Rotational grazing boosts horse health and pasture quality over continuous grazing.
The study compared rotational grazing with continuous grazing for horses and pastures over 27 months. Rotational grazing had horses on pasture for half the time, while continuous grazing had them on pasture all the time. Rotational grazing resulted in horses with lower body condition scores and body fat compared to continuous grazing. Pastures under rotational grazing had taller grass, more vegetation cover, and higher levels of digestible energy and calcium, but lower crude protein. Overall, rotational grazing seemed to benefit both horses and pastures compared to continuous grazing.