Harrowing to spread poo - how long to rest?

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JillA

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Since those liveries left a filthy field and I have let the winter grazing I am going to have to harrow the current field. I thought I'd divide it up (3 1/2 acres for 2 horses) and in order to plan its use over the winter, need to know how long it needs before it can be grazed again. So, if you harrow to maintain your fields, what is the minimum you would leave harrowed pasture? TIA
 
If I harrow a field that had not been poo picked I would not want to graze it for at least three months. If it has been poo picked then I would be happy to put the horses back in it after a week or so, preferably once it has had a good bit of rain on it :)
 
good question! I'd like to know the answer too please. I tend to leave mine until the poo has disappeared into the ground we spread our much heap on our hayfield in the spring then shut it up to grow for hay. after the hay is off its left until December before the horses go in for a few weeks. meanwhile we harrow the paddock the horses have left if the ground is hard enough, otherwise its harrowed in summer on a hot day with the horses insitu. I'm told the heat and sun kill the worm eggs so no need to remove the horses in summer. I don't poo-pick
 
Harrowing is best for ground improvement - but it effectively contaminates much more grazing than piles do. I try and leave mine at least 6 weeks after harrowing. If it's hot and dry, that's enough - although of course if it's warm and wet the grass will grow better. Because picking up - or resting at least 3 months - is impractical, I worm regularly too, of course.
 
My vet told me (when we moved here to our own place with contaminated pasture) that you have to leave it until either there has been a complete hard frost, or a complete bake, once the field has been harrowed to expose the inner poo.

We left the field until spring, and we had a winter with much time below zero.
 
I harrow here now and wait for at least a good few storms of rain to wash the fragmented poo to ground level. I'm assuming worm eggs get washed off the grass down to soil level so they are not going to get eaten. So I go by what my eyes tell me, not the calendar. Also, exposure to sun and drying is meant to destroy worm eggs.

Effective harrowing depends on how easily the poo breaks up. The finer the fragments, the quicker the grass gets away from it and it will be fit to graze again. I don't like to see lumps! On the other hand, contaminated grass has been blamed for grass sickness which makes sense.
 
Thanks all. Not so bothered about worms/eggs (we have had several years of FECs with no eggs seen) just the general contamination. Might get half of it harrowed before the winter rains come and close it off for a month or so.
Alternatively there is a local teenage lad asking for jobs in return for donations to his fund to go to Ecuador in a couple of years, and poo picking is one of the chores he will do.
 
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