemental hay.

"A brief pasture walk can reveal whether a pasture has edible grass or just green weeds," Lawrence said. "If it is not clear whether there is adequate grass for horses in the paddock, the best test is to offer hay and see whether horses consume it.

"A practical approach is to put out a few flakes of hay and then observe the horses. If they devour the hay in a short time, then pasture quality is probably poor and hay is needed," she continued. "If the hay is untouched or is mostly wasted, then it may not be needed. But just because it is not needed now doesn’t mean it won’t be needed in a few days or a week