Growing Safe Winter Grazing

There has been quite a few reports of ergot infestation in this funny wet warm UK summer, leading friends to have to sacrifice their fields of standing hay or foggage that they had been carefully saving for safe winter grazing. Yet correct and careful production of standing hay should avoid ergot infestation. This is unfortunately an example of well meaning people adopting a supposedly simple idea without doing their basic research. I do hope this post will help those friends to avoid similar panic scenarios in future years.

First, we have to understand what we are aiming for with standing hay. The clue is in the name.

Standing HAY.

Hay is dried grass. For grass to dry while standing the climate either has to be very hot or very arid. These conditions are not common in the UK.

If the grass cannot dry or dessicate while standing then you are not growing standing hay you are saving long grass for safe winter grazing.

Also known as foggage

https://www.plantlife.org.uk/uk/blog/foggage

Which is fine; long grass has lower sugars than short grass because it acts as its own shade. Long grass is actually safer for to graze for most horses, having benefits such as a higher fibre content, lower sugar content and achieving better gut fill.

https://www.heltieanimal.com/en-gb/blog/why-long-grass-is-better-than-short-grass/

BUT the reason long grass is often not considered safe for horses to graze is because too much grass is too much grass- short or long, and our UK “improved” ryegrass pastures often have very high NSCs- even a small patch obviously provides more calories due to the length of the grass as well as density. So strip grazing your long grass for safe winter grazing or opening up patches gradually in sequence will be required to avoid over consumption, especially in the parts of the UK where the grass never really stops growing.

Grass growth slows down in winter

when the air and soil temperature is below 5 Celsius- roughly between Nov to Feb in the south of the UK, October to March in the North. Grass needs light, water, nitrogen and warmth to grow. UK-popular perennial grass varieties, such as common bentgrass, red fescue and dwarf perennial ryegrass will go dormant, once the temperatures plummet later in the year. However healthy grass will probably continue to be somewhat active in winter. We may see a definite slowdown on the surface, where grass growth is easing up. But grass puts all its energy where it matters – into its root system. Root growth is important for your grass to prepare well for the coming winter, and to be safer from the ravages of mud and hooves. When it comes to the growth cycle of fast establishing annual grass types, the change of colour of the grass leaves at the end of autumn and their zero growth will mean only one thing – those grasses are dying rather going to sleep.

Growth of most native pasture grasses only slows down, it never really stops. This is why a run of a few warmer days can lead to an unexpected flush and risk of autumn laminitis.

So what is ergot?

And why are so many acres of much anticipated winter grazing falling prey to this peril?

Fun fact – “In 1976 Linnda Caporael offered the first evidence that the Salem witch trials followed an outbreak of rye ergot. Ergot is a fungus blight that forms hallucinogenic drugs in bread. Its victims can appear bewitched when they’re actually stoned.”

In cereal grains and many of the grasses, resistance to infection develops after fertilization. Thus, conditions that delay or interfere with pollination, such as cool, wet weather, can increase the period of susceptibility.

Ergot thrives in a cold winter followed by a wet spring

What are the deleterious effects of ergot in horses?

So how do we avoid ergot infestation of our winter grazing?

The answer is very simple. Ergot is found in the seed heads. So taking a cut of hay, after seeding, and allowing the hay to dry adequately, will give you good hay and ergot free winter grazing. If it is not good hay making weather, then taking a cut off the grass, and removing the cuttings, as silage, haylage, or even just rubbish, which is what you should be doing you anyway for the health of the pasture, will reduce the risk of ergot. No seed heads, no ergot.

So as I described previously in https://www.nelipotcottage.com/grow-your-own/

to grow natural, organic, healthy native pasture that will be healthy for your horse we should

1. Avoid fertilisers and pesticides.
2. Balance the soil according to Albrecht principles https://www.nelipotcottage.com/albrecht-and-the-agronomist/
3. Aerovate the soil regularly- essential for a healthy soil ecosystem
4. Sow native grasses, herbs and weeds that will flourish on your land and out compete the improved and dangerous rye grass.
5. Graze the land for a few months.
6. Allow the sward to grow and go to seed.
7. Cut once and remove the cuttings, ideally as hay or wrapped hay for your winter forage – you do not want them to rot down and fertilise the land.
8. Allow to grow again for winter grazing.

How does this work in real life?

I’m on livery now so I am not able to practise what I write but this sequence described below is what worked for me when the horses were on my inaugral Nelipot field in Delamere.

The field was 6 acres, split into three cells with a track around the edge.

From March to November the horses were on the track, with ad lib hay provided at the feeding stations. The grass was allowed to grow until we took a cut in late June/ early July. The grass was then allowed to grow again.

In November, the cells were opened up in sequence to allow the horses to graze the (foggage) long grass as well as continued access to hay as required. By the depths of winter they would thus have access to the full 6 acres, so that footfall damage was spread evenly over the larger area. The hay feed stations were on hard standing.

In March, once the grass started growing again and the mud started to dry out (the two happenings are not always simultaneous) then the horses would be limited to the track again and the cycle could continue.

To those friends who have sacrificed their winter grazing this year, I feel your pain. I hope this helps you to understand how ergot grows in grass and how to prevent it being a problem in the future.

Thank you for reading.

If you would like to read more about the management of the barefoot horse, and your land for healthy horses, as well as my musing on training and caring for hard working horses in an ethical and horse centric way then please consider buying the book.