Management of pastures for horses
By admin | May 21, 2008
Horses are hard on pastures. Unlike cattle, horses have upper incisors and mobile lips which enable them to selectively and heavily graze pastures. “Horse” pastures are easily recognized because they have alternating areas of heavily and lightly grazed pasture. This pattern is referred to as “lawns” and “rough”.
A large proportion of the Australian horse population is owned and managed on small land holdings ranging from one to four hectares, many of which become seriously degraded by continuous grazing by horses. This is likely to result in “horse sick” pastures, soil erosion and compaction, and severe soil mineral imbalances by nutrient transfer between grazed “lawns” and dunging “roughs”.
Topics: Horses | No Comments »
Herbs for Livestock Health
By admin | May 21, 2008
Have you ever driven along the road and noticed how healthy and shiny some cattle are, and on the other hand how under conditioned and dull some look? You can be pretty sure the farmers weren’t up at dawn shampooing and conditioning them all with some expensive stuff from the store.
It is usually a result of the pasture they are on and to be more precise, whether or not the pasture has been improved in some way.
Topics: Animal Care, Horses | No Comments »
Banding a western horse’s mane
By admin | May 21, 2008
Banding a horse’s mane is a pretty standard procedure for approved showing and for many open shows. It can make your horse’s mane lie flat and close to the neck even on a windy day. When the mane lies close to the neck it gives the illusion of a slimmer neck.
When you are just starting, it is always a good idea to practice banding your horse’s mane early in the week prior to your show. This gives you an idea how long it will take and how well your horse will stand for you while you are banding. When you first start it will usually take several times to get the mane looking as good as you would like it to look, but hang in there, it comes with experience.
Topics: Horses | No Comments »
All that Glitters is not gold/All that’s Green is not Lucerne
By admin | May 21, 2008
To be catagorised as prime lucerne hay, among other things, a bale should contain >90% lucerne. Cheaper lines of hay are often so because they contain 10% or more of plants other than lucerne.
The purpose of this article is to give a brief overview of what some of these plants are likely to be. Lucerne, being a perennial plant, generally lasts for 3-5 years after planting. During that time it is not uncommon for plants other than lucerne to appear in a lucerne paddock.
Topics: Lucerne | No Comments »