Sampling Season……….

By Paul Westfall, Granville & Warren County Cooperative Extension

Horse pastures, like pastures for any animal that utilizes forages to meet nutritional needs, require just the right amounts of nutrients in order to have maximum growth and to enhance forage quality. Since overseeding pastures was addressed in an earlier column, I thought this one should focus on meeting the nutritional needs of the grasses and legumes that are either already present in a fall pasture or are being overseeded to improve that pasture over a long period of time. The thought is that providing the right amount of nutrients to the forages will allow the forages to have a better chance of providing the right amount of nutrients to your horses. Pasture grasses that are high in protein and are highly digestible are more cost effective to feed than going to the feed store and purchasing extra supplements or going out and buying “horse hay” at a premium price.

I know this is an old message, but it needs to be heard – get the soil in your pastures tested. Right now is a great time to get that done, as the wait time is as short as it is likely to be at the lab. The only way to know how much lime or fertilizer to apply – and to ensure the right ratio of fertilizer is used – is to see what is already in place. Lime is critical to balance the soil pH for forage production, and the nutrients are the building blocks for forage growth and quality. I know that the ground has been too hard to dig in for most of the summer, but areas that have received rainfall lately may be ready for testing. Instructions for sampling a pasture or field are available at your county Cooperative Extension office.

It’s also time to start taking inventory on what forage is going to be available for the upcoming winter. That inventory should include the amount of hay in storage and what the quality of that hay is. The only way to determine the quality is to get forage samples tested at a qualified lab. For best results, sample each cutting of each field in order to formulate rations to best meet the nutritional needs of your horses at different times during the winter. The NCDA&CS lab in Raleigh is the most cost effective one to use. Your county Cooperative Extension office should have the sampling instructions and forms. Some offices have sampling tools that can be borrowed to take the samples.

The inventory will also allow a horse owner to assess whether or not there is enough pasture and hay available to get through the feeding season. If hay must be purchased, it is usually less expensive in the fall when supplies are relatively high.

I’ve seen a lot of hay that was harvested or purchased and called “high quality” that actually tested at 7% Crude Protein. Some of that hay was pretty high dollar stuff that was transported in from Nebraska or Oklahoma. Not only was it low in protein, but also was pretty highly indigestible. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to pay for or feed hay that might not be better than a snowball.

My point here is that a horse owner needs to know what’s in the forage in order to make the best decisions about what else to feed to the horses to meet the maintenance, gestation, lactation, growth, or work needs of the horses. That information is also needed to make good purchasing decisions when buying forages, too.

I’ll mention one other factor to consider when dealing with hay. A lot of hay doesn’t get the care it deserves once it is harvested. Round bales tend to wait in the field until it is convenient to move them to a storage area. I’ve seen too many storage areas that were not set up very well, causing the bales to deteriorate and mold. If you are harvesting hay for your horses, be sure to get it stored properly to reduce bale loss, and reduce mold, and to keep the forage quality in that hay as high as possible. That means storing round bales on pallets, leaving space between the bales, and covering them if they can’t be stored under a roof. Demand that any hay that you buy has been treated well in storage. If you do purchase hay, consider setting some quality parameters and be sure to review the forage test results before sealing the deal. That’s worth offering a little premium on the price since there is less risk of getting a load of low quality hay from a dealer if quality parameters are set.

Testing. Extension Agents sure say that word a lot. We are just trying to help folks gain some information so decisions aren't made in a vacuum. To sum it up, don’t just guess – get a test! Especially when we are talking about feeding nutrients to our forages in the pasture or the quality of forage being fed to our horses.