How often do you clear your fields of muck?

How often do you clear your fields of muck?

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A minimum of 7 to poo-pick daily. My friend and I do it together so it doesn't take too long.

In the school holidays less work as small child has to do his pony and mine!! :)
 
daily ( 4 horses in 1/4 acres paddock each).
the crow problem is dependant upon the feed-anything with grains or linseed in will attract them.
Bruce gets fibre only and they ignore his poos and break up the other 3 horses!
 
Every day, and I try to do it early before the birds get it in the summer! On the very rare occasion that the horses are out 24/7 (they are almost always in either during the day or at night) then I will do it twice a day - 2 cobs that poo for Wales on 1/2 acre paddock. (I have 5 1/2 acre paddocks and 1 1/4 acre)

In winter the poo picking gets done on my lunch break as that's the only time I'm there in daylight!
 
I have learnt something new once again on this forum. I always assumed the crows scattered the poo because they were looking for the insects it attracts. All horses are on Pure Easy at the moment, so not much grain, though some of them have some linseed.
 
There are 4 horses with different owners in our field so we have a rota which means each person completely clears the field every 4 days x
 
Twice a day for me.

Gives me something to do while the boys are eating, also don't have a huge amount of space and I hate seeing mucky fields. Just smacks of laziness. If you do the dratted job more frequently it doesn't take long, leave it for days and it turns into a job worth hating.

Crows, magpies and starlingsall like having a rootle through the poo in the field. I use a lawn rake like the one in the picture for gathering up what they've spread.
 
Wagtail said:
I have learnt something new once again on this forum. I always assumed the crows scattered the poo because they were looking for the insects it attracts. All horses are on Pure Easy at the moment, so not much grain, though some of them have some linseed.
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sometimes we let bruce lick up the left over crumbs the 2 TB's leave and on those days the crows scatter his poos too (as he takes in a few grains, bits of linseed etc).

when livery pony swapped from re-leve and linseed to alpha a oil and some sort of fibre mash they stopped scattering his, and as soon as he went back on re-leve and linseed they scattered them again.

we have very fat and shiney crows lol!
 
The large fields are not poo picked we have for horses on around twelve acres ( divided up ) so the the fields have a lot of rest periods .
Last year we poo picked two of the summer paddocks to see what difference it made we did not really see any .
I always get Fattys strip complex picked .
We have had years with no parasite issues.
Presumably because of the low stocking .
 
I pick it all up once a day now they are on their small areas (watching waistlines) but don't have a lot of bother with birds scattering it. Years ago I used to leave poss if they'd been scattered by birds, I thought it was the same as what would happen if the field was harrowed, but it still meant I had patches of the field where the horses wouldn't eat, so now I remove all.
 
I chose the 'never I harrow' option but in truth, the YO does it not me. 7 horses on 12 acres over the winter, moving to 8 acres for about a month around May/June and then 13 horses on 25 acres once the hay is cut until mid November means poo picking's not really necessary. the other six have about 14 acres for the winter but stay there an extra month until they go on the hay fields. The fields get harrowed once the horses have left them and again after the sheep have been on them, just before the horses go back onto them.
 
Once every other day for my two big horses that are out 24/7 and I only get one heaped barrow. We don't get that much hassle from the crows unless its left for a week or so, but by that point the field would be a minefield anyway!
 
Through the winter - not done, then harrowed in the spring.
In the summer when out for longer and on smaller acreage I try to do it 4-5 times a week.
 
ihatework said:
Through the winter - not done, then harrowed in the spring.
In the summer when out for longer and on smaller acreage I try to do it 4-5 times a week.
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We have 9 acres, divided up into 5 so two are always resting. I also can't stand mucky fields it takes about 1/2 hr- 45 mins out of my day to de poo after all 8 horses. That to me is no longer than mucking out one stable ( including water hay and evening feeds)so not an issue. We also have a rag wort fork attached to the trailer and poo picking is a great time to de ragwort too.

If I had larger fields - say 11 acres or more- I would still poo pick only I would invest in a machine. I would also have my fields divided up so some resting. Its really nice when potential liveries come view and say" do the horses actually go out? only the fields are so clean". I smile and say they do but we clear the fields daily so its kept up to that standard.
 
Oh my! Where are all of you when I'm looking for new liveries?! When I mention that I expect liveries to poo-pick every day, the majority of them look at me like I'm crazy!

It takes me about 10-15 minutes to poo-pick every day, and that's for 3 horses on a 3/4 acre paddock.
 
We only do ours about once a week, but we have an eBay bargain, a Trafalgar vacuum machine! It's a really good product and also hubby likes using it with the quad, always a plus point! :D :D
 
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I don't think my fields look too shoddy. As I said I harrow rather than poo pick. The paddock pictured was harrowed and topped, then rested. It's now been grazed for about two months.
 
HGA-12 said:
We have 9 acres, divided up into 5 so two are always resting. I also can't stand mucky fields it takes about 1/2 hr- 45 mins out of my day to de poo after all 8 horses. That to me is no longer than mucking out one stable ( including water hay and evening feeds)so not an issue. We also have a rag wort fork attached to the trailer and poo picking is a great time to de ragwort too.

If I had larger fields - say 11 acres or more- I would still poo pick only I would invest in a machine. I would also have my fields divided up so some resting. Its really nice when potential liveries come view and say" do the horses actually go out? only the fields are so clean". I smile and say they do but we clear the fields daily so its kept up to that standard.
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That's cool for you. But I have more important things in my life ;)
 
ihatework said:
That's cool for you. But I have more important things in my life ;)
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and I don't ?

I have loads of Priorities: what my yard looks like ( first impressions)the Running of my yard and the appearance of my yard to visitors and guests and livery's is included in that list.

I appreciate some don't care or can't be bothered or have more important things they would rather do.
When its a livery choice to choose their yard, I want them to see my yard is clean with well cared for fields and happy friendly yard with good facilities and to do that it includes de pooing what ever size acreage I have. :)
 
HGA-12 said:
and I don't ?

I have loads of Priorities: what my yard looks like ( first impressions)the Running of my yard and the appearance of my yard to visitors and guests and livery's is included in that list.

I appreciate some don't care or can't be bothered or have more important things they would rather do.
When its a livery choice to choose their yard, I want them to see my yard is clean with well cared for fields and happy friendly yard with good facilities and to do that it includes de pooing what ever size acreage I have. :)
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I applaud your desire for a nice yard appearance and attraction of liveries.
You'd probably be very surprised (pleasantly) if I showed you the standards I keep (bar the poo-picking).
Alas, my 10 hour working days, plus the need to keep horse competition fit on top, plus the usual house/family/dog committments means shovelling poop from a pitch black field in the winter is bottom of my priority.
 
I poo pick every weekend but if I have time off from work, I would do it daily. Sadly quite enjoy doing this - find it therapeutic
 
Fii said:
Crows make great poo spreaders, i let them get on with it! ;)
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Sniggers! I love it when the crows help! I rotate my fields, and harrow each one as I move the horses out of it. I do a bit of poo picking, but it's not a priority. I don't judge peoples standards by what they do with horse poo - I judge them on whether their horses are happy, healthy and loved.
 
Err..never!? It's a big field though, not a little paddock. They make a few piles, and graze round them. I used my back garden (0.7 acre) as a small paddock a fair bit this winter, and they didn't poo on it once - used their open stables as toilets! The poo was fair enough, but I could have done without the pee...
 
I have 10 acres divided up into 9 padocks and a track. I sacrifice 2 paddocks for my 2 geldings in winter and they are out 24/7 and I leave the poo. The girls and pony have 2 paddocks and are stabled from October to May at night and turned out during the day - no depooing.

I depoo daily from now until October - or until it gets wet. We harrow and roll in the spring and fertilise and weedkill. Then in October we spread the rotted muck back onto the fields as fertiliser.

I am with you wagtail - I prefer to do 2 lots of depooing morning and evening rather than 1 big job to leaving it for longer. It also means I have time to inspect the paddocks thoroughly for ragwort and any rabbit damage/holes. It is also some social time with my horses - they enjoy following me depooing for a stroke.
 
Usually once a week, sometimes every other. There's only two of them out there and there's no grass so they don't poo very much haha
 
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