Hay shortages encourage equestrians to manage their pastures better
Let's go over some common sayings that horse people, AKA Equestrians, use frequently.
"You might as well just hand your credit card over to the feed company because that's the only place you will spend money." "
"That horse should be pooping gold with as much as I pay for him."
"There's no money in horses."
"My retirement goes to my horse."
There is truth to some of these statements. The good news is that I'm here to tell you that intensive rotational grazing management might be the answer to ensuring horse industries remain profitable and that pastures return to a healthy status.
In his book "Salad Bar Beef" Joel Salatin states that the horse industry has done more to improve the quality of hay than anything else. Cows will eat just about any quality hay. For many decades, most hay growers were cattle farmers. The farmers appreciated that their cows ate just whatever they grew, cut, and baled. The farmers had an emotional bias in the hay that some farmers grew and all the hard work they put into the product. If the cow didn't eat their hay, it was the cow's fault, not the farmer's.
Equestrians are incredibly picky about their hay because it's no good if their horses don't eat it. Equestrians have been demanding higher quality hay which has put additional pressure on hay farmers to grow hay that horses will eat and thrive on.
I believe this has been a double-edge sword for horse owners. They have unfettered access to quality cheap hay, which has allowed horse barns to ignore managing their pastures well. They could overlook their pastures because they could cheaply supplement hay throughout the year. This has all worked until the recent spike in gas prices and petroleum products. The result has been a massive increase in hay prices and hay shortages, leaving horse farms uncomfortable.
Over the next few weeks, I'll show examples and suggestions of how equestrians can rotate their horses on pastures effectively. I'll hopefully show why intensive grazing management is the answer to returning their pastures to a state of health. It will challenge the status quo of how horse barns have been typically managed and how pastures have been grazed. It will challenge owners to think differently and learn from the cattle industry, resulting in huge successes with rotating fields.