Poo-Picking

[ILuvCowparsely]

What a stupid comment. That's as bad as the idiot Telegraph readers that say if people can afford horses then they can afford to rid the countryside of ragwort themselves.

No it is not. This is a forum and I said IMO in the post , whether you like it or not.

 

[ILuvCowparsely]

I find your posts entertaining, if only for the sweeping generalisation that if you are rich enough to have large fields you can afford machinery - what planet are you on?

I don't poo pick, the grazing is great and my horses are healthy and worm free and therefore I don't have this neurotic need to pick my fields every day of the year. I grew up on a dairy farm and grazed my horses alongside cattle, my outlook on picking fields over is probably a little different to if I had bogstandard paddock maintenance to do.

What I don't understand in why there are quite so many people out there who religiously pick fields but don't deragwort - that's a no brainer.

glad you find it amusing . That has made my day.

And by the way the planet I am on must be different to yours. As where I come from your entitled to have an opinion or view and since I said IMO.

So your saying yard owners with large acreage are broke? they must have money or they could not afford to buy it in the first place.

 

[ILuvCowparsely]

I grew up on a dairy farm and grazed my horses alongside cattle, my outlook on picking fields over is probably a little different to if I had bogstandard paddock maintenance to do.

.

This explains a lot.



Put it to the vote I bet liveries would prefer a yard that poo picks. Certainly that IS the case round here as visitors always ask us if we de poo, and when we say yes they say good.

 

[MotherOfChickens]

see, if I had large acreage, that I could rest for 6-9months after harrowing, I wouldn't poo pick either. But having more limited land then I accept that I have to. Not poopicking for 3 years by the last tenant and not harrowing, knackered the land I have now with lawns of overgrazed grass and huge rough patches the horses wouldn't eat. I have neither money or machinery

goodness people, be nice-stop having a go at people for the amount of ***** they do or don't shovel!

 

[justabob]

glad you find it amusing . That has made my day.

And by the way the planet I am on must be different to yours. As where I come from your entitled to have an opinion or view and since I said IMO.

So your saying yard owners with large acreage are broke? they must have money or they could not afford to buy it in the first place.

Now you are just being ridiculous.

 

[ILuvCowparsely]

Now you are just being ridiculous.

why??
Since £50 acre yard is worth 2.5 million they do have money so they should be able to afford £ 2000 for a poo picker upper.

We all have opinions they differ from others. Some of us on here hate the look of fields covered in old droppings, you find more flies too.

We / I speak for the poo pickers, like to have clean fields specially when non horsey members of the family walk out to the field and have to tip toe around piles of poo. its personal choice and yes we don't understand why people who take pride in mucking out their stable but are prepared to leave the fields covered.

Equally the same can be said the other way, you find it a waste of time/ can't be bothered/ harrow what ever, can't understand why we spend time out there removing it. This discussion every time its brought up goes round and round. We just have to accept each others view, regardless of our opinions on it. I accept it just can't understand it. hey ho.

Why don't we do a poll and see what LIVERY people want when they go to a yard since they are the ones who are paying for a service. Their opinions mean a lot.

Since my recent livery (3 weeks ago) said to me they had a choice of two yards, mine and another in the area. She said mine has the edge as we de poo the fields and we maintain them well.

At the end of the day what ever the yard does in its running by services, maintenance, will always differ from the next. Potential liveries know what they like.

Yard owners / managers can argue this topic till the cows come home. The end result the same, the customers choice who they choose.

 

[Nic]

No it is not. This is a forum and I said IMO in the post , whether you like it or not.

Practice what you preach then & don't tell others that their opinions are "utter crap".

We inherited land & not money for a field hoover, so IMO your statement that those with acreage can afford machinery is in fact utter crap.

 

[justabob]

I think Leviathan you suffer from avarice and really dislike people with acreage. In reality the people that have larger paddocks than you, are farmers, they are trying to earn a living from their land, sheep cattle and the fortunate among us that can graze our horses on this land. With this privilage comes hard work and a constant routine, milking twice a day, lambing in spring, clipping, silaging, I could go on and on. So in the great scheme of things poo picking is not on the scale of things our main priority. Yes we have big fields but run the horses as a sideline to farming. Now give up and go and make another Hi-Viz bridle. Goodnight.

 

[ILuvCowparsely]

Practice what you preach then & don't tell others that their opinions are "utter crap".

We inherited land & not money for a field hoover, so IMO your statement that those with acreage can afford machinery is in fact utter crap.

It is not Cr4p as you so politly said. Maybe not in your case but in alot of cases it does as I meantioned a 50 acred property I was using one near me as an example.

So whether you agree with poo picking or not. Opinions will always be different either do it or not. I don't care what any one else does on their land.

I gave my opinion on poo picking as others did.

 

[justabob]

It is not Cr4p as you so politly said. Maybe not in your case but in alot of cases it does as I meantioned a 50 acred property I was using one near me as an example.

So whether you agree with poo picking or not. Opinions will always be different either do it or not. I don't care what any one else does on their land.

I gave my opinion on poo picking as others did.

You need more to do in your life quite frankly.

 

[ILuvCowparsely]

I think Leviathan you suffer from avarice and really dislike people with acreage. In reality the people that have larger paddocks than you, are farmers, they are trying to earn a living from their land, sheep cattle and the fortunate among us that can graze our horses on this land. With this privilage comes hard work and a constant routine, milking twice a day, lambing in spring, clipping, silaging, I could go on and on. So in the great scheme of things poo picking is not on the scale of things our main priority. Yes we have big fields but run the horses as a sideline to farming. Now give up and go and make another Hi-Viz bridle. Goodnight.

OMG !! what a silly childish response. What has a bridle got to do with this thread???

I go back to OP coment like others I like my fields cleared daily It is up to others if they do it or no

end of.

 

[ILuvCowparsely]

thankyou but with 3 buisness I own working from 6.30am till 9pm I have enough to do thankyou.

Now drop it I am moving to another thread bye bye.

 

[Nic]

It is not Cr4p as you so politly said.

You realise I was quoting your polite response to another user?

 

[JillA]

What an interesting thread - how defensive people get when they feel under pressure to poo pick or not to poo pick depending on which side of the fence their starting point is. You do what your reasoning and your research have suggested is the best thing for you - why should you feel that pressure I wonder?
Oh, and BTW - I mortgaged myself to within an inch of my life to buy my land, so the theory that all people with land have oodles of cash to spare doesn't stack up.

 

[1stclassalan]

Well, I see that this thread has deteriorated to levels of personal abuse - surprise, surprise!

Reading through the rants I offer my twopenarth:-

Despite me coming out in favour of poo-picking - I KNOW - it's largely cosmetic because any bugs and diseases in the poo have long since migrated out into the grass before you get to it - unless you were to put your horse in nappies!

At one yard I was on, the owner was a billionairess, yet she and I often poo picked the turn out by hand ( or fork) the idea of spending money on a machine to do this job was an anathema to both of us. She drove the most disgusting landrover in the village and would bill you for using the kettle in the feed room but on the otherhand, forked out several millions when the farm next door came up. That place was rather run down so she set about doing it up to the proper standard by getting me to do it - hahaha!

Another non-Horsey landowner I met, used every penny of their dot.com bonus to buy a property and then didn't have the wherewithal to maintain it, upset and insulted most of the local tradesmen who now won't serve her - me included! I used to serve the previous owner who not only saw eye to eye with me on most matters but also wished to improve the place, the new owner objected to watering the lawn!! To me, a three million pound house should have a decent lawn - with stripes round it - no weeds, emerald sward ( the equivalent of poo picked paddocks ) and if you don't want to look after it or pay someone else to do so - bu**eroff and live in a city!!!

Many farmers live and work in agricultural squalour - some really do work and all the hours god sends - but not many so there's always work left undone that should be done as a matter of course - the fully maintained, beautifully farmed farm is a very rare animal indeed. Add into that mix, a sideline bit of Horseyculture and I guarantee you skimped livery provision - so wouldn't bring them into this conversation at all.

 

[Squeak]

*Stupid question alert*

What happens if we don't poo pick? (Aside from worms and grass sickness). Will the fields just become worn out and ruint? Is it really just a cosmetic thing?

 

[Crazy Friesian]

6 horses / ponies, 4 acres, flat land at bottom of a valley so everything washes off. Only been on the land 2 years. Rife with RW but deal with as and when (not gonna change it in a heart beat... :-/ ). Not fab lush grazing or a thick sward...

Poo pick when I can tho not spotless - yes I do have a poo picker, but its broken so use quad n trailer. Fields look bad as have just recovered from a stuffed knee...

Uber healthy horses. Go figure... :-/

 

[MotherOfChickens]

*Stupid question alert*

What happens if we don't poo pick? (Aside from worms and grass sickness). Will the fields just become worn out and ruint? Is it really just a cosmetic thing?

if you don't poo pick and don't harrow-well, the midden areas spread and you get alot of coarse grass and weeds growing there which the horses won't eat (unless they absolutely have to). You get 'lawns' of more desirable grass that then get overgrazed and eventually the coarse areas outweigh the good stuff. At that stage sheep won't/can't eat it either. If you have oodles of grazing its not so much of a problem, but if you are on the limit-or overstocked as many people/yards are, it can become a problem and take a fair bit of work to sort out.

I do know someone though, who's so obsessed with poo picking that she doesn't actually do anything with her 3 horses-has them in stabled in the winter, in overnight in the summer and never rides-seems like alot of effort but not alot of fun to me.

 

[RunToEarth]

glad you find it amusing . That has made my day.

And by the way the planet I am on must be different to yours. As where I come from your entitled to have an opinion or view and since I said IMO.

So your saying yard owners with large acreage are broke? they must have money or they could not afford to buy it in the first place.

Yes, I respect you have an opinion but I disagree with comments like "it is not good for the grass" because I believe them to be categorically incorrect - there are other ways of land management asides from poo picking...

No, I was not saying that yard owners with large acreage are broke, I am not sure where you picked that up from. I found it entertaining that you believe everyone with a good few acres can afford machinery, because again, that is untrue, perhaps more in agriculture than horseyculture, but there is no underlying rule that dictates that everyone with acres can afford the earth.

 

[FfionWinnie]

Sometimes I do sometimes I don't. I can harrow and graze with cattle and sheep so less of a deal.

Don't like seeing weeds tho.

 

[Goldenstar]

if you don't poo pick and don't harrow-well, the midden areas spread and you get alot of coarse grass and weeds growing there which the horses won't eat (unless they absolutely have to). You get 'lawns' of more desirable grass that then get overgrazed and eventually the coarse areas outweigh the good stuff. At that stage sheep won't/can't eat it either. If you have oodles of grazing its not so much of a problem, but if you are on the limit-or overstocked as many people/yards are, it can become a problem and take a fair bit of work to sort out.

I do know someone though, who's so obsessed with poo picking that she doesn't actually do anything with her 3 horses-has them in stabled in the winter, in overnight in the summer and never rides-seems like alot of effort but not alot of fun to me.

It does not happen if you never let the horses on the land after worming and you rotate and rest the land and top regularily .
You have a healthly population of beetles etc to do the work for you.
I don't poo pick except in the tiny tiny paddocks never have no worm burden whatsoever because I top rotate and rest.
I can see the point in those awful overstessed paddocks yousee in livery yards but if you got space there are much better and easier ways to manage it.

 

[Daffodil]

I'm fanatical about it. 3 horses on nearly 3 acres of land and I poo pick twice daily. No real chance of rotating fields, and could only section off areas to rest them which doesn't work as my boy will walk straight through any electric tape if he sees more grass on the other side .

 

[Shantara]

Getting sick to death of it! YM insists on a full barrow every single day (when I know Ned does just over half) so it's not a fair system.
The liveries with 1 horse end up doing much more than they should and those with more horses (such as YM, who has 6, I think)
Hopefully soon I should either be at a yard that doesn't do it (MASSIVE fields) or in a farmers field, who also doesn't do it.

 

[MileAMinute]

It's in our livery contract to do it. I don't mind it if I manage to do it every day. It's when I forget/run out of time/too tired and then it goes to pot and my OCD starts bugging me that it needs doing!
I like the fields being clear anyway, it's aesthetically pleasing amongst other things

 

[MotherOfChickens]

It does not happen if you never let the horses on the land after worming and you rotate and rest the land and top regularily .
You have a healthly population of beetles etc to do the work for you.
I don't poo pick except in the tiny tiny paddocks never have no worm burden whatsoever because I top rotate and rest.
I can see the point in those awful overstessed paddocks yousee in livery yards but if you got space there are much better and easier ways to manage it.

well, I did say that if you don't also harrow (and I always take it that land is rested and topped) and if you have lots of ground. I didn't mention worm burdens? It does knacker the grass-I've seen it knacker the grass, I am paying the price of the grass being knackered (by previous tenant) by not poo picking, not harrowing and not having massive amounts of grazing (although with 12 acres of good Scottish ground between 4 horses and 2 ponies split into 2 groups of 3, we are much better stock wise than most). So I have to say, that not poo picking does knacker the grass because I've seen it do so.

I also know more than I care to about grass sickness and am very wary of harrowing and not resting for several months. The thought of harrowing and grazing shortly after as have been suggested by some on other threads makes my blood run cold. However, I look after my own land and my own horses and am relieved I am no longer at a livery yard.

 

[fatpiggy]

It is my opportunity to check how my grazing is doing - look out for ragwort rosettes, rabbit scrapes, patches of various weeds, how the grass is holding together. And to keep an eye out for those missing shoes, dogs toys and other foreign bodies I do it daily, to keep on top of it and it doesn't take more than half an hour for three horses, in about 2.5 acres (summer paddocks or track).

Couldn't agree more. I like a field to look at least tidy and to be honest, if I went looking at a yard and saw multiple piles of poo all over the grazing, I wouldn't go back for a second viewing. I suppose I'm used to semi-urban horse keeping where there are usually too many horses for the acreage so keeping the fields in good order is doubly important. As for harrowing the poo, well that may work if you live in the SE which is technically a semi-arrid region but anywhere west of the central line is rather cooler and wetter so harrowing is nowhere near guaranteed to kill the worms by dessication.

 

[suestowford]

I timed myself yesterday and it took me eight minutes to pick up all poos in the field and tip them on the dungheap. Not long is it?
Fatpiggy, it's not only urban areas where animals are kept on small plots. I'm rural, and on an upland area, you wouldn't think I'd have to worry about too much grass would you? Yet I have to restrict grazing for my two as they are very good doers. If I put them on cattle pasture they'd be crippled within a week. I only have 2, I have 7 acres in all for them, but at the moment am only using about three quarters of an acre in all as there is far too much grass. I shall be glad of the extra come winter though
Do you think I could convince my OH that I really need another pony to help eat it all up?

 

[Derfette]

I poo pick twice a day every day at the moment. So nice when you see a lovely clean field. Helps to prevent worms and reduce the amount of flies. Can't so much in the winter as I work full-time. IMO it should be done a much as possible.

 

[Spring Feather]

I honestly think my liveries would laugh at me if I suggested they poo picked. I don't poo pick and my fields are beautiful. But then I don't keep horses on tiny parcels of land and our land is maintained by harrowing, topping etc. I think if you have too small an area to house horses (which is common in the UK) then yes poo picking is probably a good idea but if you have large fields with small herds and a good management system then there's really no need to poo pick.

I also live in farming country and all land is farmed and tended properly. I have no ragwort on my farm, it's actually very rare to see ragwort over here. All of my big fields have smaller corral/paddocks of about 1-2 acres and tbh most of the horses poop in there. That's where their hay is so they don't graze in these areas. I do move the poo piles around hay feeders with the tractor a number of times a year and make large piles which a company comes and collects annually.

As for people who own large acreage having loads of money so they should buy mechanical poo pickers, lol. Even if I had loads of money I can think of so many more things I'd buy before a mechanical poo picker :smile3: End of the day, if you have a lot of land to graze horses on then it's neither here nor there whether you poo pick or not.

 

[Capriole]

As for people who own large acreage having loads of money so they should buy mechanical poo pickers, lol. Even if I had loads of money I can think of so many more things I'd buy before a mechanical poo picker :smile3:

Exactly. If by some unexpected miracle I actually had loads of spare money, I wouldn't want a mechanical poo picker anyway, not a fan of them.