September 2018 FRC Member Newsletter

August 2018 Educational Seminar at FENCE:
Pasture Maintenance with Noah Henson
a well-placed pasture?
FRC’s August Educational Seminar
was focused on Pasture Management.
Our Presenter, Noah Henson, is a
Livestock Specialist at the North
Carolina State Extension office in Polk
County. Noah broke the ice by
discussing what a horse needs for
their pasture to be considered ‘ideal’.
This included things like space
requirements per horse, and what type
of horses will thrive best on
exclusively forage diets. What do the
experts consider to be “good grass” or
Many people don’t make the connection between their horse’s health and the health of the
pasture where they live. This connection is so important because instead of going out and
spending tons of money on supplements and cure-alls, sometimes all we need to do is look to
your horse’s pasture and see if it is meeting all their nutritional and metabolic requirements. If
your horse has a calcium deficiency then maybe your pasture does, too. Noah passed around
common soil testing tools for home use and showed those who didn’t know how to take a good
soil sample from their pastures. Next, he discussed soil test reports that are generated from
the soil samples sent into the Department of Agriculture.
Your soil test results will be your guide to taking care of your pasture for the next year. After
reviewing how to read the results, he explained how this report will let you know which
fertilizers to apply and at what rate. Split your Lime application and put it out twice a year. It is
important to note that Nitrogen leeches at an advanced rate so make sure you spread it right
before a good rain to get the most out of it. The lime you apply can be utilized very quickly by
the soil biota. Fall is a good time to spread phosphorus, calcium, and lime as it works into the
soil all winter long. There were many questions from the audience about fertilizer application
including whether or not you could leave horses on it afterwards and when is the best time for
application.
Rotational grazing was a hot topic among the audience as well. Noah said that the ideal
nutritional length for grass is six inches. This means that when grass is about six inches tall
that it contains an ideal balance of fiber, sugar and minerals for our equines. Fescue grasses