Manure

Thanks TFF. Yes we pile it up but I just wondered what others do once piled if not getting it collected. Do you just leave it to rot down ?
 
Muck heap, which is currently massive but most of which will hopefully get taken away in the autumn by the guys from the allotments down the lane and a local garden maintenance man. Farmer charges a fortune to remove it.
 
The farmer will charge a fortune if you include rubbish in your manure. At £300 - £400 a tonne for artificial fertiliser, mine is regarded as a valuable by-product and put back on the land -- or harrowed in.
 
Dry Rot said:
The farmer will charge a fortune if you include rubbish in your manure. At £300 - £400 a tonne for artificial fertiliser, mine is regarded as a valuable by-product and put back on the land -- or harrowed in.
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Think it cost me £300 to have it removed last time (it was well rotted with no weeds). And he knocked a wall down.
 
I bag it up and give it away. I also have a heap in the field that rots down. Luckily I have someone wanting it all and is collecting it weekly so that will get rid of it.
 
I place manure collected around half of it, on the trees surrounding my 5 acre paddocks the rest i leave to the dung beetles to improve my land. sunny australia
 
I have about 2.5 acres split into three. One field has one muckheap in the corner, the other two have two each. We rotate which heap we are using - we currently have two really well-rotted heaps ready to be bagged and given away. I save my feed bags all year!
I take quite a few bags for my own small garden as the soil is terrible, the same again for my grandma's house next door to mine, my mum had a massive garden and veg plot so that takes a lot, then the rest we bag and leave outside the front gate (a footpath runs in front of our field) for people to take. Anything left (that we don't have the energy to bag up) can be moved back into the hedgerow and then we have a clear space to start again. We have lovely thick hedges!
 
theot said:
I place manure collected around half of it, on the trees surrounding my 5 acre paddocks the rest i leave to the dung beetles to improve my land. sunny australia
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But do you have worm problems Downunder? I was speaking to an American who could not understand our British obsession with equine worms and wormers. I explained it away as being due to us having less land and a damp and warm climate, but sometimes I believe it is paranoia created by those who sell wormers!

Lots of stories about horses becoming so infested with worms that they die but for some reason they are all stories someone has heard or being told by vets and those who sell wormers. Oh, and graphic illustrations in books or on the Internet. Call me an old sceptic but....

Mostly harrow and rotate here, some poo picking (by machine), and minimal worming. Haven't seen a worm in poo for ages. I was staggered to read (on the packet) that foals should be wormed every six weeks. It is every six months here (if they are lucky)!
 
lelly said:
I bag it up and give it away. I also have a heap in the field that rots down. Luckily I have someone wanting it all and is collecting it weekly so that will get rid of it.
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I bag it up and sell it at the gate - Pure manure, no straw etc - 50p a bag, honesty box on the gate. Local allotment people buy loads, and if the muck heap gets a bit overwhelming I advertise on Ebay - they come to buy from miles away! Lucky with the bags; a friend has a stud and uses a lot of feed so I recycle them, and the allotment people also leave their compost bags as well as returning empties. Bonus is I get the left over carrots from allotments for the horses!
 
greetings from down under, i only have one pony that is wormed when due after worm count done, on the land, and i feel because im out there most days picking up, manure is fresh it dosnt take long to make a :hot compost: and it breaks down beautifully to feed the earthworms and the huge cyprus trees that surround the land, a warm climate helps for sure . ps, you are not an old sceptic, smiles from sunny australia
 
Dry Rot said:
Lots of stories about horses becoming so infested with worms that they die but for some reason they are all stories someone has heard or being told by vets and those who sell wormers. Oh, and graphic illustrations in books or on the Internet. Call me an old sceptic but....
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you old sceptic :p

thing is, horses/ponies not done well in early life may have worm damage that you don't know is worm damage and then shows as something else later in life - colic etc. It's young horses and much older ones that are more susceptible. It does seem less of a problem in sunnier climes-down to different grazing and grazing practices maybe, or the lack of UV in the UK!
 
Our beds are shavings on rubber mats and the muck is put in garden compost or horse feed bags straight from the stables and left near the front entry. Neighbours with large gardens take most of it, others take a few bags now and then. We haven't had a muck heap for years.
 
I have had different arrangements over the years.

I have bagged it up fresh straight into rubble sacks, fertiliser bags or feed bags and left it by the gate. I made a "free manure, please take & return the bags" notice.
I was on a busy road and never had any hanging around it all went as soon as I put it out. My pal also does this but she charges a £1 a bag it all goes, she has an honesty box.

At one time we had a chap from a local allotment collect. He parked a largish trailer in the paddock, we skipped muck straight into it and he would come and collect it when full. Might be worth trying your local allotment if there is one nearby, they might have someone wanting to do similar.

I currently poo pick in the summer, we have Osier beds here so I chuck it at the feet of the willow.
I don't bother in the winter and chain harrow in spring. I have not had eggs in worm count samples for several years but I am able to rest the winter paddocks for a good part of the year.
I think the best solution depends on your set up.
 
We don't poo pick we never harrow 'dirty ' paddocks we only ever harrow clean fields coming out of a long rest .
We do however poo pick fatties starvation track the poo goes on the muckheap which is moved to the big heap once a year every two years we spread it on the winter field
So the youngest muck that goes on is over a year old .
We have zero and I mean zero worm burden it's been like this for years I only ever worm for tape worms .
I think it's down to stocking levels and a strict system of rotating paddocks.
 
Fields are poo picked, rolled/harrowed/sprayed when out of rotation.
Poo goes off in a JCB bucket (emptied every 2 days) into a big heap at top of farm. This is turned several times when we are doing the greenwaste heaps. Makes lovely compost eventually. Gets tested for N levels etc before being spread on field.
 
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