Jessica Jahiel's HORSE-SENSE Newsletter Archives

How much pasture?

From: Allison

Hi Again,

My husband and I are looking for land to buy. First we looked at 5 acres then 10. Now we are up to 20 acres. We would like to have two horses (to start with). I'm wondering how large I should make our pastures so the grass is always in good shape. Any advice on rotating and the amount of rest time each pasture needs would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Ally

Hi Ally! You're looking for land -- how exciting! Pasture size can vary widely, depending on what your land is like, what sort of pasture you are growing, and whether you need it to be a significant source of your your horses' nutrition or whether it's just for turnout and nibbling.

In some parts of the country, you could put two horses in a two-acre pasture and they would be fine -- in other areas, they might need ten acres each to get the same amount of feed. So I can't give you very specific advice about size based on nutrition content. I can give you some suggestions, though:

1) wherever you are looking at land, talk to the county extension agent and find out what kind of soil you will have, what sort of grasses grow well there, how much rainfall the area gets, and when! County extension agents are wonderful sources of information.

If you're going to need to irrigate, you'll want to know that. If your pastureland is likely to flood two months out of the year, you'll have to put your horses into a drylot (or a mudlot!) during those months, or your pasture will be ruined -- that too is something you'll want to know in advance.

If there are horse farms with pasture in that area, find out who owns them and ask if you can make an appointment to visit. You'll be able to ask the local horse-folks questions about THEIR pastures, and that's how you'll get more good information about pasture size, number of horses compared to acreage, and pasture rotation.

I hope this helps! There are some books that might help as well. One is Cherry Hill's HORSEKEEPING ON A SMALL ACREAGE, which is very useful as it tells you all sorts of things about how and where to put your pastures, your trees, where to put your driveway, how to orient your barn and your arena, and so forth, even if you only have a few acres -- and that information is good even if you have 20 acres!

- Jessica

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