We mow the pasture with a commercial riding mower so can set the deck at a specific mowing height (3", 3-1/4", etc.). I was wondering what mowing heights people use when they mow. If you differentiate mowing height by time of year, could you tell me that. Also if you have horses with and without grazing muzzles and if you mow at different heights for that, if you could tell me that. We’re in northwest Indiana, so we mow from April thru November. Thanks for your help.
My big, “main,” pasture, I like to mow around 6" throughout the mowing season. My two smaller pastures I mow around 4" all season. Mowing too short stresses the grass, especially if you hit a dry spell.
1 Like
One of the handiest things for judging when to mow is a “yardstick” from the extension office. It is measured and marked as to when to pull livestock off, what height to turn out on, when to mow, etc. Very handy tool to have if your eyes are not yet “trained” to judge your pastures.
1 Like
Hey, Fellow Hoosier! {waving}
I mow pastures using a home-grade riding mower set to 6".
Large field is ~ 2ac, small .5ac & both currently have 1 horse, 1 pony & a mini out 24/7/365 on them.
Nobody wears a muzzle.
In the past I have mowed maybe twice a season - mostly to cut down the roughs & taller weeds.
This year I had mower issues & neighbor bush-hogged the larger for me about a month ago.
My pastures are nowhere near lush, but they do provide enough forage so I feed a LOT less hay when grass is growing.
Just upped the forage this month & there is still grazeable grass. but it is soon to be a memory.
We have lush pasture most years, with yearly, soil-tested fertilizing, good rain, regular mowing. We have 9 horses now on about 11 acres. I expect horses to “look good” in work on only pasture all summer long. I only want to feed hay if we are at a competition. They are out for night grazing from 12-14 hours. They are mostly large horses, 16-17 hands but easy keepers.
Fields are not big, rotated often to prevent overgrazing. I mow right after horses are moved off a field, shortening weeds and giving grass maximum grow tIme before horses come back… Horses are in two groups when turned out.
I never mow shorter than 5 inches so the leaf height protects plant roots from hard rain erosion, sunburn and hooves running over the grasses in play. I do not let grass get up tall. Usually cutting at 8 inches to prevent shock to plants as leaves are removed. Taking off 3 inches is easier on the plant than removing half or more of the leaf that feeds the roots, causing plant shock. I get non-growing time if you shock the plants, slower recovery back into growing production I need happening here.
I mow with tractor and a finish mower set at 5 inches. With 4 corner wheels finish mower does not scalp like bush hogs can, sends clippings out a side chute to spread in a very thin layer on my cut grass. Leaving clippings on actually adds up over the season to a free application of fertilizer by returning clipping nutrients to the soil. Letting grass get tall, then mowing may let it set seed. Those dry stalks have no nutrition and setting seed makes plants go dormant, quit growing for the season. A one plant pasture is now useless for nutrition in grazing it. Having mixed seeds is something to consider when planting your pastures. Different plants keep thing edible in all the seasons when grazing a field.
I mow from spring thru fall, depending on my rainfall. It can be weekly in spring or not at all if we don’t get rain, like last summers local drought. I stop mowing Labor Day weekend. Most years this lets pastures go into winter with heavy, long grass growth covering the soil. Horses nibble it all winter during turnout, just keeping busy. They are also provided with hay as it starts getting cold, usually early Oct. We have a pretty good root system under our grass, it stands up to hard hoof use, comes back well in spring.
We have no fat to obese horses here and none with body issues needing muzzles. They are in good flesh but used as athletes, so not kept heavy. They get some grain, wet beet pulp, mostly to eat their selenium, Vit E and other vitamins with.
I look at my pasture keeping as a crop, want to maximize grazing production on limited acres. I use the Michigan State grazing research as my best tool for good pasture production. If we didn’t use our horses, keep them working or growing up young animals, I would manage my pastures differently. We do stall them at least 8 hours a day over summer weather. It does reduce their time on pastures and keeps them out of the flies. Flies are bad here, keep outside in daylight horses moving or stomping all the time. Barning ours let’s them relax and be quiet in the shaded stalls.
I talked to my extension office. I mow my pastures down to 5 inches. I cut them when they get up around 8 inches. For me it’s easy to tell because there’s the little white flowers that start to pop up. The extension office said the that’s the time to cut because you want to mow before the weeds go to seed.
6 inches is the general rule of thumb. No shorter than 5. Cutting at this height has a number of benefits. Keeps soil temps low in the hot sun that can and does stress grasses, prevents soil moisture from evaporating esp during long hot dry periods. It shades out a lot of the germinating weed seedlings. Just about the right height for most grasses to still be tender and tasty enough for most horses to like and graze on. Yes, it is just below he height that pesky weeds start to develop seeds. But I have found most of the pesky weeds are smarter then most extension agents. They just start going to seed at a lower height, lol. Or are VERY quick to sprout up new seed a couple of days after mowing. Some how knowing we wont’ mow again for another week or 2.
