Disclaimer: Please note that none of the information contained in these files is meant to be professional information. Consult your vet, attorney or other professional for their advice. Date: Wed, 8 Mar 2000 12:52:32 -0700 (MST) To: equinerescue@imagicomm.com From: Pat Calloway Subject: EQ-ResQ: Horses Per Acre Oh my. Just ran into this story in today's paper - Phoenix is reviewing rules on zoning and how many horses per acre due to a man keeping .... are you ready? ... 32 - that's thirty two - horses on one acre. They must be packed in like sardines. http://www.azcentral.com/news/0308horses.shtml The sidebar to the story gives ordinances in other cities in the valley. Pat Calloway, Equine Rescue Listowner epona@concentric.net (AZ) http://www.crt-stable.com/equinerescue ========== Pat Calloway ====== ============================================================ To: equinerescue@imagicomm.com From: CC40058@aol.com Subject: Re: EQ-ResQ: Horses Per Acre Date: Wed, 8 Mar 2000 15:06:59 EST Well, Pat, that has opened up a good one. The article said there are no standards of horses per acre. What about ideally? I'm asking opinions on what would be a good rule of thumb on how many horses per acre would be comfortable? Comfortable, not legal or dry lotting during winter, but opinions on what would really be the ideal situation? Caroline Kentuckiana Equine and Animal Rescue, Inc. ...dedicated to the animals CC40058@aol.com or Kyianaequ@aol.com http://msnhomepages.talkcity.com/NonProfitBlvd/kyianaequ/ ========== CC40058@aol.com ====== ============================================================ To: equinerescue@imagicomm.com From: Hossinroun@aol.com Subject: Re: EQ-ResQ: Horses Per Acre Date: Wed, 8 Mar 2000 16:37:33 EST I was always told one horse per acre as long as there is feed and grass available. Debbie ========== Hossinroun@aol.com ====== ============================================================ Date: Wed, 8 Mar 2000 15:00:31 -0700 (MST) To: equinerescue@imagicomm.com From: Pat Calloway Subject: Re: EQ-ResQ: Horses Per Acre At 03:06 PM 3/8/00 -0500, CC40058@aol.com wrote: >The article said there are no >standards of horses per acre. What about ideally? I'm asking opinions on >what would be a good rule of thumb on how many horses per acre would be >comfortable? Comfortable, not legal or dry lotting during winter, but >opinions on what would really be the ideal situation? My stock answer is: It Depends. Depends on a lot of variables - sex and disposition of the horses involved since you want the less aggressive to be able to get away from the more aggressive and you want them all to be able to eat adequately, depends on area of the country, shape of the pasture, whether or not you have it divided into pipe corals, etc. I thought that I had read at one time that one or two horses per acre was optimum, but I've know folks who've fit in more than that comfortably. Also in Phoenix, we don't get the rainfall that most other parts of the country get (ignore the last few days when it poured) and unless you irrigate and rotate pastures, you don't have nice green grassy areas for the horses, you have pretty much bare dirt (or mud ) and unless trees are planted and cultivated and protected from the horses and/or you put up shades (which most people do, although the horses tend to not want to stand under them anyway most of the time), then you basically have a dirt lot. I know the area in the article and as it pointed out, the house and stuff like that take up a good chunk of the acre, so those horses are probably on a 1/2 acre or so. They were really meant for people with only one or two horses that they wanted to keep on their own property, not for breeders, etc, although there are a few larger properties with more horses. There used to be lots of desert and trails to ride on, but unfortunately (imo) the area has become more and more developed and unless you trailer out, there's not much advantage to having a horse property there anymore. ========== Pat Calloway ====== =========================================================== To: equinerescue@imagicomm.com From: "Steve & Janay Francis" Subject: EQ-ResQ: horses per acre Date: Wed, 8 Mar 2000 17:08:53 -0500 I think a good 1/2 acre per horse for comfort, for feeding purposes 3 acres per horse. Horses are just not as efficient as cows , plus they are more picky as to what they will eat. Even cows require 1 acre per head to feed, or so I have been told by farmers. Janay ========== "Steve & Janay Francis" ====== ============================================================ To: equinerescue@imagicomm.com From: "Cathy Karsten" Subject: Re: EQ-ResQ: Horses Per Acre Date: Wed, 8 Mar 2000 16:27:10 -0600 I had 5 horses on 7 acres this last summer and they had plenty of room, but grass got short way to fast. They didn't go out until mid July and it was pretty much eaten down by the 1st of September. It is nice land and produces lots of grass, but one of the horses was a mare that in the winter eats about 60 lbs of hay a day. Like someone had said it really depends on the horses and the land. The grass was from 8 inches to 1 1/2 feet tall. Cathy ========== "Cathy Karsten" ====== ============================================================ To: equinerescue@imagicomm.com From: "s.pel" Subject: Re: EQ-ResQ: horses per acre Date: Wed, 8 Mar 2000 16:22:12 -0800 In my area you can have 1 horse for the first acre and 2 for every aditional acre. I have 5 acres and I could have 9 horses. Hummmm gee I only have 4 right now, uh oh.... Shelly ========== "s.pel" ====== ============================================================ To: equinerescue@imagicomm.com From: dlinkous@radix.net Subject: Re: EQ-ResQ: Horses Per Acre Date: Wed, 08 Mar 2000 20:15:12 -0500 >The article said there are no >standards of horses per acre. What about ideally? I'm asking opinions on >what would be a good rule of thumb on how many horses per acre would be >comfortable? Comfortable, not legal or dry lotting during winter, but >opinions on what would really be the ideal situation? No one answer to that. It depends on the geography (all cleared or some trees or all forest), the expected annual rainfall, the kind of soil (granite vs. loam), and other things. If the horses are fed hay year round, it wouldn't matter if there were no grazing, though it would be more expensive to keep them. As far as pasture goes, dividing it so that not only can you separate horses as needed, but also keep a couple of fields/paddocks empty and rotate helps with keeping grazing available as well as controlling parasites. To me, it doesn't really matter as long as each horse has sufficient exercise each day... so if there are 30 horses on 5 acres but each of them is ridden or turned out or lunged each day, that might be acceptable. The Spanish Riding School in Vienna keeps their stallions in big tie stalls (room to lie down), with no turnout, in the middle of the city. But the horses are worked every day and appear very happy in their work. But I also think that 24/7 turnout is the healthiest way to keep horses. Far less colic, hoof, and respiratory problems. For grazing, the rule of thumb in most of the East is 2 horses per acre as far as grazing goes, but this assumes you have more than one acre and more than 2 horses, and possibly that you rotate pastures. Pulling them off pasture when it's very wet and they can damage the grass roots by frolicking is one practice that preserves the grazing. Pulling them off before it is grazed down to the roots (often this happens during a draught) is also important. Having some dry lots for turnout when you need to keep them off the pasture is a Good Thing. Diana ========== dlinkous@radix.net ====== ============================================================ To: equinerescue@imagicomm.com From: Amanda Perez Subject: EQ-ResQ: Horses per acre Date: Thu, 9 Mar 2000 11:31:45 -0500 This is a tough one. Suppose I have a three acre paddock and a 20 stall barn. Twenty horses on 3 acres would be unacceptable if they were at pasture full time. But what if they are kept stalled and get turned out in shifts (5 horses out for two hour shifts, let's say)for exercise (in addition to regular riding) and don't depend on grass for feed? Is that abusive? Sad to say, many stables keep their horses stalled full-time. My point is, you need to know the sitiuation before condemning just based on horse/acre. Are the stalled? Are they excercised? Are they relying on grazing exclusively for feed or are they getting hay and grain. of course by any measure, 35 horses on an acre seems a bit much! ========== Amanda Perez ====== ============================================================ To: equinerescue@imagicomm.com From: "Steve & Janay Francis" Subject: EQ-ResQ: Horses Per acre Date: Thu, 9 Mar 2000 13:47:03 -0500 In a case where horses are stalled and turned out on a rotating basis, I don't see a problem with just 3 acres for 20, but I can tell you that in the case in Indiana 17 horses and 15 of them pregnant I can tell you, i have seen it and there is no barn no shed and no shelter, no place to foal. I Read the story about the 32 on one acre and they didn't mention a barn or shelter either. In both of these cases I find this unacceptable. These are animals that are out all at once and most certainly they can not be sustained by the area they are in. The man's horses in AR are supposed to be in good shape. The manure must be so bad like on gigantic stall that has never been cleaned. I imagine the neighbors are complaining about the smell. ========== "Steve & Janay Francis" ====== ============================================================ Disclaimer: Please note that none of the information contained in these files is meant to be professional information. Consult your vet, attorney or other professional for their advice.