How To Care For Pastures In Winter

Pasture management is crucial all year round but winter, in particular, requires a little extra care. With the frosty mornings and rainy days (or weeks) the autumn and winter seasons can be a treacherous time for your pasture if maintenance isn’t upheld. Testing your soil, using the right fertilisers and prepping for restoration all come into keeping your paddocks lush and long-lasting.

A drop in temperatures, combined with rain and snow can lead to your pasture becoming inhabitable for horses. Keeping your grounds maintained during the colder months can prevent you from needing extensive repair works later on. Whether you want to improve your pastures or simply maintain them so that they stay lush and green for years to come, there are many steps to take.

Many agricultural and equestrian experts will say that your first step should always be soil testing. This can then be followed with a range of other steps that can be done at any time, and others should be done on a schedule. Good preparation and planning (and a little legwork) will ensure that fields are kept in the best possible condition over the autumn and winter months. Read on for tips on how to care for pastures in winter.

1) Test Your Soil

If you have not tested your soils within the last 3 years, it is worth taking the time to do so before the ground begins to freeze. It is important to collect a range of samples so the recommendations you receive from the analysis are applicable to your entire pasture instead of only a small area. This allows you to take the guesswork out of restoration and pasture replanting. Anytime when the ground is not frozen is a good time to take samples because the soils are drier and easy to sample.

After submitting the sample, the chosen lab will provide a complete report which documents soil nutrient levels and pH. Maintaining proper soil pH is essential to the production of healthy forages. Soil pH is a measure of the acidity of the soil.

A soil analysis report will provide the soil pH along with recommendations for the application of lime and removal of potentially dangerous plants. Lime is basic in nature and the application of lime increases soil pH and makes the nutrients in the soil available to the plant. Testing kits are available from organisations such as Forageplus and contain instructions for taking the perfect representative sample from each of your pastures.

2) Apply Some Fertiliser

As with small garden crops and agricultural farmland, pastures need fertiliser too if you want them to flourish. Fertilising your pasture now will ensure that growth is strong come the spring and encourage a thick sward during the winter.

However, it’s not as simple as going to your local garden centre and picking a bag. Soil fertility is a complex subject. Plants require many nutrients and external factors for long-term growth and reproduction. Your laboratory report from the soil test will tell you the specific nutrients to apply on your farm.

For grasses, nitrogen is a critical nutrient for forage quality and growth. A nitrogen deficiency is indicated by pale green or yellow grass shades and poor growth. If you pastures are heavily grazed then they tend to require approximately 100 to 150 pounds of nitrogen per acre per year. In contrast, legumes such as clovers are able to 'fix' nitrogen or take nitrogen from the air and convert it to a form which they can use. This means that legume-rich pastures do not have the same requirement or response to nitrogen as grasses.

Phosphorus and potassium are also important nutrients for pasture growth. Phosphorus improves forage quality and root development and adequate potassium improves the plant's ability to survive periods of stress such as drought or freezing winter temperatures.

When purchasing fertilizer, the nutrients in the fertilizer are stated on the label. The percentage of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium are expressed as a ratio, by weight. You should begin to notice a difference in your grass around four weeks after fertiliser has been applied, depending on the rain fall when the fertiliser was spread.

3) Grazing Management

Winter rest is very important as it not only gives the grass time to repair and grow but it is healthier for your horses too. Frosted grass can cause digestive up-sets to horses, especially after feeding on soft spring grass for so long. In addition, hoof traffic after a frost can damage grasses and soils in the long term.

Once horses are acclimated to spring grass, it's time to start your grazing rotation. Implementing a good rotational management program allows you to keep your horses well grazed and your pastures protected. Start grazing a pasture when grasses have reached 8-10 inches, and move horses when grasses are 4-5 inches tall. If this takes longer than a week, you could add horses to the group or use temporary fencing to make the paddock smaller.

4) Pasture Renovation

This is always going to depend on the success of your maintenance throughout the winter but, chances are, you will always need a touch of renovation.

Pasture renovation is an effective way to improve stand density or introduce new species into existing pastures. However, you don’t want to go overboard with adding more diversity to your land. Always match the forage species to your site conditions, how you manage the land, and the stocking rate/rotation of your pastures. To ensure quality, it is important to purchase seed mixtures formulated for horse pastures. A high quality seed will normally include several nutritional species in the mix that will thrive in a pasture.

When you have identified the seed you are going to purchase, select the appropriate time of year to plant. In general, spring and autumn are ideal seasons to plant.

With proper soil preparation and management, broadcasting can also be an effective seeding method. To promote establishment of broadcast seedings, the soil surface must be disturbed and loosened prior to planting. Follow planting with controlled animal access to the new pasture and light mowing/grazing once seeds have firmly rooted. For the initial grazing, allow short-term access in favourable weather and provide your animals with hay to prevent overgrazing or too much soil disruption.

Conclusion

Winter is a great time to think about your pasture management and, with proper planning, can ensure the long-term health of your land. Finding the right seed mixtures and grasses are crucial to the health of both your pastures and horses. Keeping a fresh supply of seeds to rejuvenate your soils has never been easier with Smart Seeds. Our Equine grass and pasture mixes have a range of health and nutritional benefits. If you have any questions regarding seed mixtures, contact our team today.