Do horses and cattle go well together?

[CopperTopMom]

We have 3 steers in our "front" pasture, two are ours and one belongs to the neighbours. Today CGTech and said neighbour went out and fixed the fence in the pouring rain so they could put the neighbour's pony in there too. He proceeded to chase the steers around till one went right through the electric fence. We got him back in (electric fences in the rain are NO fun). Now we have to decide.......try again to put the pony in with the steers (he got sent back to solitary confinement) or fix the fence in the "back" pasture and put the pony there? Both pastures have access to a year round spring and resultant stream (would be our alternate source of water if needs be, obviously with cattle moved downstream). The back pasture is about 6 acres and has more grass than that pony could eat all summer so no problems there. The front pasture has more grass than all 4 animals could eat all summer too (it's about 10 acres).

Anyone with experience in this area? I would have picked my dad's brains if he were still with us (he used to love it when I would do that )

 

[summerthyme]

CopperTopMom- it depends. Some do fine, but most horses have a playful instinct that gets them chasing the cows. Quarter Horses will actually round up a herd of cows and "move" them from one point to another. This doesn't do much damage to beef cows or steers, but it's hell on the production in good dairy cows!

If they haven't ever been penned or pastured together, "introducing" them with the pony on a lead wouldn't be a bad idea first. It *might* be possible to convince the pony that chasing the steers isn't approved- but it also may simply be way too much fun for him to restrain himself. It sounds as if he's bored- horses are definitely herd animals, and they are very social within their herd. He's likely trying to "play" with the steers like he would other horses- and they aren't having it.

One thing I really have to mention- ponies and lush grass do NOT go together well. Founder and colic (founder being the more serious because it will permanently damage or cripple the horse) are all too often the results of a pony on pasture. The smaller the pony (Shetlands are especially founder prone) the more careful you need to be.

I had a half Shetland, half Arabian pony for 30 years, and my vet ever so often would comment that she was the ONLY pony he knew which had never foundered! That's not good...

The main thing is trying to prevent it from happening in the first place. If they ever do founder on grass, the only chance they have is to NEVER be put back out on ad lib pasture again. That's not something you want to have to deal with if you can help it.

Is there any possibility of getting another pony as a companion for this one? If he had another to "pal around" with, he'd be less likely to be chasing the steers around trying to interact with them.

Sorry I can't be more encouraging...

Summerthyme

 

[WalknTrot]

I'd have to echo what Summerthyme says. Some horses ignore cattle and some consider them sport. Your combo probably isn't gonna work.

 

[CopperTopMom]

UH-OH We'll have to talk to them about the founder thing. I don't know much of anything about horses/ponies, so I ask lots of questions!

It sounds like 6 acres of pasture all to himself (about knee deep on him by now) would NOT be a good thing? It's fairly good pasture too, it was a hay field about 4 years ago. It would be easy enough to fix the fence and get him back there (we had 22 horses back there winter before last) there's just the damage from the storm last fall to fix. I would never get over the guilt though if he got sick and died or they had a huge vet bill that they couldn't afford

Lots of thought needed here, we thought we would be doing them a favor of not having to buy hay all summer for the pony, maybe not.

 

[Tweakette]

My farmer neighbor has 3 horses (2 large, one pony) pastured with his cows. The 2 big horses stick together and ignore the cows and the pony escapes all the time (I wonder where it is - maybe it got sick because I haven't seen it in awhile).
But it's a real big pasture, probably 50 acres or so. There are about 50 or 60 cows out there and then the 2 or 3 horses.

The horse always make me chuckle - they act like they're embarrassed to be seen with the cows . If the cows move near them they move away from them and turn their back to them!

Tweak

 

[summerthyme]

Coppertopmom- no, turning any equine out on several acres of knee deep grass (especially if it's still quite green and lush) is pretty much going to kill them... especially if they haven't been "conditioned" to grass in the first place. Horses are absolutely known for eating themselves to death, unfortunately. And very lush pasture can be as high in protein and energy as grain- and most people know what a can happen if a horse gets into the grain room.

We start ours out sloooowwwlly... like, 20 minutes of grazing the first day, 30 minutes the next, maybe an hour the following. And ALWAYS have them full of hay first.

It might be best to cut it off for hay or even bedding first, and then let the pony start on the shorter regrowth. Except that THAT might be so high in protein that it's also a problem.

Sorry to mess up your plans, or give you something to worry about. I've rescued a few overfed ponies which had foundered, and it's a long, long road back to get them even to the point of where they can walk without severe pain. Sometimes it's not possible.

Summerthyme

 

[CopperTopMom]

I guess it's a good thing that we didn't decide to leave him out with the cows for the weekend huh? I was talking to my sister as well (she's the original owner of the 22 horses, they've passed through a couple of hands since her though), and she agreed with you.....she took one look at the pasture now and said it would kill him!

She suggested tethering him on a SHORT (she said 5 ft) line so he could only graze a little. Either that or no more than an hour 2x daily. I'm thinking he could be hard to catch if we just let him go in a 10 acre pasture

On the other hand my front lawn looks more like a pasture than a lawn so we could put him there and save having to go borrow the bush hog

Don't worry about messing up the plans.......a deathly ill pony would mess them up worse. I'm just glad our ignorance didn't have a chance to do damage.