Earth Day, a day to celebrate our planet, is held every year on April 22. There are many ways to demonstrate support for the environment, but taking action to create climate resilience is perhaps the most impactful.
Climate change is the defining issue of our time, and we are at a pivotal moment. From shifting weather patterns that threaten food production to rising sea levels that increase the risk of catastrophic flooding, the impacts of climate change are global in scope and increasing at a mind numbing rate. Climate resilience is the ability to anticipate, prepare for, and respond to hazardous events, trends, or disturbances related to climate change.
Addressing climate change is something we all can contribute to, each in our own ways. As horse owners, we have the unique opportunity to manage animals and land in a manner that contributes to climate resiliency and benefits this beautiful planet. Here are 6 tips guaranteed to help reduce climate change while simultaneously benefitting horse health, improving chore efficiency, and increasing your land’s productivity.
1. Compost!
If you aren’t already doing so, now’s the time to begin composting. Each horse produces 50 pounds of manure per day, plus used bedding and spent hay. Composting reduces the volume of that material by about 50%, and since the American Horse Council estimates that there are over 7 million horses in the United States, composting horse manure can provide a significant benefit to the environment.
Compost also provides you with a free soil amendment that locks in soil moisture, stimulates biological activity, suppresses plant disease, and helps grow healthier plants and pastures. Applying compost to pastures even helps plants survive times of drought, and healthy plants means more carbon dioxide (a greenhouse gas) sequestered from the atmosphere. To learn more about how to compost horse manure—including plans for building your own compost bins—check out our brand new tip sheet, How to Compost and Use Horse Manure.
2. Try rotational grazing
Overgrazed pastures and bare, exposed soils contribute to climate change by absorbing more sunlight than other areas, thereby making the ground hotter and drier and requiring more water. Poor pasture management also leads to reduced quality and quantity of grass, increased soil erosion, nitrogen runoff (from manure and urine), and weeds, which raises feed costs and contributes to potentially higher vet bills. Continuously grazed pastures are also prone to developing soil compaction, which makes water infiltration and root growth difficult.
Conversely, good pasture growth shades the ground, keeping it cool and retaining moisture. It also keeps pasture plants photosynthesizing, which allows plants to utilize carbon dioxide to form new growth, including root mass.
Rotational grazing is an easy way to prevent overgrazing and soil compaction. Simply cross fence pastures and rotate horses between grazing areas. At least three inches of leafy grass is needed for rapid regrowth and the biofiltration of nutrients, sediments, and chemicals.
3. Reduce, reuse, and recycle
Recycling was a virtue before we knew we had a climate problem, but now it turns out that transporting and processing materials for recycling is carbon intensive. Plus, many plastics can’t be recycled due to the lack of a market. Recycling still uses less energy than making new products from scratch but reducing and reusing are even cleaner. While recycling is an important part of waste reduction, it’s critical to take multiple approaches to curb waste, including reducing how much we consume and reusing what we already have. When we do recycle, we need to do so responsibly, as recycling restrictions vary widely based on location. You can even make it a bit of a game on your horse property to seek out and discover new ways to reduce and reuse items. I once heard it said that “recycling is a good place to start and a bad place to stop.”
4. Plant a native tree
Humans, horses, wildlife, and the ecosystem all benefit from a landscape of native plants, which have evolved over thousands of years and adapted to the unique geography, hydrology, and climate of a specific region. These plants are the foundation of our natural systems and have coevolved with animals, insects, fungi, and microbes. As a result, a community of native plants provides habitat for a variety of native wildlife species, from the ones we enjoy—like songbirds and butterflies—to the ones we depend on for pest control—like barn owls and swallows.
Enhancing our horse properties with native plants not only supports native animals and insects, but it also helps create shade, controls erosion, provides a visual buffer, offers a windscreen, improves mud management in wet areas, and filters out chemicals and nutrients before they can pollute ground and surface water. And like the healthy pasture plants described earlier, they also contribute to carbon sequestration. In short, native plants are always working for you!
Check out the Pollinator Hedgerows for Horse Properties tip sheet for more information on growing native plants.
5. Conserve water use
Conserving water is going to be a key component of building climate resilience as we move into hotter and drier times. There are many ways to reduce water use on livestock properties, but here are a few to start with:
Water landscaping and pastures efficiently. When possible, water at night or early morning when evaporation is lower. For maximum efficiency in landscaping, use drip irrigation, micro-sprays, or soaker hoses wherever possible. The goal is to apply water directly to the soil with minimal evaporation or runoff.
Install automatic waterers. Automatic watering systems conserve water because they only use as much water as your horse can drink. Look for systems with moderately sized water pans—a large one will quickly get dirty and full of algae, requiring you to clean and dump it frequently. Another advantage to an automatic waterer is that the water circulates quickly, which doesn’t provide habitat for mosquitoes the way stagnant water troughs do.
For more tips on water conservation on horse properties, check out our tip sheet Water Conservation for Horse Owners.
6. Plant a garden
No matter how small the effort, growing any plants will sequester carbon from the atmosphere. Creating more green space is always welcomed in most communities, whether it’s a garden at the barn or a raised bed at home. Growing your own food has the added benefit of creating food resilience, the ability to prepare for, withstand, and recover from a crisis or supply chain disruption such as what we’ve seen in recent months. You might even want to grow some treats for your horsey friends!
Sometimes it feels like what we have to offer is minuscule compared to escalating environmental issues. But these simple tasks are easy and fun to implement. And if an army of horse owners implemented them, they’d certainly make a difference.
For more ideas on how to create climate resilience on your horse property, check out our tip sheet library!
