How often do you poo pick your field?

[Cash]

And could you also say how big (roughly) your field is (ie little day paddock/several acres of grass

) and how much your horses are in it for every day. Oh and how many horses are in it.
Thanks

 

[orsceno1]

I have 2 out on about 2 acres 24/7. Ideally I poo pick daily every morning which takes about 10 mins. however I am pregnant at the mo and relying on hubby for help and he is not quite so keen! I find the more often its done the less horrible it seems!

 

[Lollii]

Never!

We harrow and rest fields, never poo picked - never will

BTW: Horses are worm tested every year - never been any worm burden

 

[Bert&Maud]

2 x 2 acre paddocks. Each have one horse in, turned out all day in winter and all night in summer, 24/7 spring & autumn if weather OK. I try to poo pick each day apart from in the winter when it only gets done when there's a spare 1/2 hour daylight and not so cold that my fingers freeze - so that means I haven't done it for about 2 weeks now and I'm so much looking forward to it (NOT!).

 

[dorani]

At the mo, not at all, they are all frozen to the ground! Normally with 4 horses I collect daily but been overtaken by the weather! Got around 3.5 acres and divide into as many areas as I wish with leccy fencing and some standard fencing.
What about you?

 

[Twizzel]

We have approx a 7 acre field, 2x 4acre fields and a 3 acre field (the whole lot make up 18 acres but those are approx sizes of each field!)... don't poo pick but I think they will be chain harrowed come summer. There's not normally any more than 4 horses at a time in each field and they are regularly rotated, one field has 2 horses out 24/7, the other fields are split between 8 horses of which 4-6 are normally in at night.

 

[soph21]

I have 10 acres set in 6 fields, 1 horse and about 9 ponies.
NEVER poo pick

 

[Godknows]

[ QUOTE ]
We have approx a 7 acre field, 2x 4acre fields and a 3 acre field (the whole lot make up 18 acres but those are approx sizes of each field!)... don't poo pick but I think they will be chain harrowed come summer. There's not normally any more than 4 horses at a time in each field and they are regularly rotated, one field has 2 horses out 24/7, the other fields are split between 8 horses of which 4-6 are normally in at night.

[/ QUOTE ]

Twizzel I have got to ask this and I promise I am not being picky. Do you think rotating the fields will stop the worms in the droppings?

Do you know how long they can lie dormant?

 

[cblover]

I have 2 horses and 1 pony on 3 acres and poo pick every day. I collect two barrows each morning! Bit of a thankless job but I class it as an essential one. All my neddies are worm counted and all have 'no eggs seen' results!

 

[jinglejoys]

When I see the local farmer chasing his cattle/sheep around with a shovel and barrow every day I might think about it

 

[kerilli]

Daily. i'm fussy! (didn't use to be though, since getting a gator i find it so much easier!)
in summer - 3 or 4 horses out on about 5 acres, and i do it twice a day, after feeding morning and evening.
at the moment - they're being turned out in the manege which is being poo-picked late afternoon when they come in.

 

[BigRed]

I do it daily when my horse and pony are in the tiny half acre field. When they are in the 3 acre field I never do it. My horses are worm tested clear each year.

FYI. I went to a vet lecture where the wormer company were bleating on about poo picking and the vet said " we never poo pick. We let the crows do it".

 

[Enfys]

[ QUOTE ]
And could you also say how big (roughly) your field is (ie little day paddock/several acres of grass

) <font color="red"> 1 x 1 acre =1 horse lives out. 1 x 0.5 acre = 2 minis, a foal and a goat. live out </font> and how much your horses are in it for every day. Oh and how many horses are in it.
Thanks

[/ QUOTE ]

I don't pick up at ALL in winter, muck is frozen to the ground and usually it is neatly covered by snow. I take the tractor in when the thaw comes and scrape the paddocks, they are both bare anyway and the horses are hayed in them most of the year so damage to grass doesn't matter. The only reason I pick those two at all rather than harrow, as I do the other pastures, is that they are too small, they are also overlooked by the house and are on the roadside, it is a purely cosmetic thing. The birds do a pretty good job of spreading it in summer.

 

[kylie88]

2 on an acre, out 24/7. poo pick everyday only takes 10mins.

 

[LankyDoodle]

When out 24/7 between April and November, once a day and it gives us 1-2 barrow loads for two horses.

When they come in at night we just do it on a Sat and Sun and get a total of about 4 barrow loads.

 

[RuthnMeg]

3 , 1 small pony, large pony and small horse on about 2 acres (winter grazing part 1). Don't poo pick, it gets harrowed when needed. Living out 24/7 but often rotate 'patches'. (3 x 2 acres, 1 x 1 acre). Also have sheep grazing on it while the horses are else where, don't know if it helps much but it seems to make the fields look better.

 

[PeterNatt]

Pick up poos every day with two in a one acre field. Have learnt the hard way that you can not rely on worm counts as they do not detect encysted emerging small red worms which can cause Laminitis.

Also I have found that by picking up the poos each day the grass does not sour and die under the poos and therefore keep good grazing.

 

[Lollii]

[ QUOTE ]
When I see the local farmer chasing his cattle/sheep around with a shovel and barrow every day I might think about it

[/ QUOTE ]

pmsl! can you imagine farmers poo picking after their animals, I think poo picking is quite a new 'thing' I'm not saying it is not the right thing to do if that is what you want, but I won't do it, the wormers do their job, it would be a wasted hour of hard labour everyday here at my yard!

 

[catdragon]

2 horses in 2 acres, done each week. Approx 3 barrows (1 to 1.5 hours in time to do) of poop per week.... laborious horror of a job when the ground is muddy, but a necessity at the livery yard (in my contract). My fieldmate does it one week, I do it the next.

 

[TelH]

I have approx 4-5 acres with 5 ponies between 8hh-14.1hh on it, they are all strip grazed with elec fence. Poo pick after the ponies come in at night, or sometimes leave it til the next morning but either way it gets done once in every 24 hours.

 

[Mabelsmum]

1 horse out 24/7 on area varying from 1/6 acre to 1 acre depending on time of year. (Horse is laminitic).

I poo pick twice daily, every day

 

[tedster]

we have 20arces with 10 ponies we rotate paddocks and we poo pick twice day without fail

ours are out 24/7 they are very fussy and wont graze until the field is cleared!!

 

[eggs]

20 acre field with 6 horses out full time never gets poo picked. Smaller fields (1 - 5 acres) get done daily in summer with horses (7) out full time and as often as the weather permits in winter! If the smaller fields are not done we lose too much grazing area to their toilets.

 

[only_me]

never

fields are big enough that its not needed, and we have 2 horses max (usually 1) on 6 acre field.
Other field has 2 horses in it and 8 acres
back field has 3 horses max and sectioned off, and they are rotated. its about 10 acres

There is a very small field (about half an acre) which has 2 horses but they are both on box rest as it where and have a large shelter for them both.

They are all wormed regularly though.

 

[flowerlady]

3 horses on approx 6 acres split into 3 individual sections. I pick up every day (it's actually easier when its frozen it comes up in one lump

) One of the others does it either once or twice a week and the other girl doesn't seem to bother we keep filling up her water as she doesn't seem to understand to take a flask or hot water to defrost the water pipes

 

[charlimouse]

I have 5 horses and a donkey on 6 acres. 3 horses and the donkey live out, and 2 horses are just out during the day. I muck my fields out everyday unless it is too frozen or snow covered. I normally get about 2 barrows off the fields daily and it takes about 30 mins.

 

[Prince33Sp4rkle]

iv got 5 acres total spilt in to 4 equal paddocks and each paddock has one horse and one pony on it (rotated, there are two summer paddocks and two winter, so only 2 in use at any one time)

they get done every day all year round,mine are never out overnight but if they every were id do it twice a day. looks nicer, keeps worm burden down and must make a difference to the flies in the summer????

i should add that my dad is a total field neat freak and mows the grass to perfect golf course standards and makes sure the weeds are pulled out as soon as they dare show themselves so if i didnt poo pick, his efforts would be totally spoilt!!!!

 

[ladybones]

Were lucky in that we currently have about 8acres with 5 horses on it. The farmer also keeps his free range chickens on it and i read somewhere that they often eat the eggs in the droppings (they certainly break it down alot.) So no poo picking for us but it is harrowed once a yr when they move fields.
We previously had less land and we would hire a poo hoover thing from a friend about quarterly.

 

[Katie__Connie]

I poo pick at least once a week in summer when the ponies (2) are on the small paddocks... but when they're in the big fields i don't bother because they get rotated around lots of fields to prevent them getting churned up (the fields not the ponies

)

 

[TicTac]

Every day and twice a day in the summer when horses are out 24/7