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<p><img alt="07splash" src="images-joomla/stories/seasons/07splash.jpg" height="133" width="177" /> <img alt="saltsten" src="images-joomla/stories/seasons/saltsten.png" height="133" width="200" /> <img alt="grazing" src="images-joomla/stories/seasons/grazing.jpg" height="133" width="200" /></p>
<p><em>As July passes, it is time take an extra check on foals, mares and young horses that you let out on a lush pasture in May or June. Is there still enough grass? Has cold weather or draught reduced growth more than you expected? Has the grass turned to straw? </em></p>
<p>How well pastures remain productive during the summer season depends on both weather and the biology of the grasses in your fields. In cultivated pastures, grass growth is depends on precipitation, temperature, soil condition, species composition and fertilization. Plant growth is highest in early summer, to decline both in growth rate and quality after midsummer. You should therefore always assume that pastures providing sufficient grass for your horses in early summer are not necessarily adequate later in the grazing season. It is therefore important that we check the status of both pasture and animals more often as summer progresses.</p>
<p>Horses do not graze their pasture evenly. Some areas are grazed down quickly, while other areas, where the horses leave their manure, are left out completely, and may appear lush and green. It has been inferred that horses avoid such areas to protect themselves against infection of larvae of intestinal parasites. When you want to estimate pasture quality and how much grass there is left, you should not include the grass that grows in the manure areas. <br /><br />When horses are kept on a pasture all through the summer, the grass gets little time to rest, and gradually looses vitality. Grass health and vitality is better maintained when larger fields are subdivided, allowing the horses to be moved field between fields in a rotary fashion. This way, the vegetation gets time to rest and start growing before the horses return. When a field is put to rest, it should be fertilized, watered if it has been dry, and excess manure and old mature vegetation removed.</p>
<p>Fields which only are used for horses will gradually loose quality, and it may be necessary to plough and reseed after several years to maintain the highest standard. When this is impractical or impossible, pastures keep their quality better if grazed at some 2-3 year intervals by sheep and cattle. The ruminants will eat many plants that horses leave behind, and will reduce the density of nematodal larvae and other infective horse parasites. A horse nematode does not get old in the rumen of a sheep!</p>
<p><strong>How to use PC-Horse to estimate grass intake at different periods in the grazing season?</strong></p>
<p>In PC-Horse we have constructed a "grazing module". You must provide information about pasture quality and the time your horse spends grazing. The grazing module becomes available when you have selected a pasture grass in the horse's feedlist. Inform PC-Horse that your horse is on pasture by clicking the button (arrow).</p>
<p><img alt="juli_fig1" src="images-joomla/stories/seasons/juli_fig1.png" height="143" width="192" /></p>
<p>You will on the bottom of the screen find the controls for entering information on grazing hours and pasture quality(NBNB korriger etter hvilke tekster som brukes).</p>
<p><img alt="juli_fig2" src="images-joomla/stories/seasons/juli_fig2.png" height="65" width="240" /></p>
<p>Remember that the amounts of grass can be reduced rapidly after horses are let out in a rich field, so it is smart to monitor the pasture quality at weekly intervals. Remember also to change the pasture grass in the horses feedlist (from Spring osv.. Bruk programmet Vår/forsommerbeite til Sensommer/høstbeite og eventuelt til Høstbeite) as summer passes and autumn arrives.</p>
<p>The grazing module will use the hours spent grazing to calculate grass intake, also when you are pasturing your horse only a few hours per day, by taking the natural grazing patterns of the horse into account. Intake will not increase linearily with time spent grazing. Instead, intake rate is initially high, but later becomes reduced as pauses in the grazing becomes more frequent. You may test it by changing the time spent grazing, and allow PC-Horse to recalculate intake.</p>
<p>Calculations of grass intake have considerable uncertainty, since horses are individuals, and experience is needed to classify pastures. The PC-Horse calculations have their use in ration formulation, but you must always look at them as a tool, and never forget that it is the condition of the horse which counts - not the numbers you will get from a software program!</p>
<p><em>This article was originally written by Dr. Day Austbø.</em><br /><em> Copyright: PC-Horse International - Norway 2012.</em><br /> <em>Feel free to use and publish the material. Please indicate the source and author.</em></p>