Old Hay in muddy gateways?

[Achinghips]

Have about five old cobwebby bales left in barn from previous owners. Someone suggested laying it in a tile type pattern in slices in one of my clay soil gateways to stop it getting even more churned up. Is this a viable option or will I be creating mushy, thatched quagmire and colicky horses if I do so. What we think?

 

[cob&onion]

I think it would be okay for a week or so then just sink again with all this rain we keep having
I had woodchip down one year, loads of it and it disappeared within a few weeks!

 

[sandi_84]

Have about five old cobwebby bales left in barn from previous owners. Someone suggested laying it in a tile type pattern in slices in one of my clay soil gateways to stop it getting even more churned up. Is this a viable option or will I be creating mushy, thatched quagmire and colicky horses if I do so. What we think?

I scrape up all the stuff that inevitably gets dropped on the floor and rained on every week or so and put it down in my gateway, the horses don't seem to want it as it gets trampled into the mud pretty quick and the rain seems to take out all the "tasty good".
I don't really think it helps for long though, maybe if I'd started putting it down before my gateway became a bog it would work better but I waited too long again and now use it to build a less boggy path for the wheelbarrow but within a couple of days it's a bog again It doesn't seem to "hurt" the ground though, come spring/summer time though it firms back up again and just looks like the rest of the ground.

 

[TwyfordM]

I think it would be okay for a week or so then just sink again with all this rain we keep having
I had woodchip down one year, loads of it and it disappeared within a few weeks!

That ^ nothing you can do at the mo really

 

[JillA]

Hay is better than straw as it doesn't rot as quickly. I have put the old dregs in mine and it is slightly better as in it isn't just deep liquid mud but liquid mud with a little structure to it - mostly they have trodden it into lumps and holes, but at least I can step from lump to lump if I do have to negotiate it

 

[poiuytrewq]

I've just put a pile in the gate to my muck heap as I was unable to get my barrow through it and it's worked wonders. However it's not got horses on it just me and a few barrows a day so that might make a big difference.

 

[wildwest]

yes it will be fine it will go v quicly in this weather though

 

[webble]

We do this in our gateway and it does help. As others have said it goes quickly though

 

[BlackRider]

deep woodchip is the best, although ours went on when it was dry, so I'm not sure what it would do now..

 

[Tiddlypom]

Wouldn't hay go slimy and smelly as it rots down? It did when I used to put hay out in the field, and it made a disgusting mess that I would have to tidy up in the spring.

I tipped left over drainage stone in my gateway, I moved a big pile by wheelbarrow over the course of about 3 weeks in the autumn. Its best to put it down when its really muddy, and it binds with the mud and becomes a really firm surface. The stones are too big to get picked up in the horse's feet, but they compact down to give a nice flat surface.

Its been an absolute godsend this winter. I am going to get more stone delivered so that I can extend the area covered.

 

[Fransurrey]

I have put old hay under grass mats to stop them sinking. That has worked well. Don't think it would last long, otherwise.

 

[hayinamanger]

I do this, it's a big help. I really wouldn't use shavings, they absorb so much water and never dry out, leaves a hideous bog for months.

 

[Ibblebibble]

i did it with some old haylage that had got wet, left it in wedges and it held together quite well even with 3 horses going over it daily. even when it goes a bit mushy it doesn't hold on to your feet like mud does

 

[Goldenstar]

I have used shavings , we took the dropping out and put them on the muckheap them finished mucking out the boxes and dumped the shavings in the offending gate way ,
We kept topping it up and knocking it flat it worked ok better than the mud anyway .it disappeared in summer .

 

[Polos Mum]

I tried this and invented a new winter olympic sport - hay slice water skiing! Our mud isn't too bad as they don't loiter round the gateway but I had a dodgy bale that I though would make a nice path for me through the sloshy bits - because it's more water than mud the slices just slid over the water and made it even more slippy! I'm sure it'll bed in a bit!

 

[Achinghips]

Lol at polosmum.....


It's been a success, put two bales down of old stuff that they wouldn't eat, it's marvellous, hardy gypsy cob has a little nibble on it and it's made a lovely carpet, don't expect it to last long though as others have said