Equine Pasture Management Program Progress and Results

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Equine Pasture Management Program Progress and
Results

• Carey A. Williams, Ph.D.
• NE Pasture Consortium
• Feb. 2007

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Horse Manure to Bioenergy Technology for On-Farm
or Regional Application

• Donna Fennell, Ph.D.
• Objectives
• To develop feasible on-farm or regional
  facilities for converting horse waste into
  methane and hydrogen through the anaerobic
  digestion process
• To establish design and economic parameters that
  would enable horse owners to benefit from biofuel
  production at the farm level

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Horse Manure to Bioenergy

• Research goals
• Examine long-term operation of methanogenic
  anaerobic digesters with horse waste
• Improve efficiency and yield of anaerobic
  digestion of horse manure by co-amendment with
  other biomass, pretreatment and optimization of
  retention times

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Horse Manure to Bioenergy

• Research Goals
• Design and prepare a work plan for installation
  of a pilot-scale anaerobic digester to be
  installed at RU
• Prepare materials and educate industry about
  technology
• Carry out an economic assessment of potential
  application of technology

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Assisting the Impact of Horse Manure and
Composted Manure on Soil and Water Quality

• Daniel Gimenez, Ph.D. Stephanie Murphy, Ph.D.
• Objectives
• Document changes in the soil system introduced by
  the addition of horse manure and composted manure
  on NJ soils
• Knowledge generated by this project will assure
  the adoption of proper techniques for maintaining
  optimum soil and environmental quality when horse
  manure is spread

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Impact of Horse Manure

• Research goals
• Field crop, forage, and horticultural plots will
  be set at NJ farms
• Plots will be treated with manure, compost or
  control
• Samples collected will monitor soil water content
  and movement (ECH2O probes and fluxmeter)
• Soil samples will also be evaluated by soils lab
• Outreach will include fact sheets and educational
  seminars

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Managing Manure on NJ Horse Farms Adapting Near
Infrared Reflectance (NIR) Spectroscopy for Rapid
horse Manure Analysis

• Michael Westendorf, Ph.D.
• Objectives
• Adapt NIR procedure for analyzing
• horse manure
• This procedure should decrease cost and increase
  ease of completing manure tests
• This will enable horse producers to conveniently
  and economically sample horse manure to
  incorporate test results into CNMPs

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Managing Manure on NJ Horse Farms

• Research goals
• Collect about 100 samples of horse manure from
  around the state
• Bedding will vary
• Wet chemistry (DairyOne) will help calibrate NIR
  horse manure equations
• Seasonal manure samples will be compared
• Compare manure of horses on varying levels of P
  in diets (controlled study)
• Outreach will consist of traveling NIR unit for
  seminars, fact sheets, etc.

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Creation of an Environmental BMP Showcase at
Rutgers

• Develop and maintain a demonstration working
  horse farm by implementing BMPs
• Provide learning experiences and educational
  programs in
• Pasture, storm water, and manure management

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Educational Programs

• Learning opportunities will include
• Venue for pasture research oppertunities
• On farm demonstrations and workshops
• Twilight meetings
• Short courses
• Fact sheets, newsletters, website info, articles
• Topics covered
• Pasture management, manure storage and removal,
  water quality and managing stormwater and
  ag-water runoff

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The Challenges

• The pastures were VERY wet, and had not been soil
  tested or fertilized
• The site had been over-stocked and intensively
  grazed for many years -- soils are very compacted
• Most high quality forages had been eliminated
  from the pastures

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The Challenges

• The large fields had not been mowed for many
  years, and contain tough perennial weeds
• The number of horses anticipated at the farm
  requires a rotational grazing plan in order to
  maintain ground cover and forage quality
• More manure is generated at the facility than can
  be spread on fields and pastures

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• www.esc.rutgers.edu

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Sustainable Pasture Management for Horses

• The Mid-Atlantic Equine Pasture Initiative
  (MAEPI) was funded by NE SARE
• Train extension agents, governmental agency
  employees and other industry professionals to
  serve as informed field consultants and advisors
  to horse farm owners and managers in Mid-Atlantic
  Area

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MAEPI

• 3-year program to increase outreach and
  assistance to this clientele, improve their
  knowledge, and adopt practices to improve pasture
  quality and reduce environmental impact
• Elements included
• Training meetings
• Training materials
• Web, video and other materials

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MAEPI

• Other educational elements
• Univ. of MD demonstration horse farm
• Farm and Land Management Short Course at HORSES
  2007
• 4-H training module and activity guide
• Other regional meetings

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University of Connecticut

• Jennifer Nadeau, Ph.D.
• Active participant of the Horse Environmental
  Awareness Program (HEAP)
• Recently gathered data measuring the effects of
  drought, heat, and other environmental conditions
  on nutrient content of pasture grasses and their
  effects on insulin resistance in horses
• Collaborating with RU

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Thank You!
Carey Williams, Ph.D. Equine Extension
Specialist cwilliams_at_aesop.rutgers.edu www.esc.rut
gers.edu