Poo picking heap - should it be fenced off?

laura_nash

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I've just moved to somewhere where I can keep my two boys (horse and companion pony) at home, so I'm suddenly faced with making decisions about stuff which has always been decided for me before.

I've put my muck heap somewhere quite a long distance from the field they are currently in, so I've been poo picking into a heap in their current field to then move it to the main heap later (we got a tractor with the house so this should be okay). Anyway, I've just taken down my strip grazing fence so they now have access to this small muck heap and I wasn't sure whether it should be fenced off? They seem to avoid grazing nearby, plus the pony (who was gelded late) tends to poo on it which is handy so I'd prefer not to, but is it pointless to poo pick if the horses have access to the pile?
 

L&M

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I wouldn't worry about it as unlikely they will go near it.

As we have separate summer and winter fields, we poo pick onto piles which rot down in the 6mnths they are rested, and have never had any problems.
 

laura_nash

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Thanks for the replies, sounds like I should be okay. They'll be yarded and out in a different field in winter, planning to only poo pick problem areas for hygiene (gateways etc) in the winter field and then harrow next year. I have 8 acres in total (in lots of small fields) for just the two of them so no lack of grazing, though I do want to keep the big ones for hay-making.

On the decent worming regime - My horse has been on a good worming / worm counts regime for 5 years and has been clear on his counts and tapeworm test for the last 3 years (since I started testing). The companion pony though is a rescue, no history before April and the rescue centre warned me they have a problem with resistance (they are totally snowed under at the moment). I wormed him as soon as I got him, no evidence of worms, then did a count after 90 days but haven't had the results back yet. Also, the previous renter of the field (our neighbour) has a mare who sometimes went in the field. He doesn't poo pick (thinks I'm crazy TBH, I don't think anyone poo picks around here) and apparently his worming regime is "a tube of something from the guy up the road once a year, not sure what it is"(!)
 

WelshD

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Mine aren't fenced off

New pony did decide to go wading in one though and ended up covered in muck to his knees and hocks - think he is going to be trouble!
 

SuperH

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Mine isn't fenced either. However they have stamped all over it and made the pile take up a lot more room than when it was neatly piled up so if you can I would fence it just because of this. I've since changed where I pile it but the original site is still a mess as it made it very difficult to clean up.
 

sandi_84

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The only reason I used to fence mine off was because my lad had figured out how to climb it to get out and go off on adventures to see the horses across the path (no road nearby just a path between fields) from us :)
 
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