With the recent extreme temperatures, your field might be looking brown and dry. Your grass will be in a dormant stage so it will shut down and turn brown to conserve its nutrients and water.
There are a few ways to manage drought-stressed paddocks - and here are tips to do that:
Overgrazing
Where possible, try and avoid overgrazing. Grazing below 3” and having excessive hoof traffic can accelerate the drought effect and slow regrowth once it begins to rain.
Animals will reduce the plant leaf areas, decreasing the plants’ ability to intercept sunlight and grow new leaf material. Overgrazed paddocks also reduce the quality of pasture, and as the weeds replace the grass, they quickly look untidy and unkept.
Feeding
While fields become bare and patchy due to the grass not growing, horses will not be maintaining their digestive and behavioural health.
If additional forage is not available, horses may start to eat droppings, bark, fences, and graze rough areas of the paddock. We recommend that you continue to remove droppings from the paddock to decrease this risk and make sure forage is available that suits the animal’s needs and requirements.
Controlling Weeds
During the hot and dry conditions, some weeds are especially good at surviving, particularly if they have a long tap root that get moisture from deep down in the soil.
Top mature weeds and spray with a selective herbicide like Grazon Pro. Wait around 14 days before returning horses to treated paddocks. For best results, spray later in the evening when temperatures are cooler.
Use Activate G with your herbicide for optimum results in dry weather.
Fertilising
Organic seaweed fertiliser will not scorch grass in dry conditions, so go ahead and give your paddock a good application of an appropriate fertiliser like Emerald Pro.
Seaweed fertiliser will aid the recovery of pasture after periods of stress (like drought, heat and salinity stress). It is organic, natural and highly effective in optimising growth conditions for maximum quality and yield. It works by helping to encourage the growth of beneficial bacteria on plant foliage and roots. Emerald Pro benefits plants with increasing sugar content, root mass, uniform ripening, stronger leaves and increased yield.
When the cooler wetter weather returns in autumn, apply a granular fertiliser and prepare fields ready for autmn over-seeding.
Get in touch with our Equine team for more information and advice.
