Linking to this site

As a lawn care community the organic approach will be pressed more and more in coming years.

I found this site to be interesting and have added it to a list of links on
our site for organic resources.

Hopefully this is Ok, but if not, let me know, and it will be removed.

We are in the process of relocating and building a small horse fam and organic practices will be as much a part of it as possible for many reasons, and this site is just one more resource for us to check on.

Thanks.

Well, yeah, all links to us are great!

As for the horse farm:  I suggest researching worming stuff a lot.  I think that might be the space that is hardest to be organic. 

Thanks.

The worming issue, and parasites in general for horses can be managed reasonably well with proper rotation of pastures, which we will be doing, probably more than most., but no matter, ivermectin or some wormer varient must be used to insure the health of the horse, although I must admit at this point I've done no research on other applications for worming horses that might be considered organic.

So much to do, so little time...........

There is lots to be gained in many ways with rotating pastures.  Not only are there several excellent books on the topic, but there is the excellent "Stockman Grass Farmer's Journal" dedicated to the topic.

not to drift too much but I have worked as professional in the horse business for years. In my opinion horses are treated for parasites way more than they need to be .  My research into goats has taught me alot bout parasite management because it is a particular problem in that species. I have NEVER in 20 years seen a vet do a fecal on a horse to check parasite load! They just come out 4x a year and use a anthelmentic from a different class each time.  Of course 80% of my charges were kept in stalls and dry lots and rarely had opportunity to infect themselves in any substantial way from grazing so I think there is little risk of developing resistant parasites from the flawed managment.  but still parasites ought to be easily managed in equines with  minimal use of anthelmentics.

Leah Sattler wrote:
not to drift too much but I have worked as professional in the horse business for years. In my opinion horses are treated for parasites way more than they need to be .  My research into goats has taught me alot bout parasite management because it is a particular problem in that species. I have NEVER in 20 years seen a vet do a fecal on a horse to check parasite load! They just come out 4x a year and use a anthelmentic from a different class each time.  Of course 80% of my charges were kept in stalls and dry lots and rarely had opportunity to infect themselves in any substantial way from grazing so I think there is little risk of developing resistant parasites from the flawed managment.  but still parasites ought to be easily managed in equines with  minimal use of anthelmentics.

The problem arises from a lack of pasture area, and pasture rotation.

The majority of horses are kept on a property with too little pasture to ratote properly for parasite management.

A pature needs to be left ungrazed for a month, and the clods of manure need to be broken up to break the cycle. That typically doesn't happen for many reasons, hence the use of, and rotation of wormers.

Stalled horses that are fed grain and hay year round have little worry, but the average owner isn't going to buy hay year round, nor can they afford to.

Tetanus is another issue that comes to mind, since my "emergency" tetanus shot not so long ago, after taking a friends mini to the animal hospital with my hands in her mouth to check what was wrong.....but that's another story............