Liz Ridenour -- Week 9

It's hard to believe it, but there is only a week left in my summer 2026 UME internship! Things haven't been winding down much, however, especially as this past week was the Washington County Fair, and each day proved to be very busy.

Ewe at WMREC during weigh day. 

The week got going with a weigh day for our animals at WMREC, all of which are thriving on their summer annual pasture. We moved them into a new section of the pasture, and with the recent rain, the ungrazed area has shot up in height and is now as tall as the cattle are in some places. 

Summer annual pasture at WMREC.

It has been very educational for me throughout this summer to gain experience at WMREC with the daily tasks of a rotational grazing system. Although at times trapsing through waist-high (or even shoulder-high) pasture was not the first way I would've chosen to spend my day, now that I'm more used to doing it on a weekly basis, it really doesn't seem like that much work, and on a nice day, it's actually really enjoyable to be out in the pasture. 

The benefits of a rotational grazing system for both the grazing animals and the pastures themselves are undeniable and definitively outweigh the negatives of the work involved. Throughout this summer, I've been able to see first-hand the difference between pastures that are continuously grazed, and those which are given rest through a rotational grazing system. 

Not only is the weed pressure lower and the forage stand better for pastures which are regularly given rest, but those pastures are able to maintain more animals per acre while supplying the right nutrition for those animals than in a continuous grazing system. 

My background is very much in the horse industry, and unfortunately, pasture care is often lacking in this industry, with many people seeing their pastures simply as a place to put their horse, rather than a source of nutrition for the horse, and land to maintain in quality as well as improve. Too often I find that horse people are stuck in the "lawn" mentality of pasture care, preferring short, manicured pastures that look like a golf course rather than functional pastures that are actually giving the highest nutrition possible to their animals. 

Dairy Goat Show at the Washington County Fair.  

The horse world is complicated, and grazing horses is often made more complicated by metabolic issues which are not typically a problem in other livestock industries, but pasture care goes beyond just feeding animals--in my opinion, for a farmer (horse or otherwise) care of pastures is part of a wider stewardship of your land and a consciousness of the surrounding environment and the impact your farm has on that environment. I am about to enter graduate school, and I am hopeful that some of my thesis work can be in the realm of pasture management and sustainability of horse farms in Maryland, as that is a real passion that has developed for me this summer.

My view as announcer during the horse show 
at the Washington Co. Fair.

    The rest of last week was largely taken up by assisting with the Washington County Fair, including assisting the ring stewards for the dairy goat show, as well as serving as an announcer for the horse show. Both were great experiences, and I especially loved being able to see the time and work the 4H kids have put into preparing their animals to show, and the professionalism even the younger kids exhibited in the show ring and towards their competitors. I had a phenomenal time this week working with both the animals at WMREC as well as assisting with the fair, and I'm looking forward to a wonderful final week of this internship!