Pasture Prep: The story of checking before you turn them out

Jennifer Patterson of Oklahoma State University Cooperative Extension, provides advice for horse owners on how to make sure their pastures are ready for grazing.  We talk a bit about uniqueness of Oklahoma but her advice is applicable to all horse owners!

Transcript

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Kris Hiney: Welcome to Extension Horses Tack Box Talk Series, Horse Stories with a Purpose. I'm your host, Dr. Kris Hiney with Oklahoma State University, and today we're going to be talking about pasture management, specifically springtime, kind of getting rolling. And so, with us today is another employee of Oklahoma State University, Jennifer Patterson, with, Payne County Extension. So, welcome to the program, Jennifer!

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Jennifer Patterson: Thank you, Dr. Hiney, I appreciate the invite today.

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Kris Hiney: Yeah, so, we're excited here in Oklahoma, because we literally just had rain, and so now we can even think about grass growing. So I'm gonna start with that question.

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Kris Hiney: How do we get horse owners, or what would you advise them to hold off? When should we start grazing our pastures?

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Jennifer Patterson: Okay, so we've had some really drought-stressed grounds, you know, and… and horses are very aggressive grazers, is what I… what I typically say, but… so we'd like to see some growth on some of those grasses before we turn them out full-time, so…

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Jennifer Patterson: On the introduced forages, you know, if we could get 3 to 4 inches.

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Jennifer Patterson: That's gonna give some leaf material above ground, that's gonna give some time for that root system, you know, to really, get going as well.

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Jennifer Patterson: But it's always Mother Nature dependent. You know, we're seeing a lot of green up out there right now, but it's scouting your pastures and really paying attention to what's growing out there.

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Kris Hiney: So you would recommend, like, it did get magically green here, again, in Oklahoma, if you guys can all picture this. It has been really, really dry. So we had some rain this past weekend, and so it looks…

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Kris Hiney: different, but that doesn't mean that the grasses, like, suddenly shot up. Like, how long is…

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Kris Hiney: What does it take? Do you have, like, do we have plant growth statistics, like, after it rains on them?

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Jennifer Patterson: Gosh, that is such a good question, and that is so variable depending on Mother Nature. You know, like I said, we… we were really droughty and just got some good rain this past week, so it just depends on what… what happens in moving forward.

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Jennifer Patterson: And how those pastures or paddocks have been managed previously. So last year, you know, we had that heavy rain that late spring, and so, you know, we had a pretty good hay crop later in the year, but

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Jennifer Patterson: I'm kind of intrigued to see how this year pans out for us.

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Jennifer Patterson: It's so.

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Kris Hiney: Yeah, so I guess that was kind of my question I was gonna ask. Like, I would assume that spring green up and how fast it grows depends a little bit on what we did to it.

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Kris Hiney: Last fall, right?

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Jennifer Patterson: Correct, correct. And so that…

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Jennifer Patterson: That is hugely dependent, and each individual property is just depending on how it's managed. So, if you've got a continuous gray system, you know, that didn't have rest going into the fall, so it was already, you know.

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Jennifer Patterson: Clipped to the ground, went into… went into wintertime, you know, with a…

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Jennifer Patterson: what I would call an injured or,

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Jennifer Patterson: for lack of better words, diminished stand going into the fall, you know, droughty winter, and coming into the spring, and so…

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Jennifer Patterson: That pasture is going to look different than the ones that had rotational grazing, adequate rest, you know, maybe

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Jennifer Patterson: have a good fertility or weed control protocol. So, two very different scenarios.

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Kris Hiney: So, essentially, the least care you give to your pasture, the more care it should ever. Like, it's just…

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Jennifer Patterson: It's not gonna…

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Kris Hiney: Perk back up if we're not taking care of it, right?

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Jennifer Patterson: Correct. So you think about that, that leaf material above ground, it's like little solar panels.

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Jennifer Patterson: And so, when it gets clipped too close to the ground and never gets a chance to rest or recover, it doesn't have the opportunity to take those nutrients back to the root system.

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Jennifer Patterson: And so the more that happens, the more that root system is going to get smaller and smaller, so it has less capability of getting that water and nutrients in the soil that it needs. But with the rest.

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Jennifer Patterson: And recovery, you know, some leaf material above the ground, those roots are gonna grow, they're gonna be able to reach farther in the droughty conditions, get water when, you know.

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Jennifer Patterson: Deeper in the soil than it was if it was compromised.

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Jennifer Patterson: I don't know if I made any sense at all, but…

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Kris Hiney: Oh, no, no, that makes sense to me. Like, it becomes like a vicious cycle, then.

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Jennifer Patterson: Yes.

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Kris Hiney: Yes.

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Jennifer Patterson: direct.

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Kris Hiney: Doesn't get any better.

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Jennifer Patterson: Right. And Mother Nature has a fun way of filling in those holes, those bare spots, and so that's when we start seeing some of those

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Jennifer Patterson: Invasive weeds or grassy weeds that we don't want to see in our pastures.

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Kris Hiney: Okay.

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Kris Hiney: So how… do you recommend, then, for, horse owners, and… and I, you know.

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Kris Hiney: I know how I do things, and then I also know what reality is for a lot of people. In my house, what we do is there's a certain point in time that the gates get shut on the pasture, and they don't get let back out, there, so I do keep mine in a dry lot overwintered. And then I'm patiently waiting, right? The horses are not patiently waiting at this point in time, I'll tell you that much.

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Kris Hiney: But try to wait until the grass gets going. But what about people that don't have…

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Kris Hiney: If they don't have dry lots, do you just kinda, like, well…

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Kris Hiney: It is what it is, and go with it?

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Jennifer Patterson: No, gosh, that's a… that's a tough question, too, and I'm gonna give you the extension answer that… it depends.

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Kris Hiney: with this answer.

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Jennifer Patterson: Yeah, absolutely. So, you know, if we had the ability to do a little bit of rotational

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Jennifer Patterson: grazing or limit grazing. If they had a way to build a temporary area to keep those animals, you know, to give some… some of that pa… some of those areas, those grassy areas rest, that would be great.

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Jennifer Patterson: The other thing is, you know, horses are very selective grazers, and so if we don't give it… give those areas some rest or recovery, they eat those desirable forages to the ground.

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Jennifer Patterson: and…

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Jennifer Patterson: They're pretty clean, as they usually go back in the same spot to eliminate, or, you know, to poop or pee, and so it's not uncommon to see areas where it's

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Jennifer Patterson: graze the ground, and then you've got this tall, mature growth in areas of the pasture. And so, if you can

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Jennifer Patterson: Figure out a way, or had the ability to,

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Jennifer Patterson: clip those… those areas off and drag your pastures to even it out. That's going to encourage more M.

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Jennifer Patterson: more even grazing, I guess, throughout the areas, too, so they won't concentrate on some air… on just single areas of your pasture.

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Kris Hiney: So you mentioned rotational grazing as a strategy, right? So…

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Jennifer Patterson: Right.

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Kris Hiney: And I know there's, like, ideal, where we have, you know, dry lots, you pull them off when the ground is going to be stressed, and then we have rotational grazing, like, but we all know that not a lot of horse owners have that ability, so if I was going to try to do rotational grazing.

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Kris Hiney: Do you have a guideline? Like, is there a minimum number of…

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Kris Hiney: Sections slash pastures, areas that you shoot for?

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Jennifer Patterson: In an ideal world, if I had to choose.

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Jennifer Patterson: I would have 4 paddocks or pastures that I could rotate, and then what we call a sacrifice lot. So this is the common area, so, like, let's say they're in pasture 1.

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Jennifer Patterson: That's where they get to graze, that's where the grass is available. The sacrifice lot is where the water source is, maybe there's a shelter, you know, a shed or barn, whatever, and then if you do supplement, some troughs or anything in there.

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Jennifer Patterson: Then after a few weeks, you know, and Mother Nature dependent, you can rotate them

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Jennifer Patterson: and you watch your grazing heights, so on warm season grasses, you really… you know, on Bermuda, it can be grazed closer, so you want to stay above 2 inches. On those native grass species, they're pretty, pretty sensitive, so when it gets to about 6 inches, you need to get those

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Jennifer Patterson: animals rotated, if possible. So you watch your grazing heights, and then you can move them to paddock 2, or pasture 2.

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Jennifer Patterson: And the same thing there, you're watching those grazing heights, that previous pasture or paddock has some time of recovery.

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Jennifer Patterson: Some time to recover, and so,

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Jennifer Patterson: You move them throughout those pastures or lots, but they have that

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Jennifer Patterson: Sacrifice pin, or dry lot area.

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Jennifer Patterson: That's kind of universal, right in the middle. If I had a… I have a diagram I could show you, but…

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Kris Hiney: Haha.

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Jennifer Patterson: That's kind of the system that we would do, and that gives you time to recover those pasture areas.

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Jennifer Patterson: Drag them, you know, clip the long areas to encourage grazing in that area next time.

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Jennifer Patterson: So…

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Kris Hiney: Yeah, wouldn't it be nice, though, if everybody, consulted somebody that knew about pasture management before they built pastures?

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Jennifer Patterson: Oh my gosh.

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Jennifer Patterson: Yeah, and I, you know, and a lot of times, it's… you know.

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Jennifer Patterson: property they just purchased, or it was existing fences, and, you know, what can I do now? And it's easy for me to say, you know, but with the costs that they are, input costs are high, you know? And so sometimes, maybe it's just looking at your most

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Jennifer Patterson: Productive piece of your property, and putting your inputs in that.

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Jennifer Patterson: You know, instead of putting a little bit everywhere. So, it's…

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Jennifer Patterson: It's a sit-down and figuring out the forage needs of the horses that you have, you know, what stage they're in, what age they are, how much they're being used.

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Jennifer Patterson: And then looking at the potential

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Jennifer Patterson: Of your property. And we have an ability to do that, and sit down and do that calculations, but it's…

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Jennifer Patterson: We're not gonna get that done in the next 5 minutes, but…

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Kris Hiney: But you can…

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Jennifer Patterson: do a comparison and just say, oh, no, you're overstocked, that ain't gonna happen. Or you could say, here's some things that we could do, you know, some strategies for the upcoming year. But I always say 5-year plan. It's not going to happen in the first year if you.

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Kris Hiney: Right.

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Jennifer Patterson: Damn.

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Kris Hiney: Yeah, and I think you do have to think about it really long-term like that, especially if… if the ground, or the… I don't know what's ground… kind of ground. Ground gets compacted too, but the plants, like, if it's kind of gotten in bad shape, it takes a while.

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Jennifer Patterson: Right.

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Kris Hiney: Get it turned back around.

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Jennifer Patterson: Yes, yeah.

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Kris Hiney: And I think, like, for horse owners, too, we have to be realistic. Like, I know, like, for cattle producers, they have to be pretty serious about, you know, their stocking density, etc, and I'm sure a lot of them overgraze as well.

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Kris Hiney: But… but for reality, for horses, a lot of times, you know, their pasture is… is for fun, and you still feed them, right? Yeah.

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Jennifer Patterson: And that's… and that… that is… that is a good point. Smaller acreage with multiple horses is… is just tough. I mean, and that's where you sit, you know, you… you… you know that you're gonna supplement, and you know that maybe your pasture, your paddocks are more of an aesthetic

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Jennifer Patterson: Right. You know, my horses get to go out, they get to, you know, move and graze.

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Jennifer Patterson: quote-unquote, and get some outdoor time. But…

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Kris Hiney: It may not be their sole source of nutrients.

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Jennifer Patterson: Correct, yes, yes, yeah, that one.

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Kris Hiney: And that is okay.

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Jennifer Patterson: Absolutely, absolutely, yes. There's… there's not a one-and-done way, so, nope.

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Jennifer Patterson: I 100% agree.

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Kris Hiney: So let's talk a little bit, again, kind of a little bit more regionally here. Oklahoma, we've got,

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Kris Hiney: primarily warm… well, no, we're kind of… we're a weird state, right? I think, because we can have warm season and cool season, where a lot of other states are like, they do this, or they do this, but parts of Oklahoma, maybe I should say that, parts of Oklahoma, you can have cool season and warm season grasses.

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Kris Hiney: But our warm season are what we're waiting on

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Kris Hiney: or waiting on a lot longer to start, right? So we have Bermuda.

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Kris Hiney: And there's lots of different varieties, I get that. So we have a lot of Bermuda here, which is typically…

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Kris Hiney: our improved pastures. And then we have native, which is what is there, right?

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Jennifer Patterson: Yes. Yes.

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Kris Hiney: And do they take different amounts of time or season to kind of get going? Does your natives start growing earlier than their Bermuda, even though they're all warm season? What does that look like?

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Jennifer Patterson: So, I would say… Well, it depends on the previous year's management as well.

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Jennifer Patterson: And it depends on the rainfall and the fertility that goes into it. So not… not as much fertility goes into our natives like… like the Bermuda. The Bermuda is going to respond rather quickly, you know, when the time comes to… to… to fertility.

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Jennifer Patterson: A big thing that people…

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Jennifer Patterson: that we're trying to push is looking at your phosphorus and potassium levels, because that's really important for that root system of the plant. And so, doing a soils test is pretty important, especially if you're trying to push forage production.

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Jennifer Patterson: But… You know, we're seeing green up now, and we will be,

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Jennifer Patterson: But we… but for a urea or nitrogen application, we're still pushing that off until later this month, early May. Okay. Primarily for introduced forages for… for Bermuda, yeah.

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Kris Hiney: So I know, like, and again, I talked to Oklahoma, and people can… there's other states around that kind of have some native and things like that. So we always say here, like.

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Kris Hiney: the introduced forage Bermuda responds to fertilizer, right? Yeah. So when you're talking about fertility, that's what you're talking about, adding nitrogen, like, Bermuda seems to like it.

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Jennifer Patterson: Yes, yes.

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Kris Hiney: But Native doesn't care? Is that true? It doesn't… it doesn't change much.

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Jennifer Patterson: To a certain extent, but it depends on what's growing out there. And so what happens is, if you do have a mixed stand, and you're trying to promote natives, and you do a heavy urea or nitrogen application, those other plants that are out there are going to out-compete your natives.

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Kris Hiney: Like, the weeds?

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Jennifer Patterson: Yes, if that's what's out there, yes, or if it's Bermuda, that's what's gonna… it's gonna squeeze out those, native grasses as well.

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Kris Hiney: Is that bad?

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Jennifer Patterson: No, no, not… it just depends on what you want. So,

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Jennifer Patterson: It's bad on the weed side.

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Kris Hiney: Okay, I guess we can agree to that.

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Jennifer Patterson: Right?

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Kris Hiney: If you're feeding the weeds, bad, so…

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Jennifer Patterson: So, on the native grasses,

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Jennifer Patterson: we always say take half, leave half, if you ask our buddy Rick. But he… that they're… they're just more sensitive, and they need that recovery. Like, that is vital for a healthy stand for our native grass species.

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Jennifer Patterson: Bermuda is tougher, and can be grazed lower to the ground, and can tolerate more trampling and more droughty conditions, or the cold conditions.

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Jennifer Patterson: And so with… with some fertility, usually you can, recover that Bermuda stand unless it's just been years and years and years of…

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Jennifer Patterson: neglect and environmental conditions, so…

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Kris Hiney: So you don't really, if somebody is talking about, you know, revitalizing a pasture, you certainly can start over, right, and plant Bermuda.

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Jennifer Patterson: Yeah?

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Kris Hiney: Can you ever restart if the native has been really overgrown? Is there enough, like, Remainder to come back?

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Jennifer Patterson: For the native species, are you talking.

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Kris Hiney: Yeah. Yeah, if it's native, right? And so, like, okay, it's been really overgrazed, so I'm just putting a scenario here, right? So, it's been really overgrazed, and let's say we're gonna get hardcore, and

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Kris Hiney: Prevent overgrazing, and we're gonna do some weed control.

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Kris Hiney: Does the native…

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Kris Hiney: I guess this is kind of a… does it just come back? Like, because it was there originally?

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Jennifer Patterson: Oh, gosh, that's a really good question, too. And so there's some different strategy… strategies or scenarios that we would have to…

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Jennifer Patterson: look at, depending on the property. So, yeah, we would have to, you know, scout that pasture, kind of have some information from the previous year to see if there are any

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Jennifer Patterson: any native species still there. And then, you know, you'd have to determine the weed threshold, or, you know, your… what we call undesirable species out there, and what percentage that is.

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Jennifer Patterson: You know, is there bare ground?

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Jennifer Patterson: So, if you've got…

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Jennifer Patterson: 20 to 30% native species still out there. I would say, you know, that we could work with that, and recovery would be possible without reseeding.

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Jennifer Patterson: And so, looking at your stocking rates and, and, clippin' those, or…

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Jennifer Patterson: grazing and watching your harvesting heights, so grazing and harvesting heights would be crucial. Okay. But yes, yeah, controlling the invasive species and rotational grazing and watching your harvest or grazing heights would be crucial to try to recover those native species.

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Kris Hiney: Yeah, so I'm asking the questions just in my head, like, because you don't really go to a feed store and be like, hey, where's your native seeds, right? So you can buy fescues, buy rye, but do they…

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Jennifer Patterson: There are native blends, yes. Really?

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Kris Hiney: seen those.

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Jennifer Patterson: Well, you know, I wish I was better versed in this, Dr. Honey, honestly, and so… but I could definitely get some… some more information on that. But yes, there are some blends.

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Jennifer Patterson: Prescribed fire is a tool that can be utilized heavily in our native pastures.

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Jennifer Patterson: But yeah.

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Kris Hiney: But a lot of times, it's unprescribed.

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Jennifer Patterson: Right? There's good and bad to that as well, yeah.

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Kris Hiney: Unfortunately, in Oklahoma, we have a lot of, you know, when fire season gets here, it's oftentimes a lot of acres that are unsprescribed burned, unfortunately, but…

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Jennifer Patterson: Yeah, yeah.

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Kris Hiney: That's… that's not really pasture management, that's just, life here, so… so you said, so I want to pick your brain a little bit. Again, kind of, we're talking seasonality here, and you said something about don't do it yet.

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Kris Hiney: So, you were talking about, fertilizer, I think, like, holding off until later in the month, or May. Is there a…

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Kris Hiney: time of year, and I know you're probably gonna say Mother Nature's gonna play a part of this, is there a traditional time of year, kind of down here in the South, that we do…

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Kris Hiney: Fertilizer, herbicide, etc.

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Jennifer Patterson: Okay, so for fertilizer…

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Jennifer Patterson: If… when you've got your soils test in hand, if you've got a low pH,

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Jennifer Patterson: Or low P and K, low phosphorus and potassium.

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Jennifer Patterson: Those can be applied year-round, okay? It's the urea, or the nitrogen applications that we hold off until… until what we call green up, or, you know, until

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Jennifer Patterson: at Bermuda's got some good

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Jennifer Patterson: Leaf material above ground for it to take advantage of. Because when you make that urea application too early, and you still have some cool seasons, out there.

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Jennifer Patterson: whatever is actively growing is going to take up that… that urea at that time, so it's mobile in the soil, I guess we could say.

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Jennifer Patterson: And so that… it's the urea that we're primarily looking at.

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Jennifer Patterson: to target the best timing for application. And I would say.

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Jennifer Patterson: mid-April, I guess we're close to that, to mid-May is a good time to put those applications out. And another strategy would be

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Jennifer Patterson: After you rotate, or if you're cutting for hay, would be… you could do a follow-up nitrogen application to extend the grazing, or extend the, you know, to get another hay cutting.

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Kris Hiney: Okay.

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Jennifer Patterson: So…

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Kris Hiney: Okay.

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Jennifer Patterson: Not the same on natives, though. Natives, we want to look at that pH, and we want to look at the phosphorus and potassium levels for that root system, but we have to be very careful with how we put out urea applications for native grasses.

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Kris Hiney: Does it not like it, or is it just that the weeds love it so much more?

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Jennifer Patterson: Yeah, it just depends on what else is growing out there, and so it's gonna use it

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Jennifer Patterson: Quicker than, than the native species would.

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Kris Hiney: Okay, okay. Alright, what about the weed control? Because you kept saying that, you know, if we overgraze our pastures, or if we feed them too much, like, the weeds seem to have evolved better than native grass, unfortunately.

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Kris Hiney: What are we gonna do to control those guys?

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Jennifer Patterson: Okay, so this is where it depends on if it's warm season or cool season.

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Jennifer Patterson: Weed species, because we got them year-round.

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Jennifer Patterson: And it's going to depend on the threshold. So, you kind of know from your previous year, and this is where, and if you don't, if it's new property, this is where it's, you know, okay, we're going to be looking at a

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Jennifer Patterson: You know, one to two-year plan to get a herbicide strategy, or weed control.

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Jennifer Patterson: strategy. So, if it's 20% or more out in an area.

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Jennifer Patterson: that's when that would warrant a decision, you know? Are you gonna…

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Jennifer Patterson: put more into mechanical control or cultural control? Are you just going to keep it clipped before those weeds produce a weed… a seed head, excuse me?

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Jennifer Patterson: Or is that where you want to put some money into, a chemical product?

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Jennifer Patterson: So… Depending on the weed that you're… you're fighting, a lot of the broadleaf weeds

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Jennifer Patterson: can have a pretty efficient kill when they're immature, so on, like, 2 to 4 inches. So, when you let them get some more growth and maturity on them, that's when we're going to have to look at some different products or some more expensive chemical to

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Jennifer Patterson: To get the same kill as you would

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Jennifer Patterson: But then… but there are some different species, you know, that have different timings, you know, throughout the summer, so it just depends on what your… what your target is for the year, and what your…

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Jennifer Patterson: What you can afford for the year, too.

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Kris Hiney: Right. Yeah, because I would assume that a lot of people would have multiple types of leads, right? Yeah. So, like…

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Kris Hiney: You don't just have a monoculture of weeds, typically, right?

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Jennifer Patterson: Right, right. And so it just, like I said, it just depends on, on…

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Jennifer Patterson: what your target is, you know, and if you start to see something later in the year, or go, huh, you know, this might be something that we target next year, but it has a different timing, so we can sit down and go, okay, here's

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Jennifer Patterson: The time frame where you're going to spray, you know, for this particular weed, and then maybe let's do some clipping or

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Jennifer Patterson: Grazing close, you know, harder in this area until

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Jennifer Patterson: We can get a strategy… strategy for the following year.

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Kris Hiney: Okay.

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Kris Hiney: So, just on a personal question, how often do you have to go, like, help people out with that? Because I can't imagine the average person is like, oh, I have this kind of weed, and this kind of weed, and this I'll do in June, this I'll do in August.

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Jennifer Patterson: Right? Right.

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Kris Hiney: It's like a lot to ask for somebody.

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Jennifer Patterson: It really is, and so, you know, the people that really want to sit down and do a pasture calendar, or, you know, get something month by month for them.

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Jennifer Patterson: the Extension Office will do that, you know? Now, it depends on the Extension Office, where we're all staffed, very different. There are some where it's just a single educator trying to, you know, handle the county on their own, and then there are some other counties that do have multiple educators, so we have a little more flexibility to do those site visits, and so…

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Jennifer Patterson: I enjoy…

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Jennifer Patterson: Coming out and looking and having those conversations. A lot of times, I'll be taking pictures or samples of that plant because, you know, if I'm not familiar with the species.

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Jennifer Patterson: We can… we can get an ID on it, though, and then have that conversation later of…

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Jennifer Patterson: How to control it.

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Kris Hiney: So the best resource for everybody, and again, these are for listeners across the country sometimes, is that Extension is in every state, right?

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Jennifer Patterson: Correct, yes.

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Kris Hiney: And so there should be a system to contact your agent or educator that may be able to help you out with more personalized information, right?

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Jennifer Patterson: Yes, absolutely. And if we don't have an answer, we can get an answer, or a resource, or a contact for you, unless it's just something, you know, so far off…

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Jennifer Patterson: But in this particular case, that's something we could definitely sit down and work out with you guys, because we have area specialists, we've got great state specialists that we can work with.

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Jennifer Patterson: To get that done.

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Kris Hiney: Okay.

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Kris Hiney: So, they should come visit their, county extension person, whoever they are, so that's always great recommendations. And then, do you guys help them, so if a person came to you and said, okay, I've got these weeds, and we kind of come up with a plan.

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Kris Hiney: You know, I always am looking out for my smaller scale, because let's be honest, a lot of horse owners are small scale, not massive acreage, so that's really common, especially in kind of that suburban area or recreational horse owner.

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Kris Hiney: That may not own.

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Kris Hiney: big tractors and tanks and things like that. What… what are they left to do?

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Jennifer Patterson: Yeah.

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Jennifer Patterson: that's where we would sit down and look at the resources available in their area or their county. You know, so there is equipment.

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Jennifer Patterson: That we, you know, that can be rented some, you know, from the co-op, or there are individuals who will come out that you can hire, you know, to come out and do some of these applications for them.

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Jennifer Patterson: So it'd just be dependent on where they're located, what

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Jennifer Patterson: what businesses or individuals, offer those services, and that's another part the Extension Office can help with as well.

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Kris Hiney: So it is worthwhile, though, for horse owners, no matter acreage, big or small, right, to at least think about pasture management, because even if you have small acreage, you still can do things to make it a little bit more beneficial to your horse.

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Jennifer Patterson: Correct, I would say that's a fair statement. Yes, ma'am.

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Kris Hiney: Okay.

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Kris Hiney: Any other big tips that, you know, during this nice spring green-up that you want to share for our horse owners to think about before they get too excited and just open the gates?

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Jennifer Patterson: Now, if your horse has been dry loted, you know, over the winter and hasn't had any green, lush forage or grasses, you know, that's when we would introduce them slowly.

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Jennifer Patterson: And Dr. Heine, what would you say, like, 30 minutes to an hour? You know, let's limit grays first to adjust their systems, because we don't want to, you know, run into colic or founder, things like that.

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Kris Hiney: You can just kind of keep kicking that up.

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Jennifer Patterson: Yes, yeah.

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Kris Hiney: Generally, within about 2 weeks, you should be good to go, right? So, it's not a forever, like…

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Jennifer Patterson: No, no, no, not at all. It's just don't dump them out there and be like, I hope they're… hope they're all right. But everybody knows their horses, too, for the most part, so…

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Jennifer Patterson: Yeah, so watch those grazing heights, you know, kind of keep track of what's growing out there, you know, if this is something that you want to focus on this year. And so, get ahold of your extension office, talk to other individuals.

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Jennifer Patterson: you know, who have horses in your area, or maybe you network with. There's a wealth of knowledge, you know, with the groups of people that, that,

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Jennifer Patterson: Within the forced world, and so make sure you take advantage of it.

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Kris Hiney: Well, yeah, no, that's great advice, and again, we're all hopeful that the weather continues and we have, grass to graze.

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Jennifer Patterson: Yeah, absolutely.

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Kris Hiney: That's another story, thinking about

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Kris Hiney: You know, hay shortages and drought, but hopefully we're not going to cover that in the next couple months.

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Jennifer Patterson: Yeah, you never know, it's Oklahoma, so… That's true.

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Kris Hiney: That is true. Well, again, appreciate your time, and so for those that are, again, interested, no matter what state you're in, literally, if you type…

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Kris Hiney: your… your county extension office, you'll find them and find some great resources and some great personalized information that can help, make your pastures and your horses a little bit healthier.

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Kris Hiney: So thanks again, and that has been another episode of our Tack Box Talk, Course Stories with a Purpose.