Using horses in pasture management plan

Hungry horses clean the Bermudagrass thatch from this goat pasture.

With decent rain last year and goat numbers down, some of our pastures became overgrown with Bermudagrass. The Bermudagrass makes up a large part of our goats' diet, although it is not their first choice. Some experts preach against Bermudagrass because its thick and dense nature helps it hold in moisture, which makes it the perfect environment for stomach worms. Here in the Deep South Bermudagrass is prevalent, so we have learned to live with it; there's not much way to kill it out. 


About a month ago I told my son-in-law Stephen and his friend that they could put some of their horses in a large goat pasture where there were only six head of grown bucks spending the winter. I wanted the horses to tear up the Bermudagrass thatch and suck up as many worm eggs and larvae as they could. 


I know it would be more profitable to use cattle for this job instead of pet horses, but the horses were readily accessible and didn't cost me anything.


It's about time to pull the horses off the pasture (and the bucks, too). Hopefully they have trimmed the pasture down enough to allow the new grass to pop up as the weather continues to get warmer. And since we didn't have much winter, maybe the worms will be set back some also.


Fortunately, worms are nowhere near the problem they were a decade ago. Better management and better genetics have all worked together to make goat raising a pleasant experience.