Horse pasture stocking rate

How many horses can your pasture maintain? Stocking rate refers to the number of horses on pasture without providing supplemental feed. A big factor is knowing what type of horse you have. The energy requirement of an animal that is used for trail riding, for example, is going to be more than a horse that loafs around all day. 

Peggy Auwerda is an extension equine specialist at Iowa State University. She says one horse needs a minimum of one-and-a-half to two-acres of good quality pasture. If it’s not good quality, then it may take three acres or more to feed one horse without supplemental hay or grain.

"What determines that? Well, is the pasture fertilized? Is it full of weeds or is there good weed control? Is it continued grazing that person’s using where the horse just stays out there, or do they have a rotational grazing program? So, all of those factors actually will add into determining stocking rate," says Auwerda.

Some forage species produce greater tonnage per acre than others. Kentucky Bluegrass is a good pasture plant but doesn’t produce as much tonnage as orchardgrass or smooth bromegrass.

Horses are selective grazers and prefer short forages to clumps of tall grass. Keep an eye on the animal’s body condition to assess whether there is enough.

"Making sure that they’re not losing weight or gaining too much weight, but that’s probably easiest thing to assess their body condition score and weight," she says. "You can kind of look at your pasture but even mowing pasture where you try to make the growth even throughout, that tends to help make that horse eat more places than just leaving large, clumpy areas of overgrowth."