| Horses and forages go together like bacon and eggs or pie and ice cream. When you think of one, you should think of the other. Horses get their forages in the form of dry hay or green pasture. Pastures and hay are a logical combination from the standpoint of providing nutrition and exercise.
The Extension Office gets a lot of questions from horse owners about forages and how to manage them. We would like for horse owners to start to think of themselves as forage producers instead of just horse owners. If you take care of your forages, they will take care of your horses.
With expert management of your forages, a horse can get all its roughage needs met on one and one half acres of pasture for the summer. It will take about another two tons of hay to feed a horse in the winter. To provide that expert management, you need to know a great deal about growing grass and legumes. We get a number of questions here at the OSU Extension Office on managing pastures and hay fields. Even if you are purchasing your hay, you may have questions about hay quality and getting the best value for your money.
Zimmer Tractor in Monroe, Ohio, has asked us to put together a program for horse owners on forages. Robert Kline, Ohio State University Extension equine specialist, will be with us on Tuesday, April 4 beginning at 6 p.m. at Zimmer’s store at 461 Breadon Ave.
The discussion topics include forages in the equine diet, forages for hay and pasture, forage establishment, and hay quality concerns.
Since Zimmer is picking up the expense for Kline to travel, there will be no registration cost for this meeting. We do need for you to preregister by calling 513-887-3722 or 513-424-5351 ext. 3722. We can provide a map to the meeting location, if you call in sufficient time to get it to you. |
