Big toilet areas in paddocks

[Haywain]

I have about half an acre for summer and a separate half acre for winter grazing for my horse. My issue is that despite poo picking twice a day, he will not eat where he poos, and in fact likes to poo just outside the toilet areas, making them bigger. At this rate he’ll have both the entire paddocks as a “no eat” zone. Any bright ideas how to solve this? I usually strip graze, by the way.

 

[PinkvSantaboots]

Half an acre is not much at all can you not have a bigger field?

I've found no matter how much you try to clear the toilet areas they still go there and w9nt eat surrounding grass

 

[Haywain]

Half an acre is not much at all can you not have a bigger field?

I've found no matter how much you try to clear the toilet areas they still go there and w9nt eat surrounding grass

Not for the winter. The summer paddock is the same size, divided into three small paddocks, and they're fine if managed carefully. I was just hoping for some suggestions of what to do re the expanding toilet areas. I’ve tried strimming them down.

 

[PurBee]

The grass gets soiled - they smell it, and instinctively wont eat the long grass growing nearby due to pathogens from their poop fouling the fresh growth and parasite eggs/larvae migrating from their poop.

A breeder once told me, for grass not to become sour from their poop, he read it needs to be picked up within half hour of pooping. Obviously thats not practical for horse owners! The long grass gets left.
Only very hungry horses without any other feed will be forced to eat it begrudgingly.

Some cross-graze with sheep or top it, just to get rid of very overgrown areas.
Your issue is the extension of the poop area. I wonder if you could use some electric fence posts and string to create a ‘poop pen’? Nothing too enclosed - if he poops by the fence-line, maybe just have a 90degree fence line coming out from the original fence to create a ‘U” shape where he originally poops. Maybe that will encourage the use of that for poop only, and discourage him from naturally widening the area?
It will be an experiment, it might well have the opposite effect of him pooping out side the ‘poop pen’ youve created! You wont know without trying.

One thing i’ve done to encourage my pair to poop in an area i specifically want them to, in their dry-lot hardcore yard - is to put a bag of shavings down. They associate bedding with being a place to poop and pee (not all horses necessarily, but many who have been stabled)
This works wonders! I can literally just spread a fresh bag of shavings anywhere they are and know that night they’ll use that to poop and pee on!
Maybe try that? Youve already lost the poop area for good quality grazing anyway - and if he’s like most horses that dont like pee splashback on their legs he’ll stick to using the shavings patch for toileting.

With mine if i definitely want just 1 area to be used in a field for pooping, a patch of shavings will magnestise them to the patch to poop. It’s actually better than the ‘pen idea’.

 

[Haywain]

The grass gets soiled - they smell it, and instinctively wont eat the long grass growing nearby due to pathogens from their poop fouling the fresh growth and parasite eggs/larvae migrating from their poop.

A breeder once told me, for grass not to become sour from their poop, he read it needs to be picked up within half hour of pooping. Obviously thats not practical for horse owners! The long grass gets left.
Only very hungry horses without any other feed will be forced to eat it begrudgingly.

Some cross-graze with sheep or top it, just to get rid of very overgrown areas.
Your issue is the extension of the poop area. I wonder if you could use some electric fence posts and string to create a ‘poop pen’? Nothing too enclosed - if he poops by the fence-line, maybe just have a 90degree fence line coming out from the original fence to create a ‘U” shape where he originally poops. Maybe that will encourage the use of that for poop only, and discourage him from naturally widening the area?
It will be an experiment, it might well have the opposite effect of him pooping out side the ‘poop pen’ youve created! You wont know without trying.

One thing i’ve done to encourage my pair to poop in an area i specifically want them to, in their dry-lot hardcore yard - is to put a bag of shavings down. They associate bedding with being a place to poop and pee (not all horses necessarily, but many who have been stabled)
This works wonders! I can literally just spread a fresh bag of shavings anywhere they are and know that night they’ll use that to poop and pee on!
Maybe try that? Youve already lost the poop area for good quality grazing anyway - and if he’s like most horses that dont like pee splashback on their legs he’ll stick to using the shavings patch for toileting.

With mine if i definitely want just 1 area to be used in a field for pooping, a patch of shavings will magnestise them to the patch to poop. It’s actually better than the ‘pen idea’.

Thank you. That may well be worth a try. It’s tricky though, as I’m on a livery yard, with all the usual restrictions and rules. I’m not sure how they’d feel about patches of shavings on the paddock. It’s a lovely yard though, and I don’t want to be thrown off because of his paddock habits. I look with envy at most of the other horses who apparently eat everything.

 

[marmalade76]

I've always thought that poo picking is kind of contradictory, actually encouraging them to eat where they poo which is probably not a good idea. When I had lots of ground at my disposal I would only poo pick when they were on restricted grazing in the summer simply to stop the paddocks from becoming thick with muck, in the winter they'd be in large fields and we'd chain harrow once a year. This ground was also cross grazed with both cattle and sheep.

As for not eating where they poo regardless of whether it's picked up or not - I've had horses that never eat in the toilet areas, some lower in the pecking order that would and one that was SO greedy (yes, he had plenty of other food) that he'd scalp the lot even when he was the only one (I have to poo pick because my YO insists, otherwise I would just chain harrow).

No advice really, sorry, just musing.

 

[PurBee]

Thank you. That may well be worth a try. It’s tricky though, as I’m on a livery yard, with all the usual restrictions and rules. I’m not sure how they’d feel about patches of shavings on the paddock. It’s a lovely yard though, and I don’t want to be thrown off because of his paddock habits. I look with envy at most of the other horses who apparently eat everything.

Ah, being on a yard you dont own makes my shaving suggestion more tricky. Is your YO approachable for you to have a chat about the issue youre having and ask about a shavings patch trial?
I meant just 1 patch of shavings about 2x2 metres should entice 1 horse to use it as a poop patch, to discourage him from pooping elsewhere.

You’re likely losing more than 2x2 metres grazing land with him pooping in a larger area, so effectively you’re managing the grazing better with a shavings patch - thats the ‘sales pitch’ i’d use with a YO


Another idea - my gelding when young was a pooping thug - didnt care where he pooped, randomly strewn all over the paddock, despite the older mare having ’sensible’ toilet habits of choosing a spot and just using that. It took him a few years to learn from her. One thing i did in the end which likely helped, was to leave a couple of fresh poops in the poop spot - they seem to be encouraged to poop where they see and smell poop. (I do this also for a horse who might be a bit gutsy or very mild colicy, to encourage then to poop - leave a fresh poop unpicked, they smell it and it helps them to poop)

As you are picking up poops 2x daily, your horse might think being nearby to the area is ‘good enough’ to poop - but if you leave 1 or 2 fresher poops where you want him to poop, you *might* encourage him to traverse closer to the usual poop spot you’d prefer he stick to.



(It makes me chuckle to write a post using the word poop multiple times …when i read it over before posting all i see is poop poop pooping poop! )

 

[expanding_horizon]

Interesting. I’ve seen people with stable herds and regular worm counts, spread thin layers of fresh poo back onto rested grazing. Seemed to wash in / break down over a few months, encourage grass growth and horses seemed to willingly eat the grass a few months later.

 

[Haywain]

Interesting. I’ve seen people with stable herds and regular worm counts, spread thin layers of fresh poo back onto rested grazing. Seemed to wash in / break down over a few months, encourage grass growth and horses seemed to willingly eat the grass a few months later.

Useful knowledge, thank you, as I was wondering what I could do while the paddock I’m not using is resting over the winter

 

[Ruftys mum]

The grass gets soiled - they smell it, and instinctively wont eat the long grass growing nearby due to pathogens from their poop fouling the fresh growth and parasite eggs/larvae migrating from their poop.

A breeder once told me, for grass not to become sour from their poop, he read it needs to be picked up within half hour of pooping. Obviously thats not practical for horse owners! The long grass gets left.
Only very hungry horses without any other feed will be forced to eat it begrudgingly.

Some cross-graze with sheep or top it, just to get rid of very overgrown areas.
Your issue is the extension of the poop area. I wonder if you could use some electric fence posts and string to create a ‘poop pen’? Nothing too enclosed - if he poops by the fence-line, maybe just have a 90degree fence line coming out from the original fence to create a ‘U” shape where he originally poops. Maybe that will encourage the use of that for poop only, and discourage him from naturally widening the area?
It will be an experiment, it might well have the opposite effect of him pooping out side the ‘poop pen’ youve created! You wont know without trying.

One thing i’ve done to encourage my pair to poop in an area i specifically want them to, in their dry-lot hardcore yard - is to put a bag of shavings down. They associate bedding with being a place to poop and pee (not all horses necessarily, but many who have been stabled)
This works wonders! I can literally just spread a fresh bag of shavings anywhere they are and know that night they’ll use that to poop and pee on!
Maybe try that? Youve already lost the poop area for good quality grazing anyway - and if he’s like most horses that dont like pee splashback on their legs he’ll stick to using the shavings patch for toileting.

With mine if i definitely want just 1 area to be used in a field for pooping, a patch of shavings will magnestise them to the patch to poop. It’s actually better than the ‘pen idea’.

My old horse who is on retirement livery apparently backs up to the muck heap which is at the end of his field and goes there Don't know where he weeks though. I think he saves that for his stable which is a wet mess in the morning

 

[dixie]

Interesting. I’ve seen people with stable herds and regular worm counts, spread thin layers of fresh poo back onto rested grazing. Seemed to wash in / break down over a few months, encourage grass growth and horses seemed to willingly eat the grass a few months later.

I’ve been on a yard like that and all the horses had very high worm counts. Including ours which usually were very low and didn’t need worming.

 

[expanding_horizon]

I’ve been on a yard like that and all the horses had very high worm counts. Including ours which usually were very low and didn’t need worming.

Ones I knew were low / zero long term. But it would depend on your exposure and risk profile.