How to Work with Winter Weather to Keep Your Pastures Safe and Thriving
Wintertime pasture management is essential if you want your horses to be able to graze on lush, green pastures in the spring and summer. Plus, your pasture footing can become unsafe without proper maintenance, potentially risking injury to your horses.
While winter weather can bring all sorts of challenges, there are still plenty of ways you can maintain your pastures and keep them in optimal condition.
Evaluate and Repair Fencing
When cold temperatures cause the ground to thaw and freeze, it can exacerbate any existing fencing flaws and small problems can become big issues. Walk and evaluate your pasture fencing before you get too deep into winter. It will be easier to make any fencing repairs or replacements earlier on, and doing so can help prevent broken or downed fencing.
This is also a key time to inspect all of your pasture gates. Make sure that gates align correctly and swing freely, and test your gate latches to ensure they close securely and easily.
If you have electric fencing, periodically test the fencing in different areas throughout the winter. Electric fencing that relies on an earth ground system will usually be less effective when the ground is frozen. You may need to add extra grounding rods that are driven below your frost line in areas that receive minimal snow, or even upgrade to a two-wire grounding system that doesn’t rely on an earth ground.
Create Sacrifice Areas
As your horses graze down the remaining grass during the winter, they will start to strain your pastures. Depending on your acreage, it may be best to divide your pastures and create a pasture rotation system with sacrifice areas. By moving your horses into sacrifice areas during the winter, you’ll give the grazed-down pastures time to recover and reestablish themselves. This system allows you to then turn your horses out onto established pasture in the spring, so your horses have quality grazing throughout the spring, summer, and fall.
Using sacrifice pastures can also prevent wetter, muddier, low-lying pastures from being damaged when they’re very wet during the winter. Hoof traffic can churn up your pastures and leave them rutted. If those ruts freeze, they can be hazardous for horses and humans, and can even lead to strains and bruised soles. Keep your horses in dryer, flatter sacrifice paddocks to avoid damaging more vulnerable pasture areas.
Address Mud
Most horse property owners deal with mud problems during the winter and spring. Mud is more than an inconvenience; it can lead to tendon and ligament strains, thrown shoes, and hoof issues like thrush.
Fortunately, you can fix deeply muddy areas relatively simply. Mud Control Grids can provide ground reinforcement and create a stable, safer surface for you and your horses to walk over. They’re ideal for pastures, pasture gates, and other muddy areas.
These grids are highly durable and can withstand heavy traffic and harsh conditions. They’re resistant to cold temperatures and UV rays, and they help reduce standing water and mud buildup. Installing the mud control grids requires minimal site preparation, so you can even install them during the winter if your mud problems get too bad. The interlocking design helps prevent shifting and makes these grids a long-lasting addition to your property.
Maximize Traction in the Winter
Installing mud control grids will help to provide a firmer surface with more traction in muddy areas, but you may need to take additional measures to maximize traction in areas where your pastures freeze. Start by focusing on your horse’s hooves. Letting your horse go barefoot in the winter is a great way to provide them with as much natural traction as possible. If your horse needs to wear shoes, talk with your farrier to find a studded shoe option that allows for maximum traction.
If your pastures are icy, you can spread sand to help prevent slips and falls. When you’re working with a larger space, spreading used bedding and manure may be a more practical option. Soiled bedding and manure can quickly add traction to ice, but it can insulate ice, too. As temperatures warm in the spring, you’ll need to scrape it up and remove it if you want to speed along the melting process.
Supplement Pastures
As your horses graze down your pastures in the winter, start supplementing with hay to help preserve the pasture quality. You can feed hay in pastures by throwing it on a Rubber Stall Mat to prevent horses from ingesting sand and soil. There are also many slow feeder options, like the Hay Pillow or the Haygain Forager Slow Feeder, which can encourage slower eating while your horses are turned out.
Prepare for Spring
As we progress for winter, plan ahead for spring. Carefully time your application of fertilizer and lime, seed your pastures, and periodically mow them to maximize the quality of the grass. Your local agricultural department can be a valuable resource in determining the fertilizer and lime ratio best for your pastures.
Contact American Stalls Today
If you’re ready to upgrade your pastures with mud control grids, contact American Stalls. We can help you determine the number of grids you need to address your pasture mud problem. We’re also happy to help you plan any springtime barn renovations and explore the products that are best for the job. Contact us today at (855) 957-8255 or email us at sales@americanstalls.com to schedule a sales and design consultation.
