Horses are expensive. In fact, every part of them is expensive, from feed to shoes to barns to pastures. As an agronomist for the University of Kentucky, I’ve spent the last 11 years making recommendations on pasture improvements. But as a new farm owner, I’ve suddenly found myself facing the same struggles as many other farm managers and want to share how I have balanced what the experts say with what reality gives us. Today’s topic…fall nitrogen fertilizer.  

After a search for acting department chair, Daniel Howe, PhD, has been named acting chair of the University of Kentucky Department of Veterinary Sciences and Martin Nielsen, DVM, PhD, Dipl. ACVM, as acting associate chair and director of graduate studies.

Jill Stowe, PhD, of the University of Kentucky, recently studied how many American horse owners are willing to adopt wild horses and what type they’d select.

The live session of the 11th International Equine Infectious Diseases Conference has come to a close. The virtual five-day event brought researchers and veterinarians together from around the world to share and provide the latest information on infectious diseases of horses.

The best surfaces, whether dirt or turf, perform consistently from day to day, year to year and for every stride of the horse. During the 2021 Breeders’ Cup hosted at Del Mar, the independent non-profit Racing Surfaces Testing Laboratory (RSTL), with its research partner, the University of Kentucky College of Agriculture, Food and Environment, will usher in a new era of standardized measuring protocols and data management that will help improve the consistency of racing surfaces.

Researchers at the University of Kentucky are inviting you to take part in a survey about horse farm operations and use of conservation practices. The purpose of this study is to understand motivations and barriers to the implementation of riparian buffer zones on Central Kentucky horse farms. We are asking you to participate because you are a central Kentucky horse farm owner or manager, which qualifies you to take part in this study. You will be asked to complete a survey. In the end, you have the option to provide your name and contact information for scheduling an interview. By doing this study, we hope to strengthen the water quality in Central Kentucky. The survey will take about 15 minutes to complete. 

The end of the growing season is approaching. The release of the new climate normals earlier this spring means we also have a new set of frost/freeze normals. In doing so, I looked at the average first freeze date for various locations across the Commonwealth based on the 1991 to 2020 climate normals. As you can see in the table below, several locations now see their average first freeze occur sometime in late October or early November.

Agricultural work can be a source of stress, anxiety and depression due to its unpredictability and physical and mental demands. University of Kentucky College of Agriculture, Food and Environment researchers are helping train Kentuckians to recognize signs of mental distress in members of their local agricultural community. The program is seeing great success.