Offered Papers Theme C: Delivering the Benefits from Grassland
Description
A survey by the American Horse Council in 1996 showed there were 6.9 million horses in the USA with 1.9 million horse owners and 7.1 million people involved in allied industries. The value of the USA horse industry to the gross national product is $25.3 billion. Nationally, 2.2 % of households own a horse but 4.9 % of households want to own a horse. Ohio's horse industry has 192,000 horses (7th nationally) and generates $776 million per year. Most of the 48,500 homes with horses in Ohio have 2-5 horses with 1-2 ha of land. Many exercise lots and high-use areas are little more than mud lots. Since each horse needs a minimum of 0.8 ha for feed, many pastures and hay fields are over-grazed and poorly managed leading to soil erosion, nutrient management problems with excess manure, and water quality problems. Most horse owners have a need for basic education to help them make good decisions on pasture and horse management. The educational resources directed at the 263,500 Ohioans involved in the horse industry are minor compared to its size. The objectives of the Ohio Horse Program are: 1) To increase awareness, knowledge and skills for horse owners on managing hay fields and pastures to produce quality horse forages, 2) To change management practices of horse owners to produce higher quality forages by learning how to better evaluate, produce, store and manage quality forages, 3) To develop a curriculum and provide a notebook of indexed referenced material to all programme participants, 4) To establish a grass plot programme to compare forage varieties for yield and quality, and 5) To provide field day and pasture walk experiences.
Included in
Agricultural Science Commons, Agronomy and Crop Sciences Commons, Plant Biology Commons, Plant Pathology Commons, Soil Science Commons, Weed Science Commons
Forages for Horses Programmes
A survey by the American Horse Council in 1996 showed there were 6.9 million horses in the USA with 1.9 million horse owners and 7.1 million people involved in allied industries. The value of the USA horse industry to the gross national product is $25.3 billion. Nationally, 2.2 % of households own a horse but 4.9 % of households want to own a horse. Ohio's horse industry has 192,000 horses (7th nationally) and generates $776 million per year. Most of the 48,500 homes with horses in Ohio have 2-5 horses with 1-2 ha of land. Many exercise lots and high-use areas are little more than mud lots. Since each horse needs a minimum of 0.8 ha for feed, many pastures and hay fields are over-grazed and poorly managed leading to soil erosion, nutrient management problems with excess manure, and water quality problems. Most horse owners have a need for basic education to help them make good decisions on pasture and horse management. The educational resources directed at the 263,500 Ohioans involved in the horse industry are minor compared to its size. The objectives of the Ohio Horse Program are: 1) To increase awareness, knowledge and skills for horse owners on managing hay fields and pastures to produce quality horse forages, 2) To change management practices of horse owners to produce higher quality forages by learning how to better evaluate, produce, store and manage quality forages, 3) To develop a curriculum and provide a notebook of indexed referenced material to all programme participants, 4) To establish a grass plot programme to compare forage varieties for yield and quality, and 5) To provide field day and pasture walk experiences.
