A question about fertilising resting grass

[HappyHollyDays]

I have religiously poo picked my track twice a day all summer and now have some very impressive piles of poo at various points around the place. The plan is to plant some horse friendly herbs and milk thistle on some of them but I wondered whether the remainder would be better used to fertilise the middle of the track which is now being rested for the winter before I re seed a few bald and sour patches in spring with meadow grass and edible wild flowers.

I have no experience of land management and don’t know if I’m doing things the correct way round or whether this summers poo is even suitable. Does it sound like a plan or should I leave the piles to rot down?

 

[GinaGeo]

The gold standard would be to spread well rotted manure. We’ve just spread our 6month rotted and regularly turned heap on half of our land today which will now be rested for winter.

However, as you’re planning on resting the land you’re spreading onto for a prolonged period, I wouldn’t be too worried if it wasn’t all completely rotted down. It’ll have plenty of time to rot down in situ over winter ?

 

[rextherobber]

I think ideally it needs to rot down for longer, and grass sees does better as an Autumn sowing most years. Also, wild flowers generally dislike fertiliser ground, I think...

 

[SEL]

I'm chucking a muck heap which has been sitting since May on the fields that will be rested over winter. Tbh even fresh poo harrowed in vanishes at this time of year when the various spores, bugs etc get stuck in

If you want wild flowers though then the poorer the soil the better - but I don't think that works well alongside horses grazing

 

[HappyHollyDays]

Thanks for the advice, I’m glad I asked. I may have a rethink on the wild flower bit and plant them in the areas they don’t eat. They are horse friendly ones from Medowmania which they are supposed to like nibbling on and I’ve left all the thistles as I know they do eat the flowers. I will also leave the poo to rot over winter as well, it doesn’t look crumbly enough yet but I will reseed the patches as soon as we have some rain forecast.

 

[BBP]

We have been spreading this years muck now, harrowing it well and reseeding the bald patches. In an ideal world it would wait a year to rot further, but the practicalities of storage means this works better for us. It seems to have gone on really well. We sow wildflower mix along the bank by our arena and around the arena edge, as well plant bulbs under the hedges. And we have a herb garden with netting over by the yard so they can pick through that without pulling them all up.

 

[HappyHollyDays]

We have been spreading this years muck now, harrowing it well and reseeding the bald patches. In an ideal world it would wait a year to rot further, but the practicalities of storage means this works better for us. It seems to have gone on really well. We sow wildflower mix along the bank by our arena and around the arena edge, as well plant bulbs under the hedges. And we have a herb garden with netting over by the yard so they can pick through that without pulling them all up.

This is exactly what I want to do with the herb garden and wild flowers. The track is so small, only on an acre which includes the school I want some kind of enrichment for them and picking at herbs as well as the hedgerows must be good for them when they have so little grass to eat. I will wait for the muck to rot down more though, I had a look this morning and it’s just not decomposed enough but I am pleased to see worm holes appearing. I spot weeded the docks a few weeks ago and have been round again today to respray the ones I had missed so the centre of the track is looking really healthy.

 

[Landcruiser]

I don't fertilize my paddocks at all. I poo pick, spot weed, rest, overseed with rye free grass seed with added meadow herbs and that's it. I want varied but not rich grazing and lots of weeds/wildflowers. 3 barefooters on 3 acres which include house, large garden, school, yard - so no more than 2.5 in reality, 3 paddocks. Poo piles are along the boundary hedges and just rot in over time. Hedges look great!!

 

[PeterNatt]

We do not spread our poo picked manure on our grass land fields but do allow it to rot for five years before spreading it on cropped fields. The reason we don't spread it on our grass land fieklds is that it contains seeds which may well include weeds or Ragwort which we don't want to germinate. We also do not fertilize our grassland grazing fields as we do not wish to have rich grass which may cause Laminitis. Again we re-sead with (as above) non Rye Grass seed.

 

[Leam_Carrie]

There’s a Facebook group - Land Management for Horses with Dr Lisa Scofield - which I found useful when I had my own land.