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St. Landry Parish Horse Chatterbox - October 2009
[Image: Horse Listening]Welcome
The next 4-H Horse Club Meeting will be Monday, October 19, at the extension office in Opelousas at 6p.m. Jim Bowie Concessions will be discussed at this meeting. Be sure to mark your calendars for the Jim Bowie Livestock Show. Last year was the second year that the Horse Club did the concessions. The profit from the concessions goes back to the Horse Club.
Do not forget to join 4-H at your school. If you do not have a 4-H Club or you attend school outside St. Landry Parish, please be sure to stop by the extension office to fill out an enrollment card to be a member at large. You must enroll each year in 4-H. Looking forward to seeing you at the next meeting. Feel free to call me with any questions you may have.
Dates to Remember
St. Landry Horse Club Meeting - October 19, Extension Office
Jim Bowie Junior Livestock Show Concession - November 20-21, Ag Arena
St. Landry Open Benefit Horse Show - TBA
Grade Horse Certificates Due - April 1, 2010
St. Landry Parish 4-H Horse Show - June 11-12, 2010
Acadiana District Horse Show - TBA, Lafayette
State Horse Show - July 6-11, West Monroe
Louisiana 4-H Museum NOW Open!
The Louisiana 4-H Museum is now open. The museum is filled with 4-H memorabilia and multimedia exhibits. Exhibit areas include a timeline of Louisiana 4-H; Louisiana 4-H Hall of Fame; Voices of 4-H; 4-H Emblem Collage; Service Projects; Camp Experiences; Contests; Science, Engineering and Technology; Leadership; Healthy Living; and so much more. If you have any treasures that you would like to donate or loan to the museum, please contact the St. Landry Extension Office at 337-948-0561.
Master Horseman
The 2009 Master Horseman Class is full. Classes will begin October 6. After participation in the program, graduates are expected to give back to the horse industry and the LSU AgCenter. Graduates conduct clinics and workshops for youth and adults. Graduates also help promote statewide clinicians, Louisiana Equine Council Meetings and Expo and horse-related activities.
There are many horse training videos on the market today. Now there is a horse training video series produced by the LSU AgCenter. This series is in conjunction with the Master Horseman course taught by the LSU AgCenter. The instructional video is taught, for the most part, by Dr. Clint Depew, LSU AgCenter equine specialist (retired), with the help of Howard Cormier and Cleve Weisgerber, LSU AgCenter regional equine agents, and Judy Weisgerber, Master Horseman graduate.
4-H Enrollment and E-mails
Please be sure to enroll in 4-H for this year. The cost to enroll is $5. Please stop by the extension office to fill out an enrollment card if you are out of the parish or you do not have a 4-H Club at school. You will be enrolled as a member at large. You must enroll each year for 4-H. If you are not enrolled as of now, please make sure you fill out your enrollment card soon.
The newsletter list will be updated, and 4-H'ers who have not enrolled will be removed from the list. If you would like to be added to the e-mail list, please call or e-mail me at the address listed in the attached copy of this newsletter.
Ryegrass Planting for Horses
By Howard J. Cormier
Southwest Region Equine Agent
Ryegrass provides high-quality forage from late November through late May. It is self-fed, inexpensive, convenient and provides excellent nutrition and exercise for horses that do not have to be kept in a stall. It can be expensive to fertilize, however, if it is not managed for maximum grazing. (I am a big believer in preparing a seedbed. Most of my comments apply to doing it that way. Throwing seed over an existing pasture will help, but it will not give the quality or quantity of ryegrass that planting on a prepared seedbed will.)
First of all, why is ryegrass for horses different than for cattle? It isn’t, except that most cattlemen plant larger acreages, and many times the horse owners do not have the tractors and equipment that full-time farmers or cattlemen have to manage their horse operations. On the positive side, because horse operations tend to be smaller, the horse owner can devote more time and attention to detail to do everything needed to get a good stand on a few acres. Last month, I gave instructions on preparing the land you intend to plant. Now it’s time to get to the nuts and bolts of planting.
When is it planted?
Annual ryegrass is planted on a prepared seedbed from Sept. 20-Oct. 15. (For planting into established grass, overseed approximately Oct. 15.) When you plant is important, but ryegrass will not usually come up unless it gets a rain of at least a half inch or more. Even though the ground is dry, throw the seed out. When it rains, the ryegrass will germinate and start growing. Do not wait until it rains to plant, as that can delay you several weeks, and the ryegrass will still not germinate until the next good rain.
How much do you plant?
Due to the cost, I try to plant 1 acre per two horses, and I limit grazing to about two hours per day, at least until the weather warms in the spring. I regulate grazing to allow more grazing time when the grass is getting ahead of the horses. You can plant 1 acre per horse if you have the space. This will require less management to save the grass. Separating the pasture into small plots that can be rotated will make a tremendous difference in how much grazing you will get. Horses tend to eat the grass so short that it does not regrow quickly, so rotate the horses to another plot when they chew the grass down to 4 inches or so.
How do you actually prepare the soil?
Prepare the soil by disking to remove the old grass. Tall grass will be hard to manage, as I discussed last month. After you disk, try to cultipack, harrow or drag an old gate or corral panel to level the soil and break up clods. Don’t disk deeply, just enough to remove the old grass so the seed makes good soil contact. Deep plowing will cause bogging and trampling. Plan to ditch well so you have no standing water.
How much seed is needed?
Use 30 pounds of seed per acre on a prepared seedbed (use 20 pounds when overseeding into a sod). I like the variety Prine. It has done well for me the last few years and is resistant to rust and blast. Research supports this variety in south Louisiana because of its high yields. Other top-yielding varieties include Big Boss, TAMTBO, Marshall and Maximus. (Go to lsuagcenter.com and type “pub2334” in the search box for details about cool-season pasture and forage in your area.)
A hand seeder will work for a couple of acres, or you can use a small electric seeder mounted on the back of a four-wheeler for bigger pastures. Tractor-mounted seeders usually use a PTO-driven seeder. Plant half of what is recommended, then crisscross the field in the opposite direction with the remaining half of the seed. This will insure that you do not run out of seed before the job is done. You can cover the seed lightly with a harrow or simply leave it on top of the ground. Don’t plow the seed in again because it will be put too deep to come through the soil cover.
How much fertilizer is needed?
Last month, I encouraged you to take a soil test to see what fertilizer you needed. You can bring the soil test results to some fertilizer dealers, and they can make a blend of what you need. You will find that fertilizer is expensive – hence, the value of a soil test to know exactly what you need and not spread anything you don’t need.
Shop around. In the absence of a soil test, put 200 pounds per acre of 6-24-24 fertilizer or 8-24-24, at planting. This will cost about $20-$25 per 50 pounds, or $80-$100 per acre. This will give you what is needed for germination, root development and early growth. If you can disk it in, that is better. If not, just spread it on top of the soil. The rain will carry it down. Disking it in after planting the ryegrass might bury the seed too deeply.
(When overseeding, delay fertilization until the warm-season grass goes dormant in cool weather. Fertilizing too soon will stimulate the warm-season grasses at the expense of the ryegrass.)
When it rains and the ryegrass seedlings just come up, they will be like hair – very fine. When they get about 3 inches tall, fertilize with 200 pounds of 33 percent (ammonium nitrate or blend of nitrogen) per acre. For small plots, 33 percent nitrogen in 50-pound bags will cost about $13-$16 per 50-pound bag. Urea also provides nitrogen and costs $9 per 50 pounds but is usually sold only in bulk (half-ton bags) for larger acreage. A fertilizer spreader cart can be loaned or rented for larger operations.
If you have to wait until the ground is firm enough to support a fertilizer cart, just wait. Don’t track the field up while it’s muddy, or you’ll hurt the stand for later. We had $80-$100 per acre for the complete fertilizer, 8-24-24, and another $40-$50 per acre for the nitrogen. The cost of seed is about $15 per acre, so we’re close to $150 per acre without the cost of labor, fuel and equipment. This is why it’s important to use all the ryegrass you grow.
It is critical you fertilize with nitrogen (ammonium nitrate, urea or a nitrogen blend) as soon as the ryegrass comes up. Ryegrass makes little or no growth at temperatures below 55 degrees. You must fertilize early so the grass can grow while temps are warm. After it gets cold, fertilizer won’t help, until it warms up again. You can apply more nitrogen if it is needed in early spring, but you might be able to get by without it if conditions are right and you have a good rotation set up.
About a month after you fertilize with nitrogen, if you have had enough rain, you should have 6-inch tall ryegrass, ready to graze. That will be about mid-November to Thanksgiving. 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 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.
Plan to divide the pasture into several small plots after you finish fertilizing. An electric fence is ideal for this. Plan to repair the fence a few times if the horses are not accustomed to it. They will learn quickly, and you will get to where you don’t even have to keep the charger on all the time.
In summary, prepare a good seedbed. Plant by late October, preferably before a good rain. Fertilize according to a soil test, or follow recommendations. Fertilize with nitrogen when the grass first comes up. Limit grazing at first, and set up rotational grazing pens to maximize yield.
If you follow these instructions and have luck with adequate rainfall, you will have a good winter forage program for your horses.
Call me if you have any questions. Phone-Office: 337-788-7596. My cell number and e-mail address are listed on the attached newsletter.
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| Last Updated: 10/12/2009 10:32:21 AM |
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