Horses can safely eat endophyte-free tall fescue. Tall fescue is moderately tolerant of continuous grazing and has excellent fall productivity. Tall fescue can have marginal winter hardiness and lower palatability.
What kind of grass can horses not eat?
What kind of grass is bad for horses? Don’t let your horses eat any of the following: sorghum, sudangrass, johnsongrass, or any varieties of these types. Horses can get sick from eating this grass.
What causes fescue toxicity in horses?
Equine fescue toxicosis is caused when pregnant mares eat tall fescue that is infected with an endophyte fungus, Acremonium coenephialum . Both the mare and the foal can be affected when the mare eats endophyte-infected fescue.
What kind of grass is best for horse pasture?
Some reliable and long-lasting grasses include orchardgrass, Kentucky bluegrass, smooth bromegrass, reed canarygrass, cocksfoot, or timothy. All of these grasses provide an ongoing source of nutrition. Bluegrass tolerates close grazing down to two inches, which makes it a good choice for heavily used pastures.
Is Kentucky 31 fescue good for horses?
Regardless of what type of horses you own or manage, Kentucky 31 tall fescue is not the best grass available and shouldn’t be included in your seed mixtures.
Is fescue hay high in sugar?
Most cool-season grasses, like orchardgrass and fescue, can have high sugar content. Timothy and crested wheatgrass tend to be medium in sugar content, as are most warm season (native) grasses.
What should I plant in my horse pasture?
Legumes can be an important part of the pasture management system for horses. A mixture of clovers and grasses are usually recommended. You can mix cool-season annual clovers (arrowleaf, crimson, berseem, and rose clovers) with small grains and/or annual ryegrass to overseed into warm-season perennial pastures.
Does tall fescue make good hay?
In Pennsylvania, Tall fescue has been used primarily for conservation purposes but is well suited as hay, silage, or pasture. It is well adapted to the soil and weather conditions of Pennsylvania (Table 1).
Is tall fescue poisonous?
The biggest issue with tall fescue is toxicosis. Endophyte-infected tall fescue produces ergot-alkaloid compounds, which can be a life-threatening toxin within the plant. Although the toxin can cause issues in cattle all year round, the biggest issues tend to stem to the summer months.
Is creeping red fescue good for horses?
It actually is a good forage for horses and extremely hardy grass so it is heavily used here in NC. If I were you I would not rely on the grass staying endophyte free and manage my mares appropriately. Or find a different type of grass to plant in the field.
What should I seed my horse pasture with?
The best way to fill that mid-summer slump is with a legume. It keeps growing, adds nitrogen to the soil (reducing the fertilizer bill), and provides a high quality pasture. You can keep the grass component as the majority, but add enough legume that you don’t need any nitrogen fertilizer.”
Should you mow a horse pasture?
Mowing your pastures to a height of 4 inches three to four times a year will keep the grasses less mature. Young plants are more desirable and palatable for horses. Make sure to mow weeds at or before flowering to prevent seeding. You can apply herbicides selectively and carefully as necessary.
What is a good winter pasture for horses?
In general, annual ryegrass and the winter species (winter wheat, winter barley and winter rye) had the best regrowth after grazing. These produced more even and consistent yields across subsequent grazing events.
Is Kentucky 31 the same as tall fescue?
In the process, Kentucky 31 became the original tall fescue lawn grass and an integral part of Pennington Seed history, leading the way for the modern turf-type tall fescue lawn grasses that followed.
What is fescue toxicity?
Summer fescue toxicosis is a warm season condition characterized by reduced feed intake and weight gains or milk production. The toxins affects cattle, sheep, and horses during the summer when they are grazing or being fed tall fescue forage or seed contaminated with the endophytic fungus Neotyphodium coenophialum.
Can horses founder on grass hay?
Horses can founder even though they are on a senior feed diet. A simple grass hay diet is recommended for horses at risk of foundering. Senior feeds are made with ingredients that are typically high quality and easy to eat; however, horses susceptible to founder may continue to have problems.
What makes a good horse pasture?
A soil pH of 6.2 is the ideal condition in which pasture grasses can readily absorb their much-needed nutrients. A higher pH level than 6.2 does not improve pasture yield. The foundation of a productive pasture is good soil that can sustain the growth of the legumes, hays and forbs that horses prefer.
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