Coping with the big dry Keeping horses healthy during dry conditions isn’t a matter of luck. Neil Clarkson looks at strategies for coping
with drought
Most of us enjoy our summers. Memories of a long, cold winter are quickly erased by sunshine, warm days, and barbecues. But sometimes summer can turn sour.
The sun keeps coming but the rain does not, and before long the lush green pastures of spring have given way to a brown landscape.
In a matter of weeks, you and your horses can be embroiled in a drought.
New Zealand has little to complain about, especially if we look across the Tasman.
Australia is no longer the “Lucky Country” for many livestock owners. Its droughts can be measured in years, even decades. Dry conditions have persisted for so long in some parts that farmers have been offered incentive payments to walk off their land.
New Zealand droughts are usually much shorter, but farmers and horse owners can be hit hard in the pocket if they don’t have contingency plans in place.
Two key issues arise out of drought.
The first is your legal obligation to keep your horses – indeed, any livestock – in good condition. This is easy when food is plentiful and cheap, but things can start to look grim when it begins to impact on your wallet.
The second centres on getting through a drought without breaking the bank.
The key is to have a drought management plan. Horse owners should identify what issues they are likely to face in drought conditions and put in place strategies to manage them.
Being prepared
A management plan is all about being prepared. The worst thing you can do is decide to tough it out. The reality is that it’s not you, but your horses who will do the hard yards, going hungry and losing condition.
It would nice if we all had two years of feed in reserve, but few of us have that luxury.
That’s why it’s essential to recognise the possible onset of drought as early as possible and ask some questions. The answers should form the basis of your plan:
1. How long could the drought potentially last?
2. How much feed do I have in reserve?
3. How much money do I have available for feed?
4. How much feed will I need if my pasture runs out?
5. Am I better to buy in feed now, while the price is still reasonable?
6. Do I have, or can I arrange, the facilities to store a bulk purchase of feed?
7. Should I be confining horses to a smaller area of the property to minimise the stress on dry paddocks?
8. Can I reduce stock numbers, perhaps agisting some out of the district?
9. Should I start supplementary feeding now to conserve what little pasture I have?
10. Is my water supply adequate?
11. What are my options if the drought lasts longer than expected?
Each owner will come up with different answers. However, the responses should paint a clear picture of the options available to each horse owner.
Predicting drought
Some parts of the country are more drought-prone than others. The east coasts of both islands tend to have more frequent and longer-lasting droughts. Land-locked areas can also face long, dry periods, especially in the summer months.
Weather models of global warming point to even longer and more frequent east-coast droughts in the future.
Other parts of the country certainly suffer drought, but they are less likely to last as long.
Therein lies a big problem in drought management. You never really know when the drought will break.
The best you can do is look at the experiences of past droughts in your region and base your management plan around that.
The sooner you acknowledge a drought is likely, the better off you will be. For one thing, it will enable you to buy in feed supplies before prices begin to soar.
Most people familiar with their home region will sense when things are drier than normal.
However, there is no need to guess. The National Climate Centre run by the National Institute of Water & Atmospheric Research (NIWA) publishes regular climate updates and predictions which are published online.
The National Climate Centre can be accessed at www.niwa.cri.nz/ncc, where you will find climate updates and summaries through links on the right of the page.
The onset
Drought conditions begin to bite when soil moisture deficits begin to affect the performance of grass species. Growth will slow, then stop, and the plants will eventually begin to brown off because of a lack of water. Throughout the process the nutritional value will decline.
The news at this stage is not all bad for horse owners. Horses are well-suited to eating low quality grass, and most will do surprisingly well on this standing hay. If you watch them, many will nibble off the nutritious seed-head before munching their way down the stem.
The problem is that standing hay is not about to grow back. There simply isn’t the soil moisture to do so. The roots will be stressed and the plant will not be doing anything until it gets water.
Your browned-off paddocks will suit your horses just fine – for a while. Once they’re munched out, you’ll have bare paddocks, hungry horses, and – if you’re planning to simply head out and buy some hay – you’re way too late.
The price of supplementary feeds will by this time be sky high. You could well end up paying two or three times for hay what you were paying before the drought.
A sensible horse owner will have implemented their management plan long before the grass – brown or not – ran out.
What does my horse need?
Working out the daily requirements of horses is crucial in any drought management plan. When feed is costly, the last thing you want to do is feed out more than you have to.
It’s highly unlikely all your horses will require the same amount of food. Some may be in work, others on holiday. Some may be particularly good doers, others not so.
If you have a lot of horses, divide them up depending upon their feed requirements.
To work out the forage requirement, and to set a benchmark against which you can assess whether each horse is maintaining its condition, you need to know the weight of each animal.
The following formula was developed by staff at the New South Wales Department of Agriculture: weight in kilograms equals the girth in centimetres squared (that is, multiplied by itself), then multiplied by the length of the horse (in centimetres) from the point of the shoulder to the point of the buttock. This number is then divided by 11,000 to give the final result.
You’re best to make the effort and do the calculation, but if tape measures and calculators aren’t your thing, the following will give you a broad idea: Shetlands 200-225kg; pony (small, saddle) 225-350kg; park hack 275-400kg; lightweight hack 350-500kg; heavyweight hack 450-600kg; draught 550-800kg.
Horse owners should also familiarise themselves with the body-score system for assessing a horse’s condition. During drought, you should reassess each horse’s body score and do the weight calculation every week or 10 days.
The body-score system commonly used in New Zealand, the Carroll and Huntington Method, ranges from 0 (very poor) to 5 (very fat). The American system ranges from 1 to 9. Most general horse books will give a rundown of one or other system.
Once you have a benchmark for each horse, you can monitor whether the diet is adequate and successfully maintaining the weight and condition of each animal. Adjust each horse’s diet accordingly, depending upon the results of your assessment.
Remember, the aim is to maintain the condition of your horses. It will be much easier to maintain condition than to build a horse’s body condition back up once it has been allowed to deteriorate.
Sorting the diet
It’s best to look at your horse’s dietary needs in two parts.
Firstly, there is the need for forage to provide roughage, or bulky dry matter, to keep the gut running normally.
Then there is each animal’s requirements for vitamins, minerals and energy (kilojoules or calories) to maintain condition.
A horse needs to eat about 1% of his body weight a day in forage-based dry matter to keep the gut working well. Under normal conditions, a horse can usually meet this requirement by munching his way through his paddock.
If pasture is in short supply, a horse owner can use his calculation of each animal’s weight to ensure he is getting enough forage-based dry matter to meet any shortfall. So, for example, a horse you calculate at 500kg would need at least 1% of its weight – that’s 5kg – in his diet each day, less whatever you estimate he’s getting off the pasture.
If grass is limited or unavailable, most horse owners will provide their horses with hay, baleage, silage, chaff, or a combination of them, to meet this shortfall.
Bear in mind that whatever your choice of forage, you have to make an allowance for moisture content. Shed-stored hay, for example, will comprise between 8% and 15% moisture by weight, so factor that into your calculation. Baleage or silage could be anywhere from 30% to 60% moisture by weight.
During drought, it is sourcing this bulk in your horse’s diet that can potentially prove the most expensive and difficult as the dry conditions wear on. Supplementary energy sources, such as prepared feeds, vegetable oil and suitable grain are unlikely to move in price to anything like the degree that hay, chaff or baleage will.
While everyone wants to feed their horses the best quality hay possible, such supplies may well dry up as drought conditions bite. While mouldy hay is not an option, you can certainly lower your sights to some degree.
The nutritional value of the hay is ultimately less important than the roughage it is providing in your horse’s diet.
You might, for example, find reasonable but dusty hay. This will be acceptable at a pinch, but wet it before feeding out to reduce the risk of your horses inhaling the dust.
Once you’re satisfied your horse’s requirement for bulk in his diet is met, you can supplement him with prepared feeds of your choice to meet his total daily energy and mineral requirements.
There is a wide choice and all should have nutritional information on the bags, including the amount of protein, carbohydrate, fat, and fibre (which you can also factor into each horse’s daily requirement for bulk).
Just how much additional supplementation each horse will need will depend upon his size, breed, age, and the amount of work he is doing. Lactating mares, foals, and young horses will also have slightly different nutritional requirements.
The degree of supplementation will also depend very much on the quality of the forage-based feed you provide, and the amount of feed still available on your paddocks. A horse munching his way through a fine cut of lucerne hay will be getting many more of his daily nutritional needs met than a horse on a very ordinary cut of meadow hay.
Most horse owners know their animals well and have learned how much feed they need.
The key starting point is to ensure each animal gets adequate forage-based dry-matter (at least 1% of body weight), and then supplement their daily diet accordingly.
In the broadest terms, a resting horse should, in total, need about 1.5% of body weight each day in dry feed (remember, this includes the total dry-weight of hay, chaff, baleage or silage). A horse in light work might need 2%; in moderate to heavy work 2.5% – perhaps even a little more if he has the appetite.
So, if you can provide the mininium 1% of body weight in hay or off the paddock, the rest can be made up of supplemental feeds.
Equine nutrition has many facets, balancing the likes of crude protein, carbohydrate, fats, and other minerals. The reality is that most horse owners won’t know the precise nutritional make-up of any hay, chaff or baleage they’re feeding, unless they’ve had it tested. If it’s untested, how will they know what to supplement it with?
Most prepared feeds have been balanced by equine nutritionists, so for most horse owners the practical issue will most likely come down to how much they feed out, as opposed to getting any balance right.
The reality is simple: if your horse is well and maintaining weight and condition, then the dietary choices made on its behalf are working.
What you don’t want to do is overfeed when the drought begins to bite and prices rise. It will be a waste of money.
Most healthy adult horses at rest or in light exercise should maintain their body weight and condition on adequate amounts of good quality hay and a modest daily supplementation of pellets or a prepared balanced feed of your choice.
Remember to phase in drought rations gradually to avoid any digestive upsets.
Good hay is usually the most cost-
effective feed.
Baleage is growing in popularity, but it must be of good quality. Poor quality baleage runs the risk of clostridial poisoning. Baleage can be quite rich, so it’s best to ensure your horse still has access to some pasture, or feed it out with hay.
A horse owner needs to address the whole issue of forage as quickly as they can when they see a drought on the horizon.
Buying hay a couple of bales at a time may spread the financial burden, but your hay may ultimately work out very expensive if it doubles or triples in price.
If good quality forage feed is available at a reasonable price, a horse owner may be better even borrowing money to buy it. The interest payable over 12 months would pale against the extra cost from hay doubling in price.
In fact, much of the decision-making surrounding drought conditions rely on good calls being made early. If you plan for drought, you can break-feed your browned-off pasture while supplementing your horse’s diet much earlier, allowing the pasture to last much longer.
Australians who have been through drought cannot stress too much the importance of working out how much feed your horses actually need, and having a feed budget.
Whatever feed regime you decide on, keep an eye on each horse’s bowel motions, watching for signs of diarrhoea or constipation that indicate the diet is not entirely agreeable to the horse.
Be particularly watchful if the quality of available feed is falling away.
Settling in for the long haul
Hungry horses can become aggressive at meal times. It’s important that everybody gets their fair share. Ensure each horse gets its correct ration and monitor their eating to ensure no-one is bullied off their meal.
Spread feed dishes well apart to reduce the likelihood of a ruckus.
Feed at least twice a day. It will be better for your horse’s digestive tract, and they are likely to utilise the food value better.
Desperate times
Droughts in New Zealand tend not to involve the entire country, meaning there will usually be some parts still growing good feed crops. Irrigated farms in drought-affected areas are also likely to remain in production, unless water restrictions bite.
Some parts of the world are not so lucky, and have to look to alternatives when conventional food supplies dwindle. There are literally dozens of options, including bread and the hulls of some crops. Some horses have even successfully been fed clean, untreated and unprinted cardboard.
In all cases, seek veterinary advice before offering any alternative feeds to your horse. Even if the feed proves suitable and palat-
able, the total percentage of it in your horse’s diet could be crucial to its wellbeing.
Bread, for example, has successfully been introduced to horses’ diets in drought conditions. However, its very high carbohydrate content runs the risk of triggering hind-gut fermentation and laminitis. Bread is therefore only introduced gradually and is used to provide only a small percentage of any horse’s daily needs.
And remember, a hungry horse could well drop his standards and eat stuff he normally wouldn’t. Be careful what you put in front of them.
Drought hints
- If your horse continuously wanders a barren paddock in search of non-existent grass, you would be best to yard him to prevent him walking off whatever energy his diet manages to provide.
- If weather conditions turn cold, boost your horse’s feed rations by around 10% to allow for the extra energy required to keep warm. Use covers, as these will help a horse conserve body heat, and hence energy.
- Worm regularly, as horses can suffer from an increased worm burden during drought periods (because they’re eating short grass close to ground).
- A dose of wormer a couple of weeks after their return to green pasture is wise, as the drought-breaking rain can cause a sharp rise in worm numbers.
- Ensure your horses’ teeth are in good condition. Poorly chewed food will not be digested as well, and you’ll be wasting money.
- Never feed commercial formulas designed for other animals. They could cause your horse serious health problems.
- Up to 10% of hay can be wasted if fed on the ground. There is also the risk of worm ingestion and swallowing sand or grit, which can trigger colic. Use hay feeders or hay nets.
- Keep feet well trimmed and in good condition. Your horse may have to range further around his paddock to forage for food.
- Take your horse off a paddock before it is chewed right down. A chewed-off paddock will take much longer to recover once the drought breaks. No matter how much supplementary feed you provide, a horse will still graze a paddock down to nothing.
- If you intend selling horses, do so sooner rather than later.
Drought-related health problems
Certain health problems tend to appear in horses during drought.
Some Australian vets notice a downturn in the number of callouts during long dry spells.
Unfortunately, it’s not due to the improving health of horses. Owners, they believe, find themselves extended financially in buying feed and will only call vets in an emergency. In other words, horse owners end up spending more on feed, and less on other things.
Droughts normally bring an increase in the number of impaction colics, either due to feeding poor quality hay or through hay forming such a large part of their diet. In some areas, there are increases in the number of sand colics if horses are feed off dry, gritty ground.
Vets notice an increase in parasite problems, almost certainly due to horses eating grass right down to the dirt.
There is also an increase in cases of laminitis. Horses prone to founder are at greater risk if owners unwittingly feed them hay with a higher than expected sugar content. One vet has spoken of laminitis cases developing on a diet of hay that would normally be considered minimal risk. Horses can be at greater risk whenever a new batch of hay is introduced to the diet.
Vets also report an increase in inflammatory airway disorders, usually through inhaling hay dust.
Even horses that remain in work are not immune. There are more lameness problems due to jarring up on the hard ground.
