Hello, I am wondering how often we should pick up manure in our pastures. We have two horses and our neighbor has one. We entered this adventure in June with our neighbors, who are dear friends. The horses live mostly on our land which is right by our home. They have about five total acres. Our property is about 2 and 1/2 of that. I like to keep the area clean for the horses' health. I go out once a day and do my best to use my fork and wagon, then put it in the manure pile we have in a fenced in area. This has been easy to manage the four months that we've had horses here because we are retired and our neighbor has been helping. Now, our neighbor is doing less and less and it is becoming obvious that this job will fall on us. Since the barn is on our property and the hay is by the barn, our acreage is where the majority of the manure will be. Our neighbor told us tonight that she doesn't know any horse people that clean up manure every day and I am inferring that to mean she is done helping with this job. What do the rest of you do? It will be very cold and snowy where we live for about five months, so I will have to live with a lot of it until spring, however, for now, I am still trying my best to keep up with it due to cleanliness for the horses and also for the aesthetic of the field being by our home. Thank you so much for your candid answers! Kathy
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Picking up manure from fields is neither a quick nor a light job, so I can see your problem here.
I am wondering a bit about the size of the pastures and ground conditions.
Speaking from my part of the world, smaller paddocks, with sand or gravel, is done every day, while larger fields seldom are "touched" at all, simply because it isn't practical.
What is done is the field being either plowed and raked once a year (usually when the horses are moved to another field), or (in summer) mowed over to spread out the piles to dry in the sun and cut down the, possibly worm infested, grass growing where the horses have kept their "toilet".
Mind you, a small tractor or those smart four wheel "mini tractors" is a must if you attempt to do this work in the fields.
The ambition to clean up every day is commendable and probably sound from a health perspective, but if the field is large and lots of grass, maybe just raking out the piles is just as effective, less time consuming and less strain on your body.
Alternatively, if you insist on doing this often, limit the cleaning to the special spots where there the toilet seems to be, if it is close to drinking water or places that tend to get very muddy.
We built our barn and fences this past year. We bought two horses and moved them home around June 1. We have two acres of grass pasture, however it has stopped growing due to cold and snow. Our neighbor has three acres. The horses go free from our field to theirs and back using all 5 acres. They also have walk-in stalls where they can go freely. We have the barn, water, hay, round pen, and fenced in area where we pile the manure, all on our property.
We purchased horses and then a couple months after that, our neighbors purchased a horse for their 13 year old daughter. We are friends and thought we could make it work together.
The horses don't seem to have a toilet area. It's all over. We have a lot of flies in the summer, so I wanted to make sure I cleaned up each day.
Now that it is "fall", which is more like winter here, we will probably drag the field until the snow comes steadily, since we don't have to worry about flies. We do have a tractor and a UTV that can pull a drag.
My neighbors told me they don't know anyone in the horse world who takes care of the field like I do. They seemed to think I clean too often. I guess I'm just wondering...do I?
Thanks!
Kathy from Wisconsin, USA
I know your problem, very well. There's nothing wrong with dragging your pastures down. Especially if all you have is a few acres. I have 5 paddocks that I separate my mares from the geldings but only at night. I clean the stalls each day and put fresh shavings as needed.
I clean the paddocks weekly. Each paddock is about 40 by 100 feet wide so I think weekly is not much trouble. Although I do rake the piles of dump up into just one pile daily, so when the end of the week comes I only have one pile in each paddock to clean. I made myself a compose pile just outside my main pasture to dump all the manure into. When it gets big enough I dig a hole with a Backhoe, and bury it accordingly. I keep one compose pile and have transplanted Red Worms in it and started raising them to sell but mostly give to anyone wanting them for fishing or whatever they may need them for.
As for my main pastures I made myself a homemade drag of sort. I took four, fifty pound blocks and rolled them up into about 8 feet of chain link fence. I wired it all together and attach it to the back of my Gator. UTV . Then I pull it through both my pastures and across all the piles of dump left by the horses. Sorta like self fertilizer, but homemade!! I've done this for years and it seems to work pretty good for me. I do make sure all the piles I drag are down really smooth and spread out even. As for the neighbor, I think I would ask her if she owned a dog, would she not clean up after it. Especially if it was a house dog or even if it stayed in the back yard. Surely she would need to clean her yard weekly.
Owning a horse is a huge responsibility and she could be reminded of that. I commend you for keeping your horses home clean and safe. If your neighbor sees anything at all, she at least can see that you are responsible and care for the animals you have chosen to keep. Keep up the good work. She just may learn something. If not her then her 13 year old child will see someone willing to do the right thing.
Connie Mack
Kathy