Who can forget last winter’s weather? Record flooding, followed by record wind storms with heavy snows. There were power and phone outages that lasted for days and weeks. Snowfalls kept many of us (along with our horses) inside for weeks on end. So…are you ready for another wild and wet Northwest winter?
As it is with most things, now is the time of year when an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Below is a checklist of the first half of Horses for Clean Water’s top 10 things to do around your horse property to ready it for whatever winter can dish out. Early fall is a great time to get a jump on these preparations--before driveways get slick and pastures turn to mud.
1) Bring in footing material for paddocks, confinement areas, and other high traffic areas. It is much easier for delivery trucks to back into paddocks and drive through pastures now, rather than once these areas have become slick and muddy in January. Footing materials are usually more available at this time of year than later on when the demand is high. Plus, getting footing now will avoid creating a mud mess later on! Consider what hogfuel or gravel you will need for footing in sacrifice areas, paddocks, walkways, in front of gates, and other high traffic areas. For more information on choosing footing types, refer to the Horses for Clean Water handout “Footing Findings” on the HCW website, www.HorsesforCleanWater.com.
2) Check gutters and downspouts. Now is the time to think of repairs or additions that need to be made to your roof runoff system. Keep clean rainwater clean by diverting roof runoff away from your paddocks to an area on your property where it won’t get contaminated with manure or mud. This could be a dry well, drain field, wooded area, unused corner of pasture, stock watering tanks, or rain barrels. Doing this substantially reduces the amount of mud your horse spends the winter standing in and will make chores easier for you. Also in the fall, clean leaf debris out of gutters and downspouts so they flow correctly–don’t wait until the first deluge when everything is overflowing.
3) Bring your horses in off your pastures. If you’re lucky enough to have pasture, then fall is the time to baby them. Pastures grazed too closely in the autumn are subject to winter damage and slow regrowth in the spring. For winter protection, it’s best if you allow the grass plants to produce a good amount of leaf growth--at least four inches. During the winter months, pasture plants are dormant and not able to regrow so pastures simply cannot survive continuous grazing. Also, soils are saturated and easily compacted during our soggy winters. The best option for managing your horses during winter is to create a winter paddock or sacrifice area. Confine your horses to this area during the winter and in the summer when pastures become overgrazed. For additional help with sacrifice areas, refer to the Horses for Clean Water handout “Creating and Using a Sacrifice Area” online at www.HorsesforCleanWater.com.
4) Tarp your manure piles. This will help keep the nutrients you are trying to save IN the compost and not allow them to get washed OUT into the surface waters where they can cause a potential problem and contribute to more mud and yuck. Be sure to store manure as far away as possible from streams, ditches, or wetlands to avoid potential environmental problems, as well as away from fence lines to be a good neighbor. For more about composting, see previous articles in Horse Farm Management at the NWHS website (www.nwhorsesource.com), or find online handouts at the HCW website, listed above.
5) Spread compost. Fall is a great time to spread compost. Compost is a rich soil enhancement that adds micro and macronutrients and replenishes natural microbial life. All of this will greatly improve the health of the soil and plants. Remember to spread compost in pastures during the growing season, no more than a ½ inch layer at a time or a total of 3–4 inches per season.
Stay tuned–next month we finish with five more exciting ways to get you in front of the eight ball on your fall horse farm preparedness!
Good horsekeeping to you!
