Nice Partitions Bamboo Horse Stable Equine Stall System In Massachusetts

Nice Partitions Bamboo Horse Stable Equine Stall System In Massachusetts

Preventing overgrazing, soil compaction, pollution from manure, and conservation of wild life habitat are goals of proper pasture and paddock management. In the wild, horses graze for eighteen hours a day (Hudson Mohawk Resource) if pastures are not actively managed, horses will quickly turn a grass pasture into a barren land. “Over grazing occurs when plants are so heavily grazed that the root system dies back and plants eventually become less productive or die” (Horse Keeping, 33). The best way to prevent overgrazing is to implement a pasture rotational schedule in which periods of grazing are alternated with periods of rest to allow the plants to grow. In a rotation system horses should graze plants down to a height of about two inches then be removed. The plants should be allowed enough rest time to grow up to a height of four to six inches before horses are let back into graze that pasture; regrowth time varies with the seasons and by climate (Hudson Mohawk Resource). Year round grazing can only be accomplished if a facility has enough acres to support the number of horses it houses; most horses need at least one to three acres (Best Practices). If a facility has limited space but still wants to provide pasture grazing, a sacrifice area can be used to house horses while a pasture is resting. The sacrifice area is a paddock that has been excavated and filled with rock and sand to prevent muddy conditions during the rainy season. The best plant combination for a pasture is a combination of three different types: bunch grass, sod grass, and a legume. Legumes, like clover and alfalfa, are nitrogen-fixing plants, which will improve soil fertility without using chemical fertilizers, which could leach into the natural water system (Hudson Mohawk Resource). Keeping land as pasture reduces environmental impact by protecting the soil from erosion, increasing the soil’s absorption of rainfall, slowing the rate of overland runoff, and storing moisture to prolong the growing season (Horse Keeping, 32). Soil compaction, the process of soil particles being pressed together under the concentrated pressure of horse hooves reduces the pore space between soil particles. To reduce soil compaction pasture should only be grazed when the soil is dry because it is more resistant to compaction. Root depth is restricted when soil is compacted which also reduces the plants uptake of water and nutrients. In addition compaction decreases infiltration, which increases runoff (Horse Keeping, 34-35). Bare areas should be addressed by seeding and mulching. Keeping land vegetated as grass pasture can contribute to reversing global warming as the grasses and other plants use carbon dioxide for photosynthesis and transfers carbon to the soil.

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