Grazing horses with sheep and on the same land as cattle?

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sarah..x

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Thinking of moving my boy to our farm but wanted to know are there any potential health risks? Do they need to be wormed differently?

Also anybody who has moved their horse, did they adapt well?
 
Yes they do need to be wormed differently, just carry on worming each species as you normally would. The cross-grazing can mean that there are not as many worms infecting each species as the others 'hoover' them up.

You may want to keep the horses separate from the other species for safety's sake, although I do know farms where all 3 graze happily together and our horses and sheep are fine co-grazing. We make sure that the sheep have 'sanctuary' round the edges of each field, so that if the horses start playing they don't get trampled. There could be particular difficulties of the cattle or sheep are horned.
 
Thanks! He wouldnt be turned out with cattle just sheep. But as we rotate and move fields cattle may be on the field at some point when he's not!
 
depending on where you are, liver fluke is an increasing issue with horses-as its your farm you'll know if you have ay issues with it. On the whole its a good idea (cross grazing) and they tend to ignore other species except I have a pony that loves cattle.
 
I happliy graze mine with cattle, but am careful with sheep. I have had one or two horses that viewed sheep as fun play objects. Not so great for the sheep.
 
I am due to graze my ponies with young cattle and sheep next year. They grazed fine with sheep & geese this year. I have grazed with cattle before just keep an eye out for the tail eaters ! I had one pony had its tail licked & chmped away in in one afternoon and took 2 years to grow back properly it was a very saw point between me and my dad as I could go to a show with her. I'm thinking tail bags next year.
 
Ours are out with sheep all year and in autumn they are with cattle for a few weeks. No issues, I only have to worm for tapeworm as the worm counts always come back clear. They move fields every 6 months and usually follow cattle.
 
On the previous yard my girl shared a paddock with a sheep and a goat who adored her - they would all go in the field shelter and lie down, all cuddled up. When I moved her she was out with a flock of sheep and the calves used to climb through the fence and come and join the horses which she though was great because she was obsessed with anything small and/or very young. Never had any problems at all.
 
my mare used to love to play with sheep, grab them by their wool and toss them 5m further, we got rid of the sheep as it was cruel, and the sodds never learned to keep out of her way
 
Cross grazing is great for keeping down worms, very handy. As Abby has mentioned above, be careful of cattle chewing their tails! Seems to be more common for calves to do it but it's a pain either way. They absoloutely destroy it. I don't know how you could stop them though. Maybe put something with a bad taste on the tail?
 
I had mine on a little DIY yard with sheep once, for about 3 months - the flies were terrible and neither of mine would eat the grass. I blamed the sheep, rightly or wrongly, and moved them back to my old yard.
 
We have sheep on with ours. The grass is kept lovely. They don't interact much, occasionally the horses chase the sheep. The horses can only get in two fields, the sheep can get in three. We have plain wire between the fields that the sheep can get under but the horses can't.

Downside - sheep itch their coats out on anything. We had two strands of plain wire on inner fences and they snapped the bottom strands itching. My horse got a strand wrapped round her leg and injured herself.
The sheep (and cattle when we had them on the land) trashed my show jumps itching and knocking them down.
Cattle seemed to bring more thistles (horses seem to bring buttercups) and the rushes spread more with sheep (sheep farmer uncle thinks the seeds stick in their wool and spread).
 
Our horses have been cross grazed with our cattle for decades. Only worm in autumn , for bots that 'found us' when we had visiting mares .Keeps pastures sweet and not horse sick. As long as horse not on his own he shouldnt harrass the cattle, but yes the cattle do like to eat tails!
 
Mine have grazed with cows and then switched out for sheep this summer. Currently just horses for winter. Keep them on a farm and farmer just puts the sheep or cattle out as he feels like it. Works fab for us as keeps grass down a bit and my youngster loves the cows, has been seen playing and sleeping laying down with them. The horses generally interact peacefully with cows or sheep after a bit of initial high jinks.

in fact when the cattle were moved out to other parts of the farm, we had to ride through their new field and one cow came barrelling up to us doing a cow version of a whicker recognising his friend! I recognised its tag number as one of the cows that had shared the field. It was dead cute and my mare kept turning to try to go back to say hi!
 
I keep my two at home on my own land, and a farmer pays us (very handy!!) to keep his sheep on the same field as the horses graze in.

Plus points: grass is kept down to a sensible level and never gets out of hand, hence no worries about it being too rich for the horses (mine are a cob and a native) - much much easier to manage and less worries about laminitis, although I do restrict the horses a bit coz it is a ten acre field, which is way too much for two.

Sheep eat up all the cruddy grass where the horses have wee'd and poo'd. Plus gobble up the thistles in the spring! Saves the hassle, and expense, of having to use weed control etc.

With sheep on the ground treading it in, I find I don't actually have to poo-pick!! :) Yippee, as this not exactly my favourite job, life's too short basically.

Good parasitic control as the sheep eat up the grass where the eggs hang out.

Result: consistently lovely short yet succulent grass with no weeds; all achieved naturally without any chemicals or expensive maintenance, plus the action of the sheep's feet on poached gateways breaks down the gouges caused by the horse's hooves, so a much more level pasture generally, with no effort!

Difficulties: need to keep a watch for ticks (the dogs pick them up if they go into the field :( ). I've seen some horses with ticks on their muzzle area, but have never noticed this with my two. I tend to use pig oil and tea tree/Neem on their legs anyway, so not noticed any ticks on their legs.

Another thing you need to bear in mind is that not all horses take to sheep: we had a livery horse here a few years ago. Owner swore blind it was "OK with sheep", so, naively perhaps, we chucked it out with their sheep. Within 10 minutes it had picked up one poor sheep by its neck, and was striking out at it with a foreleg. Luckily owner was around and got the horse out PDQ, but it could have been very very nasty. The sheep was OK!!! Shaken but not stirred.

But for us, it works fantastically well.

Oh....... the other thing is that if your horses are put out with sheep; just be prepared to turn a sheep over when needed, as they get on their backs and cannot get upright again, especially if they are wide-bellied and/or carrying lambs. We have had to do it loads of times, if you don't, they will suffocate to death. But very simple to right them, its not about brute strength, its about technique - the way I was taught was NOT to get the side of them where their legs are (coz they'll panic and may kick out, and are very strong when they do and you could get a broken bone very possibily). Best thing is to get to the BACK of the sheep, put your leg/knee into the sheep, grab hold their fleece, and PUSH them over, a sort of rolling motion really. They'll then scrabble to get up - and you'll realise why its best practice not to be in the way of their feet!!! You'll get used to putting sheep upright - and of keeping a watchful eye over the flock. The farmer/shepherd will be most grateful to you for doing it, as otherwise there is very real danger of losing the sheep - the job has to be done literally within 10 mins or the sheep can die.
 
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Sheep chew tails too. I've kept all my equines with sheep with no issues. My only advice is unless you know it's not going to be an issue take your horse out before they round up stock. I have some liveries that think it's great fun to cause havoc and try to get in the way the the sheep dogs and kicking a sheep dog is very bad form!
I was most amused once to see our 3 liveries in the sheep pens instead of our sheep and 2 very frustrated sheep dogs!
I move the horses first now.
 
Yes, echo comments above re. not having horses around when sheep are being moved!

Our sheep farmer chappie normally lets us know when he's moving sheep around; and we then let him use a bit of the yard/field for stuff like marking and sorting etc.

Its better, and much easier and less stressy, for the horses to be out of the field when stock are being moved!

So bear this in mind OP if you're moving to a place where there are sheep as you may have to shift the horses out at short notice, possibly, sometimes.

But the advantages hugely outweigh minor inconveniences.
 
leggs said:
my mare used to love to play with sheep, grab them by their wool and toss them 5m further, we got rid of the sheep as it was cruel, and the sodds never learned to keep out of her way
Click to expand...

Actually loling at this! Sorry!

Edit to say, I hope the sheep were OK, I just have a cartoon image of a horse wandering around chucking sheep in the air (no sheep were harmed in the making of my imagination)
 
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We have 4 pet sheep with our horses. We are getting 2 more for the other field next year! They do live happily with our horses, no tail disasters as yet but will try to eat the horses feed if the particular equine does not stand it's ground..I've only witnessed one "sheep tossing" by my mare, I was horrified but amazed, just proves the strength in horses teeth and neck!! Lottie the sheep in question is much more respectful to her now! As stated in previous posts the grazing and field condition is superb :)
 
Thanks for all of the responses! Its my partners farm so when they move the sheep he will move the horse :) I think if anything jordie will be scared of the sheep!
 
Our farmer/yo must be very good as he just moves his sheep or cattle in and out of our field whenever with the horses in there, including my very playful 6 year old Hanoverian . Never has a problem and I often go up to find a different selection of creatures in the field.
 
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