Native grasses as part of diet

[Pocket_Pony]

I’ve taken my horses off their irrigated pastures because my mustang is IR and Pony as a Welsh Cob is an easy keeper. I’ve got a dry lot behind my house where they get turned out and eat from hay nets. It is scrubby back there - trees and sage brush and native grasses, though not much.

I have probably an additional 5 acres behind their dry lot (which is about 1.5 acres) that I’d like to open up to them. It is more of the same . . . a little more varying terrain with rock outcrops, but still more trees and some areas of more native grasses and sage brush.

The native area out back is not irrigated or seeded, so does not have the vegetative density of an irrigated pasture. I assume, though, that there’s some sort of caloric value in the vegetation and that I should keep that into consideration when deciding how much hay to feed them.

Any comments on letting them eat that type of stuff?

[poltroon]

I just watch their weight and behavior. Usually the first day or two they will be out there eating all the choicest bits and then it will get sparser and sparser and you’ll need to supplement more. If you can I would put them out only for an hour or two at a time the first week so that they pace themselves. You can tell if they’re hungry or not. My horses, my place, the first few days, I might let them do that instead of feeding hay in the morning, but what I have is probably more lush than what you describe, even unirrigated.

The other semi-obvious thing is to walk it for toxic plants they might eat especially if they might be hungry. In my area I’m advised to look for star thistle. I find that walking it after they’ve been at it for a few days may expose plants that I didn’t see earlier. That’s another reason to make sure they are getting some hay especially if you can’t really see what they’re into out there - keeps them out of trouble and it’s a clue about how hungry they are, if they eat what you put out or not. You don’t want them eating on trees.

In general they so like being out and having plants to munch, even if there’s not much caloric or nutritional value. It’s like letting them loose in a library.

[Bluey]

I know, I have a 19 year old horse with Cushing.
It is oh so tempting to let him out just for a bit in a small trap with some native grasses mix.
Vet and I discuss it every time we talk, but both of us are too chicken to turn him out and see what happens.
Since it could kill him, we don’t go for it.
We are following the “if in doubt, don’t” method.

You know your horses and how much at risk they may be.

[candyappy]

I would let them on it. They are used to scrounging in the same stuff in the dry lot now, so I would adjust the hay at first to make up for what grasses they may find and monitor their weight .

The grass in there is pretty mature by now, right? So not lush by any means. I don’t have experience with cushings, but I do with easy keepers and I would just work gradually to adjust their time out there.

[JB]

Native grasses tend to be lower in sugars, so that’s a plus. The downside is they often don’t hold up well to intensive grazing. If they’d be out there part time, that will help.

If there are delicious weeds, those are often high in sugar.

The 5 acres sounds great for their feet Depending on exactly what’s there, it could also be ok for them to graze even if just 4-6 hours a day.

[Fillabeana]

The most likely native grass out in the turnout will be Idaho Fescue.

As soon as it is completely browned out, no more green tint to it, it should be pretty safe to graze.

​​​If there’s any crested wheatgrass out there, I would wait until August when it’s really good and brown. Crested wheatgrass is not a native grass, but it is a good doing dryland grass (as in, it does well without irrigation) that is commonly planted to improve forage for grazing livestock. It’s pretty potent when it’s green. Or even sort of greenish.

I let mine out to graze along about August, in the desert native pasture.