Our barn installed EcoRaster mud mats last fall to create winter dry lots that don’t turn into mud pits. That’s been an absolute godsend for my scratches-prone gelding.
The only downside is that the horses have been off grass entirely since October. We’re anticipating being able to open the grass pastures again in April or May when the ground has dried up some. What’s the best way to go about reintroducing grass to reduce risk of laminitis/colic etc.?
Do it a few hours a day to start?
Take your time reintroducing grass. Time means SMALL grazing time spans over WEEKS!
Horses have no grass digesting flora in their guts. Feeding much grass means the digestive system grinds to a halt because gut can’t break down this NEW food product, and volumes of new food means an even longer time to work thru the digestive system. They might colic or go lamanitic on you, trying to manage the new food.
You will certainly hear from lots of folks “who never had a problem” changing from hay to grazing. Just ALWAYS open the pasture gat and turn them loose on grass. All I am going to say is “They got lucky, this year.” Next year could be a different story, different horses react to new foods differently.
We feed the horses AM hay, they eat their fill, then get turned out on new grass for 15 MINUTES, before being brought back in. We do this for several days. Then I will do grass turnout after hay feeding, twice a day AM & PM, for 15 minutes each time. Sounds mean but you would be amazed at how MUCH grass is consumed in that time span! The heads never come up. I do that for several (3 to 4 days) more days. Then after hay feeding I let the morning session extend to 30 minutes grazing, afternoon is still only 15 minutes over several days. Then add 15 minutes to the afternoon sessions over several days…
The thought is to keep grazing quanties smaller in stomaches, allow grass digesting flora to develop in the gut without overwhelming it, causing a grass blockage as horse tries to digest larger quantites. So now you are at about 16 DAYS into letting them graze.
I continue to add 15 minutes to morning session, go several days, then add 15 minutes to afternoon session for several days, monitoring how horses are doing while on the grass and after, to watch for problems. You can not make the digestive flora in gut develop any faster! It just takes time.
We continue building grazing time span lengths every few days. About the time horse gets up to 3 hours in each session, I will switch to a single 4 hour grazing session, AFTER a morning meal of hay. They will be checked for issues, problems, with longer grazing at one time. With no problems, they will be allowed full time grazing. This gradual method of adding time grazing, will take a long time!
We have 9 horses, do not wish to cause them any problems. Yes this extended time for adapting to grass is time consuming, takes a lot of walking to go bring them in each day! I use a timer/clock to insure they are not out too long. We feel the work is worth the effort in keeping horses sound and healthy. We see a LOT of laminitus issues with other horse owners every Spring when the grass starts growing. Then the tears happen, horses suffer. We hear about how people wished they had done grazing turnout differently.
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You’re asking for serious trouble if you do it this way.
Limit grazing to 15 min at first, and increase by 15min per day until they’re at 4-6 hours.
Sugar is more concentrated in the stems vs the leaves, so wait until your pasture grass is 6" tall or so before letting them out on it. They’ll fill up with less sugar that way. (also safer for your grass)
Early morning is when the grass is lowest in sugar.
Monitor their manure–it’ll often be a bit looser/more watery but if you’re seeing very loose, green (vs brown) piles, then reduce grass intake
Print out what Goodhors provided and follow it to the T.
I have ponies and I’m super, super careful!
I pretty much do what goodhors does. I feed hay in the am and mid afternoon on a friday, and I usually bring in around 8pm. Around 7:30 or so on the first day I turn out for 15-20 mins then bring them inside.
I increase 15-20 mins each night for a few weeks and then I will start on full days. But it does take time and we don’t mow our grass when they first go out so it will be at least 6" -10" everywhere.
It has worked well for us and so far knock on wood no issues at our farm and one of our boys is 23 years old (13h retired welsh pony to boot!).
I tend to do my guys in the evening as I work 7-4pm (earlier on a friday which is why I start on fridays) and I would never catch my sneaky ponies if I turned them out first thing!
They are always at the gate around 7pm waiting to be turned out on the grass and they fill up so quickly that I can easily catch them to bring them in (plus they are all princes and hate the bugs that come out at dusk so they want in by 8pm). I can also easily monitor their poop in the am when I turn them back out in the dirt paddock and ensure that their poop isnt too loose (though its always super, super green and a bit watery). They also eat a lot less hay overnight - even on the first night when they are on the grass for 15 min. They shovel a lot of grass in themselves in a short amount of time, thats for sure!!
Hand graze 15 minutes a day, build that up gradually, over a couple of weeks. Ideally you can split that into two sessions to keep the total amount in the gut smaller. Start with limited turn out time once you get to an hour total grazing time, like equal to the hand grazing totals. Increase gradually.
Avoid the new shoots, wait until the grass is about 6 inches, this was mentioned above but there’s another important reason for it. Not grazing the brand new stuff lets your pasture get established well enough to ensure lasting through the season.
Most boarding barns don’t have time to hand graze 20-40 head but have developed a process to gradually reintroduce grass that also protects their pastures. Be sure to add this to your list of questions. Doesn’t need to be an elaborate plan, just run if you get the deer in the headlights and they ask why they wouldn’t just open the gate.
I finally just decided to stop worrying about the pastures and now start turning everyone out before the grass comes up in the spring. They tear around and “aerate” the pastures which I don’t think actually makes any difference. The skid marks and divots used to bother me, but I finally realized that they all heal up eventually and the pastures end up in no worse shape for it.
I had problems even doing it in 15 minute increments. Now I just leave them out year round and start dry lotting at night / muzzle during the day( for 1 mare) when the grass starts growing enough that I can see my mare starting to gain weight.
So far it works for me and they are never " off" grass since they get small amounts slowly as it starts to green up and grow. The grass does not suffer and they don’t tear up the ground either . They are happier too because they are never kept off.
I do this too. I think the very gradual introduction by growth helps the most. But OP will still have to turn out slowly because hers have been off the old grass to nibble on all winter.
I have 2 horses on the farm that simply cannot handle grass without risking laminitis, and they stay in dry lots year round. Others use a muzzle in summer.
My winter/sacrifice field is 4 acres. They get hay outside but always find some grass to nibble on all winter… This continues into the spring at which time there isn’t a lot of grass left. They are in at night where they get a couple of flakes of hay.
Early May I move them to a better field full time but still come in at night. One year I had two horses with mild colic for several days. Turned out to be gas. Worked with my vet and his conclusion was that because I fed hay in their stalls in the morning they hay was slow to move through the system whereas the grass moves through much faster.
I stopped feeding morning hay, just their usual mash and then put them out on grass. The problem was solved. This has worked for me for 38 years.
One of the horses has to wear a muzzle once they are in the good field.
As mentioned above when you have a barn full of horses how can you hand graze them for 15 minutes at a time? Also to try to bring them all in several times a day.is impossible. There is no way they will come in willingly. Luckily my method works for my horses.
Thanks everyone!
I’ll try to work some hand grazing into our routine over the next several weeks to ease him back onto the grass as best I can. With almost two dozen horses in the barn, I doubt it would be feasible for the barn manager to do the 15 minutes a time set-up. I think I’m going to invest in a muzzle for the first few weeks he’s out on grass to try to slow him down.
As soon as the grass comes in I turn the fatties out in the morning and then bring them back in a few hours later. I used to turn them out again in the evening, but between scheduling and the heat and the bugs I decided to just feed hay in the evening, which is a heckuva lot easier for me. And yes, I have to walk out there and chase them back in, although they do become less resistant to leaving the grass with practice. I also give them a flake of coarse hay when they come back in from pasture, to help make sure they’re getting enough fiber.
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