Poached gate area

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missshell

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We have had ALOT of rain over the "summer" and the ground around the field gate is poached. Is it worth putting some old straw down?
 
I would try and get hold of some old wool carpet, works really well to try to keep the gateways less muddy! I got some huge peices from my neighbours when they got a new carpet, you will get it for nothing if you ask around and grass eventually grows through it but holds the ground together!
 
Straw will only be any use for a few days. After that, it gets ground into the mud and is at least as slimy and horrible as the mud itself. Either close your eyes tight and tell yourself it will soon be spring or invest in some honeycomb mats.
 
Agreed with BOF straw is very short term Either honey cob mats ofr 4 ton of scalpings laid over a membrane old carpet would probably do then rolled flat(well slightly higher in the middle for drainage.
 
What we have done with all our gateways is dug them out about 18inches put some small hardcore in them and then covered them with road plannings, we did this 3years ago and it has worked wonders at stopping the poaching by the gate and we then dug a ditch along the front of the fields but a perforated drainage pipe in and covered with shingle and this seems to draw the water off the fields as well, our fields are flat with no inclines, it didn't cost much either as they were resurfacing the roads near us so we got the plannings that they were taking off the road and someone had lots of hardcore from a small demolition job so we took that, luckily we have a JCB and we have a local drainage company who do cheap drainage so each gateway cost 1/2 hour of owners time and I think the drain along the front which is about 200yrds long cost about £200 and a couple of hours to do and has made it so our fields can be used for 98% of the winter.
 
I have done similar to eoe. I dug out an area in the gateway to about 18 inches deep, put down a permeable membrane and then put scalpings on top. This has lasted for about 6 years. If you just put down scalpings they will eventually just be pushed into the ground, if you put down a membrane first then they remain on top and form a really compact non slip surface. I feed hay on mine in the winter as it keeps it from being trampled into the mud and the horse can stand on relatively clean and dry ground.
 
The trick is when you dig out to ensure that you remove all the top soil as that is constantly moving and that's what would absorb your hardcore - if you do this you don't necessarily have to use a membrane
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Love the carpet idea!
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Kate x
 
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