Download
1 / 14
150 likes | 279 Vues
This guide covers essential considerations in selecting bedding materials for equine facilities, focusing on absorbency, affordability, and comfort. It explores various bedding types, such as straw, wood shavings, and recycled newsprint, highlighting their pros and cons. Additionally, it addresses critical aspects of facility maintenance, emphasizing the importance of sanitation, water quality management, waste management, and pasture care to maintain a healthy environment for horses while fostering good relationships with neighbors and protecting ecological resources.
E N D
Facility Maintenance Issues Bedding Issues
Bedding Material Considerations • Absorbent, dust-free, readily available, disposable, unpalatable, affordable • Cost is overriding factor • Protects feet from thrush, encourages horse to lie down, rest & cushion feed and legs
Types of Bedding • Straw – most popular, attractive • Absorbent, dust-free, high comfort rating • Highly combustible • Edible to equine • LOTS of LABOR in CLEANING STALLS • Disposal difficult
Types of Bedding • Wood Shavings / Sawdust • Highly absorbent, More expensive than straw • May cause respiratory problems • Less frequent cleaning, keeps odors down, less disposal volume than straw • Burn slower than straw, Less palatable • Hardwood shavings (Black Walnut) cause founder and laminitis • Store in dry location
Types of Bedding • Recycled Newsprint • Helps with respiratory problems • Absorbent, softer, more comfortable than others • Combustible • Less dust than others, pollen-free
Facility Maintenance Issues Management of Facility
Outside Maintenance PracticesWhy is it Important • Good Relationships with Neighbors – Control Flies & Odors • Healthy Ecological System - Control of Parasites & Diseases • Stewardship of Resources – Pollution controlled, Water quality protected
Proper Maintenance Practices • Sanitation program – reduce fly larval development sites, control standing water, manure mgt. • Maintain site at 2-6% away from buildings, training areas to direct water (w/o erosion) to grassed water
Proper Maintenance Practices • Water Quality Management Plan • Reduce runoff of contaminants into surface water that cause non-point source pollution (does not flow from a pipe) • Protect ground water from pesticides and fertilizer spills
Where Maintenance is Needed • River & Stream Bank Management • Protect banks from trampling, destruction of vegetation and contamination • Fencing to restrict animal access • Pump drinking water to holding trough away from bank • “Living Fences” (hedges) along banks • Inexpensive electric fencing
Where Maintenance is Needed • Waste Management - manure removal, storage and disposal • Total volume – 2.0 cubic feet/day/equine • Composted manure helps pasture management Spread on fields to reduce pollution, improves soil characteristics, increases moisture holding capacity • Composting 1-2 months reduces waste volume by 40-70%, Parasites, bacteria, weed seed destroyed • Covered manure holding facility, Protect from runoff
Where Maintenance is Needed • Pasture Management – controlled grazing to manage ground cover & provide nutrition • Overgrazing primary cause of runoff Graze pastures at 6 to 8”, Rotate off when down to 3 to 4” • Equine are spot grazers, rotate among several small pastures. Five to six paddocks with weekly rotations ideal.
Drag pastures (chain link harrow) annually or after each rotation. Sun & air reduce parasite pops. • Remove manure from paddocks weekly and compost with stall waste. Controls parasites • Pasture irrigation. • Combination of cattle & horses increases grazing uniformity.
Where Maintenance is Needed • Watercourse and Runoff Management • Maintaining cover & diverting water to reduce slope length & runoff speed • Divert clean runoff water away from barns • Reduce length of pasture slope with terraces • Plant grass in drainage ditches to slow runoff • Plant 10” vegetative buffer strip between slopes and waterways
