Brief Summary of Minutes of Annual Meeting

August 18

8:30 am: Welcome and Project Overview by Mike Westendorf

State Reports (please add your name to your preferred time)

9:00 am:  Paul Siciliano

9:30 am:  Carey Williams/Jennifer Weinert/Mike Westendorf (Rutgers)

10:00 am:  

10:30 am: Break

10:45 am:  Amy Biddle (University of Delaware)

11:15 am: Danielle Smarsh/Laura Kenny (Penn State)

11:45 am:

12:15 pm: Wrap Up and Plan for August 19 by Mike Westendorf

12:30 pm: Adjourn

August 19

8:30 am: Plan for 2021 by Mike Westendorf (Mark Rieger, Robert Causey ??)

State Reports (please add your name to your preferred time)

9:00 am: Masoud Hashemi (Univ. of Massachusetts)

9:30 am: Krishona Martinson (Univ. of MN)

10:00 am: Carissa Wickens (Univ. of Florida)

10:30 am: Break

10:45 am: Mieke Holder and Bob Coleman (U Kentucky) 

11:15 am: 

11:45 am: Jennifer Weinert / Rutgers Report

12:15 pm: Wrap up and adjourn by Mike Westendorf

12:30 pm: Adjourn

Short-term outcomes:

• Short courses and webinars continue to take place in all states:  These focus on pasture managment, manure management, farm management, nutrition, and environmental management.
• Farm Visits: These are greatly limited but continue to take place.  COVID Zoom farm visits have been attempted, but there are still some in-person farm visits post-COVID, with masking and social distancing procedures in place.

Outputs:

• Evaluation of forage alternatives:
• Use of forage oats and crabgrass as a means to extend the grazing season.  (North Carolina)
• Summer re-growth of previously established Bermudagrass and ‘Quick n Big’ Crabgrass (CRB).  New Jersey)   CRB was very easy to establish and grew enough to graze through mid-Sept. Ideal forage to bridge the ‘summer slump’ gap which is in mid-July through mid-Sept.  The Sward Height, Herbage Mass and horse Carrying Capacity were greater during the summer slump months than the cool season sections and our cool-season control.  However, later in the fall there were no differences in these measures. The establishment of the CRB was very easy and establishes quite quickly. Good forage for even inter-seeding into an existing cool-season pasture.
• Study of pasture as a carbon sink.
• Hand-Held NIR
• Evaluation of Near Infrared Reflectance Spectroscopy (NIRS) for use on-farm, as well as in research settings. Specific goals included to determine if estimates of nutritional composition are similar to wet chemistry methods.  The unit could accurately predict moisture, dry matter, CP, NDF, TDN, NEL, NEM, NEG, IVTD48, VDFD48, ME lb, ME kg, and TDN 1X. Unfortunately, the unit could not accurately predict NDFD48 and NFC. We are currently validating the unit with fresh alfalfa sampled in 2020. 
• Equine Carcass Composting
• The goals of this research project are to demonstrate the ability to successfully compost equine carcasses during both summer and winter months, document concentrations of sodium pentobarbital throughout the composting process,  and educate horse owners and professionals on the process and benefits of equine carcass composting to encourage adoption.  To accomplish this, 4 horses were chemically euthanized and composted from September 26, 2019 to April 30, 2020 (“Winter”) and an additional 4 horses were chemically euthanized and composted starting on May 1, 2020 (“Summer”). The summer composting trial is ongoing. During the winter composting period, we found that piles reached >130F within the first few days. As temperatures declined, piles were turned around week 7 and piles reheated to >130F almost immediately after turning. Based on temperature and MN statute, piles were considered "composted" within 10 weeks (however, the trial continued for 7 months). Carcass degradation scores collected at the time of pile tuning (d 50) and after 7 months (d 217) confirmed horses could be successfully composted. Although euthanasia solution was detected at d 50 and d 217, amounts were significantly decreased from d 50 to d 217.
• Experience in Maine showed that farms may need to maintain a store of shavings to serve as bedding for mortality composting. On an impermeable surface this seems particularly important based on experience at UF where noxious fluid accumulated at the bottom of the pile on a concrete slab.
• Small farm composting projects.
• Studies of the fecal microbiome (New Jersey).  Characterize shifts in the fecal microbiota of horses grazing different forage types within integrated cool- and warm-season grass (CSG; WSG) pasture systems and to explore relationships between forage nutrients and microbial composition.  These results suggest that the equine hindgut microbiome is impacted by forage type and soluble carbohydrate content.

Activities:

• Determine factors that equine producers use when making environmental decisions.  (New Jersey)
  • Online focus groups with equine producers and technical service providers - State Department of Agriculture, USDA-Natural Resource Conservation Service, and Rutgers Cooperative Extension.
  • Qualtrix survey e-mailed to equine producers in the State of New Jersey
  • Participants: Carey Williams, Department of Animal Sciences; Ethan Schoolman, Department of Human Ecology; Gemma Parente, Animal Science undergraduate student; Michael Westendorf, Department of Animal Sciences
  • Focus areas:
    • State regulations
    • Manure management
    • Streams and waterbodies on-farm
    • Soil erosion and pasture management
    • Mortality
  • Possibility of extensing to other states
• Species comparison project evaluating environmental impact of feces from horses and cattle fed similar diets (Kentucky).
• Trace mineral supplementation: Effects on environmental impact characteristics of manure (Kentucky).

Milestones - Efforts of different states have reached a crritical mass of work in the two following areas.  In the future our group should consider extension and outreach progams related to these projects:

• Forage alternatives.  Several states are working on different means of extending forages for use in the summer when forage growth may be inadequate and in the fall as fall supplies dwindle.  Use of alternatives such as warm season grasses or crabgrass have promise for providing extra summer forage.  If work continues to progress, this may lead to new recommendations for equine producers.
• Mortality composting.  Several states are working on the composting of mortalities.  Several years research indicate that  farms may need to maintain an adequate carbon source for making a compost bed to place mortalities for composting.  An impermeable surface for composting is also important.  More research is need about the destruction of euthanization drugs during composting.

• Effects of grazing muzzles on behavior and physiological stress of individually housed miniature horses., Davis et al. 2020. Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci.
• Effects of grazing muzzles on voluntary exercise and physiological stress of a miniature horse herd., Davis et al. 2020. Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci.
• Relative traffic tolerance of warm-season turfgrasses and suitability for grazing by equine. Jaqueth et al. 2020. J. Equine Vet. Sci.

• Vasco, A.C., K. Brinkley-Bissinger, V.R. Paschoal, J.M. Bobel, L.K. Warren, C.L. Wickens. 2020. Fecal pH, dry matter, and volatile fatty acids of horses grazing legume-grass mixed pastures. Accepted for presentation at the American Society of Animal Science Annual Meeting. Virtual Meeting, July 19-23.

  Vasco, A.C., A.M.A. Esquivel, E. Seals, F.Q. da Rosa, M.O. Wallau, L.K Warren, C.L. Wickens. 2020. Grazing behavior of horses managed on legume-grass mixed pastures. Accepted for presentation at the American Society of Animal Science Annual Meeting. Virtual Meeting, July 19-23.

  Rivera-Melendez, F.P., M. Lusk, C. Wickens, J. Hinton, S. Bollin. 2020. Hillsborough County horse owners learn about manure management and benefits of composting. Accepted for presentation at the National Association of County Agricultural Agents Conference, Virginia Beach, VA. (Rescheduled to September 29-October 1 due to COVID-19).

  Trade publications:

  Vasco C., and C. Wickens. 2019. Importance of forage and forage testing. The Florida Horse (December issue):40-42. Available at: https://issuu.com/floridahorse/docs/fh_dec2019

  Multi-media presentations:

  Hiney, K., C. Wickens, C. Williams, K. Martinson, B. Greene. 2019. Pasture peculiarities: The story of Florida, New Jersey, Minnesota, and Arizona. Extension Horse Tack Box Talk. Recorded December 19. Available at: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/pasture-peculiarities-story-florida-new-jersey-minnesota/id1492355719?i=1000460212446 109 downloads.

  Infographics:

  Created a series of 13 infographics on best management practices for equine operations with emphasis on appropriate manure management, composting of horse manure/stall waste, and water resource protection guidelines.

  Extension and Outreach Presentations:

  Wickens, C. 2020. Managing manure on equine operations through composting. Louisiana State University, Ag Center Webinar. Delivered April 22 via Zoom. 14 live webinar participants. Available at: https://youtu.be/pyOWCiGlnf8 (Oral). 14 YouTube views. 187 Facebook views.

  Wickens, C. 2020. Characterizing the impact of manure management practices on water quality: Composting at equine stock facilities project. Southwest Florida Water Management District Funded Project. Hernando County Ground Water Guardians Meeting. January 23, Brooksville, FL. (Oral)

Published: (Sustainability: Sustainability in the equine industry section)

Ashley L. Fowler, Mieke Brümmer-Holder, and Karl A. Dawson.  Dietary Trace Mineral Level and Source Affect Fecal Bacterial Mineral Incorporation and Mineral Leaching Potential of Equine Feces.  Sustainability: 2019, 11, 7107; doi:10.3390/su11247107

Submitted: (Sustainability: Sustainability in the equine industry section)

Ashley L. Fowler, Mieke Brummer-Holder, and Karl A. Dawson. Trace mineral leaching from equine compost

Accepted Abstract (Poster): World Sustainability Forum (September 15th – 17th, 2020)

A.L. Fowler, M. Brummer-Holder, and K.A. Dawson. A comparison of mineral leaching from equine feces and equine-sourced compost

Williams, C. A., L. B. Kenny, J. R. Weinert, K. Sullivan, W. Meyer, and M. G. Robson. 2020. Effects of twenty-seven months of rotational vs. continuous grazing on horses and pasture condition. Transl. Anim. Sci. 4:1-17.  doi: 10.1093/tas/txaa084

Weinert, J. R., A. Biddle, C. A. Williams.  2020.  Fecal Microbiome of Horses Grazing Integrated Warm- and Cool-Season Grass Rotational Pasture Systems. ASAS abstract.