Does anyone else muck out their horse fields?

[patandchickens]

Quote:
It's fine to let them on the field as long as it is well frozen; only problem is if it is thawed and muddy and they churn it all up with their hooves.

There are both advantages and disadvantages of spreading manure in the late fall or winter. It's easier to get out there when the ground is frozen, and you're not setting back the active growth of grass. OTOH you are losing a bunch of the nitrogen content that way (to the air, and to runoff) and it is definitely a no-no if your land drains to a stream or lake or other living watercourse, because winter manure spreading creates a lot of nutrient loss into the watercourse and resulting eutrophication and summertime explosion of lotsa algae that kills a buncha aquatic things.

(The above only really applies to fairly fresh manure. If it's been composted for most of a year, or less if you've been actively managing it with a tractor and thermometer to get good hot fast composting, there is not much problem with nutrient loss or runoff)

Pat

 

[lleighmay]

My 2 boys are usually in a 60 acre section where we also do rotational grazing with spring steers. We don't muck anything because the local wild turkey population (think gangs of 30 or so at a time) are excellent manure spreaders and diligently pick and kick each and every pile apart every day. When/if I have to put the boys in the barnlot (aka "Jenny Craig lot" because my quarter horse can get too fat on plain air) I do muck the barnlot out every week and carry the proceeds home and add them to the compost heap. When I was a mounted cop (lo these many years ago) we had a small paddock (about 1 acre) for 4 horses which we mucked out daily. All that went straight to the manure pile which we would allow people to come and pick up truckloads from as they desired.

 

[jBlaze]

Oh teh joys of talking to fellow managers of poo!!

rofl. Ain't it great!

 

[Momo]

When I lived on Vancouver Island those horses lucky enough to have any pasture had to stay off it during the wet, muddy winters. Where I am now it freezes solid and we get a lot of snow, so the horses are out all winter. In fact I have to restrict access to the pasture the rest of the year due to wet conditions and/or high carbohydrate content in the grass, so winter is the only time when the gate from the paddock / dry lot is open all the time and they can play to their hearts' content. If I had a tractor I would definitely drag the field from time to time as others do.

 

[katrinag]

I have a 1/2 to 3/4 acre lot with a 10X20 section of the bran that my marecan go in and I clean it everyday. I can not stand seeing the poo in the pasture. I also we a portable fence so I can move her around my 1 acre yard. I will never have to mow again.LOL

 

[menageriemama]

We used to rotate pastures and drag them regularly to help break up manure.

 

[Rhett&SarahsMom]

yup. I try to get as much as I can daily. He doesnt have hat large of a paddock. When I had the mares at home(just under 2acres fenced) I went out every afternoon with manure fork and wheel barrow and picked manure. Also gave me a chance to make sure nothing had been tossed into the field, the fence was ok(had to be kept up with constantly since my Appy mare would go through it the second the electric was down) and it kept the rocks under control.

When I was in NC we had an attachment we put behind the truck and we dragged the pastures weekly. We rotated pasture bi monthly down there. But the government herd was large. The private horses were in smaller fields. We just made sure to get it done before the "off" horses were turned out for the day.