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Merete Haahr
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By allowing different livestock species to graze the same areas, you can reduce the number of infectious worm larvae, preventing the development of large worm populations that harm horses' health. Here are some practical tips on how to practice co-grazing, along with an overview of the advantages and disadvantages.
Martha Voss is an equine agronomist and runs the independent consulting and course company NENUC, offering courses, consulting visits, and the development of learning games, etc. Martha has over 30 years of experience in teaching and research related to horse management and proper nutrition.
Co-grazing with ruminants, such as cattle, sheep, or goats, can help reduce the infection pressure from a horse's internal parasites. Below, you will find three explanations of how this can happen.
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Grazing animals have developed an instinctive aversion to eating grass in the areas where they deposit their manure. This is where the infection pressure is highest, and if the horses have a large area to graze on, you can keep the infection pressure low in this way. However, this may lead to periods where the grass grows too much, resulting in overweight horses. Additionally, large areas of tall grass, known as "bushy grass areas," may develop where the horses refuse to graze. This means that the grass in the pasture is not utilized efficiently.
By co-grazing with other livestock, you can have fewer horses on the pasture while controlling the grass. With fewer horses per unit area, fewer eggs are deposited, leading to fewer infectious larvae. The worm infestation problem occurs when we have many horses in a small area, so we force the horses to graze close to the areas where they deposit their manure.
Cattle and horses have different preferences for the height and type of grass. Cattle often prefer longer grass, while horses prefer shorter grass. This means that cattle can eat areas that horses would normally avoid due to the bushy grass areas. A French study observed that horses preferred short grass (under 4 cm) and medium-length, high-quality young grass (5-8 cm). They avoided areas with long bushy grass around their manure piles. Cattle preferred medium-length and tall grass but also avoided bushy grass if it had grown tall and collapsed. Therefore, effective management is necessary to maximize the benefits of co-grazing in terms of both grass utilization and worm control.
Most parasites are species-specific, meaning they live in and with a specific host animal. They have developed specific protections against the host's digestion, so they are not broken down like the animal's food. There are a few exceptions, such as liver flukes in cattle and sheep, which can also infect horses, although horses are less susceptible to liver flukes. While there are exceptions—for instance, liver flukes that infect cattle and sheep can also infect horses, though horses are less susceptible—we haven't seen cross-infection between horses and ruminants when it comes to the large and small strongyles that are most problematic in horse management.
These animals can be good companions for horses. Their parasites are typically species-specific and do not affect horses as severely.
Sheep and goats often consume plants that horses avoid, which can help maintain a more balanced pasture.
Rotate the animals on the pastures to prevent the sheep from being bullied. Goats are more independent but harder to keep confined.
Cattle make excellent grazing companions.
They have different grazing habits than horses and can help manage parasite populations by consuming grass that horses have left behind.
If both animals share the same pasture, closely monitor their interactions. Alternatively, allow them to graze the pasture in rotation.
One of the challenges of co-grazing, where different animal species share the pasture at the same time, can lie in the different animals' herd behavior. Ruminants like cows and sheep graze intensely to fill their stomachs and then need peace to chew their cud. Horses, on the other hand, are always on the move, grazing a little, playing or drinking water. This higher energy level can sometimes lead to them picking on the more laid-back ruminants. This could be due to boredom or an instinct, like what we see in zebras: they bite ruminants to draw blood, which attracts predators to them instead of the zebras.
There are also cases where horses attack sheep, possibly for the reasons mentioned above, and cause them fatal injuries. However, there are also heartwarming stories where species live together harmoniously and even enjoy each other's company. So, it takes some management to keep several farm animal species in the same paddocks, and the need will vary from place to place.
The animals vary in height and have different requirements for pasture design, shelter, and fencing, with fencing being the most challenging. Many cattle breeds can be kept in pastures with a thin steel wire at about 60-80 cm in height, depending on the breed's size. Horses may jump over fences at that height, and generally, we also recommend two wires for horses, at approximately 0.7 and 1.2 meters in height, depending on the size of the horses. So, you can keep cattle in a pasture with horse fencing.
Sheep are more challenging because they are small, and their thick wool insulates them not only against the cold but also against electric wires. Therefore, sheep fencing consists of either square meshes of 13-20 cm in size or 5-6 strands of electric wire as low as 15 cm above the ground. This can pose challenges with horses if they kick and get their legs caught in the fence. Therefore, I would not recommend grazing sheep and horses together at the same time. Instead, when the sheep are put on the pasture, set up a movable fence. Some shepherds graze pastures and seed grass fields for others, and they have a smart movable fencing system.
In practice, it would be easiest with cattle, provided you can manage them yourself or have a neighbor who is a cattle farmer.
Paddock rotation: Move livestock between different paddocks. This prevents the buildup of parasites in a single paddock and gives the land time to recover.
Timeline: A good practice is to allow livestock to graze in a paddock for about 2-3 weeks, after which they are moved to a new paddock. The horses can then be introduced to the first paddock, where the parasite level is now lower.
Health checks:
Regularly monitor the health of all your livestock. Although co-grazing can reduce parasite pressure, it is important to ensure that no animals suffer from parasite infections.
Fecal tests:
Conduct regular fecal tests to monitor parasite levels and adjust your strategy as needed.
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Fleurance, G.; Sallé, G.; Lansade, L.; Wimel, L.; and Dumont, B. (2022): Comparing the effects of horse grazing alone or with cattle on horse parasitism and vegetation use in a mesophile pasture. Grass and Forage Science Vol 77, Issue 3, September 2022.
Heckendorn, F.; Frutschi, V.; Juillerat, P.A.; Vorpe, L.; and Bader, M. (2021): Alternate Grazing of Cattle and Horses Reduces Infections with Strongyle Parasites – a Case Study. Schweizer Archiv für Tierheilkunde, 2021, 163(4), pp. 291-294.
