To rye, or not to rye?

[LCDR]

I have been overseeding my coastal bermuda pastures with annual rye grass as winter forage for my horses. They do get fatter than I would like, and so far no laminitis has happened. But I do get concerned about that risk.

I have 4 pasture areas, each is roughly 0.8 acres. All are connected and the gates are left open so the two horses roam freely across all 3-plus acres and are turned out 24-7-365. This year I am considering two options.

First is to overseed just two of the pastures. The horses could spend most of their turnout time grazing whatever is available on the dormant pastures, and have controlled access to the rye grass pastures only for a few hours every day. The other option is to not overseed rye grass at all. Thoughts, opinions, and advice, please.

Honestly the overseeding started because folks in my equestrian community do it, and I think primarily for esthetic purposes. The two pastures I would oeverseed are the ones fronting the street to keep up appearances for the HOA.

[clanter]

@LCDR

HOA.

might start with just Rules the HOA has in place about landscaping requirements.

I often over seed however this year it has been too dry and hot so instead have been buying cheap dog food to feed the crows rather than using expensive grass seed

[LCDR]

Thanks. More specifically I wanted to learn if overseeding might do more harm than digestive good.

My horses gain a lot of weight over winter grazing on rye grass, which I do know isn’t good. One horse will go from 1,100 up to 1,350 (TB) and the other from 1,300 up to 1,575 pounds (Draft).

I am beginning to talk myself out of overseeding for this winter. But if I just overseed enough pasture to offer them a few hours a day rye grass grazing will that be better for them? Never tried that and perhaps it will both limit the weight gain and reduce laminitis risk and give them something in their diet other than hay every day.

[Jarpur]

I used to overseed my native grass pastures every winter with ryegrass, so the horses would have a little green grazing all winter. I quit for two reasons – it’s too hot until November, and sometimes even later, and it slows down the re-emergence of the perennial warm season grass. As shown in this photo from Mississippi State:

In my case, when I did overseed with ryegrass, the horses were only out on it a couple hours/day at most. Similar to what LSU suggests:

. . .“Graze as soon as you can without hurting the grass. When ryegrass doesn’t pull out of the ground, start limited grazing for an hour a day, then go to two hours a day after the horses are accustomed to it in a week or so. An hour in the morning and an hour in the afternoon is better, but time- consuming if you don’t have the freedom of schedule to open and close gates twice a day. Leaving them on too long will result in trampling when they lie down to rest. Take them off of the pasture so they can lie down outside on a dry lot or other pasture. As soon as they get full and start resting, try to remove them.”

High weight gain would’ve concerned me, although I never had it occur. At my place, there is no HOA to require certain landscaping.

[LCDR]

Lucky you. My HOA wants architectural review for a mailbox, permission to cut down any tree over 6 inches in diameter, and a landscaping plan submitted for review to dig a hole and plant anything bought in a 5 gallon or greater size pot.

Thanks for the advice. I’m now leaning even more towards not overseeding this year and seeing how things go. I’m in SC and the coastal bermuda is still nice and green here.

[Jarpur]

@LCDR

My HOA wants architectural review for a mailbox, permission to cut down any tree over 6 inches in diameter, and a landscaping plan submitted for review to dig a hole and plant anything bought in a 5 gallon or greater size pot.

Yikes, I couldn’t stand that! There are deed restrictions here, but more along the lines of no noxious businesses*, minimum size of house and amount of masonry, and maximum number of large animals per acre. Not that I think they’re enforced.

@LCDR

the coastal bermuda is still nice and green here.

Our bermuda is still green here, too.

*undefined

[SuzieQNutter]

Not to rye, based on a news report that a super storm decimated the rye grass whatever and it was the non asthmatics that died as they panicked when they couldn’t breathe and didn’t have inhalers.

If your rye grass is the same as the rye grass in Australia.

[Janet]

@LCDR

controlled access to the rye grass pastures only for a few hours every day.

Horses can eat a lot of grass in “a few hours”!

There was a MARE (Middleburg Agricultural Research and Extension) Center (part of the Virginia University system) a few years ago (I can no longer find it on line and I don’t have an official citation, but there have been other similar studies) showed that the only way to reduce the amount of grass horses eat is to restrict their grazing tme to less than 4 hours. As you reduce the grazing hours, they just increase the percent of time they spend grazing.

[jvanrens]

The way I read @LCDR’s post was they would have access to the other grass, but only access to the rye for a few hours a day. I’ve always interpreted a few hours to 3 tops. So it’s not like they would be on a drylot for the time before hitting the rye.

[lorilu]

For those of us here in the South, we know that the warm season southern grasses don’t offer the spring sugar rush like the northern grasses do. BUT WINTER RYE DOES. If you have a sugar-sensitive horse, plan accordingly.

[SharonA1]

@Jarpur

maximum number of large animals per acre

Jarpur brings up the most COTH-ish point. It sounds to me like you don’t have too much grass; you have too few horses.

It’s alright, OP. COTH is here to support you emotionally as you accept this challenge.

[LCDR]

@jvanrens

The way I read @LCDR’s post was they would have access to the other grass, but only access to the rye for a few hours a day. I’ve always interpreted a few hours to 3 tops. So it’s not like they would be on a drylot for the time before hitting the rye.

Yes! That is what I was planning. Still 24/7 turnout, almost all but a few hours on non-overseeded pastures. And giving them a few hours grazing the winter rye pasture . But the post about the huge amount they might eat during their rye time has me worried. I am leaning towards not over-seeding at all now.

It makes sense to overseed rye grass for cattle, as weight gain is a good thing. But not for my horses.

[LCDR]

I just gave away all my bags of rye seed. Horses will be slimming down this winter.