Never use fertilizers, pesticides and weed elimination products on your horse's pasture without close consultation with your veterinarian, and even better, with your county agricultural and animal husbandry authorities. Even though it's not their usual pasture, never graze your horses on grass that you know has been treated with fertilizers, insecticides and weed elimination products about which you know nothing about.
A lot of grass fertilizer comes in time-release form, meaning it releases nitrogen to the turf over an extended period of time. This fertilizer, in pelletized form, can take weeks to completely get used up. In large amounts, nitrogen can be poisonous for your horses. Even in smaller amounts, it can seriously upset your horses' stomachs and give them spring colic.
Fertilizer meant for pastures also produces nitrogen, but this class of fertilizer exhausts itself quickly. At any rate, it is sensible to keep horses from grazing for a minimum of 3 weeks on recently fertilized pasture. Before you permit your horses on such pasture, check to see if the grass is green and at least 3 inches long. Pasture fertilizer is best used when rainfall is close to hand.
Be aware that weed elimination products don't get the same severe testing that other pasture products do.
You should also be aware of the fact that a lot of grass insecticide brands were registered prior to 1972. This implies they haven't ever been tested for health perils like neurotoxicity, carcinogenicity and environmental effects. There isn't any law that forces grass chemical manufacturers to detail all ingredients used on the product packaging. They simply list many toxins as 'inert' some of these 'inert' toxins include benzene and xylene, defoliant component like Agent Orange, insecticides similar to nerve gas in structure and synthetic hormones.
If you're in the practice of grazing your lawn, treat it just as you treat your pasture: keep it free from chemical products of any sort and use only agriculture/food grade manure. Follow the same standards with herbicides and pesticides and if you mow your lawn leave the cuttings scattered so they dry first and don't present other unsafe issues to your horses which I exposed in an earlier article.
A lot of grass fertilizer comes in time-release form, meaning it releases nitrogen to the turf over an extended period of time. This fertilizer, in pelletized form, can take weeks to completely get used up. In large amounts, nitrogen can be poisonous for your horses. Even in smaller amounts, it can seriously upset your horses' stomachs and give them spring colic.
Fertilizer meant for pastures also produces nitrogen, but this class of fertilizer exhausts itself quickly. At any rate, it is sensible to keep horses from grazing for a minimum of 3 weeks on recently fertilized pasture. Before you permit your horses on such pasture, check to see if the grass is green and at least 3 inches long. Pasture fertilizer is best used when rainfall is close to hand.
Be aware that weed elimination products don't get the same severe testing that other pasture products do.
You should also be aware of the fact that a lot of grass insecticide brands were registered prior to 1972. This implies they haven't ever been tested for health perils like neurotoxicity, carcinogenicity and environmental effects. There isn't any law that forces grass chemical manufacturers to detail all ingredients used on the product packaging. They simply list many toxins as 'inert' some of these 'inert' toxins include benzene and xylene, defoliant component like Agent Orange, insecticides similar to nerve gas in structure and synthetic hormones.
If you're in the practice of grazing your lawn, treat it just as you treat your pasture: keep it free from chemical products of any sort and use only agriculture/food grade manure. Follow the same standards with herbicides and pesticides and if you mow your lawn leave the cuttings scattered so they dry first and don't present other unsafe issues to your horses which I exposed in an earlier article.
About the Author:
Horses are Heather Toms
passion and she enjoys sharing her extensive knowledge through her 100s of
articles with other horse lovers http://horsehorses.net/
passion and she enjoys sharing her extensive knowledge through her 100s of
articles with other horse lovers http://horsehorses.net/
No comments:
Post a Comment