Released February 20, 2009
COLLEGE PARK, Md. -- Want to keep your passion for horses alive but worried about how to pay for it? Here are some ideas of things you might do around your farm to reduce the costs associated with your horses.
- Simplify-simplify-simplify. Do a thorough nutritional evaluation of each horse. Many horses these days are being supplemented with many more nutrients than they actually need. This isn't to say that the joint supplement you're giving needs to be tossed away, but maybe your horse could do without that coat supplement or the added vitamin/mineral supplement.
If your horse is fat, odds are s/he's getting too many calories and you may be able to cut out that commercial grain or supplement altogether - or find one that better suits your horses' needs such as a forage balancer. Forage balancers are designed for the horse that is on an all-forage (hay or pasture) diet. They tend to be very high in vitamins, minerals and sometimes protein, but are fed in small amounts - usually not more than 2 pounds per day. The cost per bag may bring sticker shock, but when you look at it as a cost per meal, you may find you'll save money!
Not sure where to start? Contact your feed company - they may be able to help you determine if the feeding program you're using is adequate for your horses. If you aren't using a commercial feed, try your local extension educator or your state's extension horse specialist.
- Increase your management inputs into your pastures. Horses naturally eat small meals on a frequent basis and your pasture could meet almost all of your horse's dietary needs. The initial outlay in money to renovate a poor pasture may be expensive, but once you get the management in full swing and can keep up with mowing, fertilizing, and rotating the animals, you'll find that you need to buy very little hay.
Expect that in this region, you may need as much as 2 acres per horse in order to feed them throughout the year, but you can get by on less if you put more management into it such as pasture rotation and strict use of sacrifice lots during poor pasture growth periods. For help on pasture management, contact your local Extension Office.
- For pasture management, you may qualify for federal or state grants to implement best management practices (BMPs). With some new grant programs available through the Maryland Department of Agriculture's Tributary Strategies office, there is even some potential help for small acreage owners in central and southern Maryland who wouldn't otherwise qualify for funds from EQIP and other federal programs. For more information on cost-share programs, contact your local Soil Conservation District.
- Talk with your vet about doing some of your own vaccinations. Your vet should be able to show you how to do vaccinations and can provide the vaccines (for a fee!) to you, saving you a vet trip. That doesn't mean you shouldn't have your horse evaluated on a regular basis by a vet, but you could save yourself some money in the long run by giving the shots yourself. You can also purchase vaccinations yourself and give them. Just make sure to consult with your veterinarian before doing so.
- Switch to an as-needed deworming program. Frequent deworming with expensive pastes may not be needed on your farm and in fact, parasitologists are starting to make recommendations about using a targeted deworming strategy in place of the usual rotational programs.
The main reason for this switch is the growing evidence that parasites are developing resistance to the major deworming products available now. There are no new deworming products on the horizon, so horse-owners and veterinarians are being cautioned to utilize what still works effectively with more care. To effectively use a targeted deworming strategy, you will have to do fecal egg counts on all the horses on your farm on a routine basis. Horses who have higher fecal egg counts will be dewormed more frequently than those that do not. For more information on targeted deworming and the growing threat of anthelmintic-resistance, see the following collection of articles available from The Horse: http://www.thehorse.com/ViewArticle.aspx?ID=7317#parasites
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http://www.agnr.umd.edu/news/article.cfm?id=719a55d20a5a5a8f008d9458754f172d
Contact: Erin Pittman, pittmane@umd.edu
