Ridiculous question about horse muck!

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HaffiesRock

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Pony is currently in the fatty paddock for a couple of weeks as he came to me VERY fat. Its what I thought was a relatively bare paddock and he gets 1 small slice of hay (about 2lb and a stubbs scoop of healthy hooves once a day with a chopped up carrot)

Anyway, I poo pick daily and I am clearing around 15 - 20 poo's (almost a full barrow) a day!

Now this is where the ridiculous bit comes in. Obviously there must be stuff going in, to be coming back out. So my "bare" field is by no means bare! How much "in" comes out?! Ha ha!

I only really ask as my friends mare has trouble with her weight. She lost a lot last winter and never really gained it back. She was saying today she only clears around 2 barrows a week from her field when I am doing that every other day! She has more grass than me, but not much more.

Sorry if that sounds gobbledegook! Basically, how much should a horse poo a day? x
 
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The TB I have absolutely poos for britain! It is unbelievable the amount he can produce, a barrow a day at least on his old field! Harder to find them in new field but still about that. I think committed grazer is a good explanation, and at least we don't have to worry about their digestive system not having enough 'movement', his is always on the go!
 
I just did a google search and found this...
http://www.coopext.colostate.edu/boulder/sam/pdf/PastureGrazingCapacity.pdf

Interesting ! :D

It basically says that a grazing horse will eat on average, 3% of its bodyweight in 24 hours.
It even shows you how to work out how much grass per acre there is growing in your field, and how to calculate how many horses can graze there for a set period of time (90 days in the studies).

I'd guess that if your horse is eating 3% of it's bodyweight , then he/she will poo 3% of it's bodyweight as the figures are based on dry matter. ;)

Weigh your horse, calculate how much grass per acre (dry matter) is available as forage, calculate how much grass YOUR horse is eating in 24 hours (3% of bodyweight), then you will have the answer to your question.
(OR, you could always weigh a days worth of poo after leaving it to dry out first ;)).
 
I like my good doer to do about 8 in a 24 hour period (but he's currently doing about 10 which I'm not happy about) and my old TB who is fed loads does about 12 (the more the merrier in his case).

Sounds like you have more grass than you think. Can you not section a smaller patch off?
 
Its already a small patch. He is losing weight so it is working, just cant believe what comes out the other end when I thought so little was going in to start with! x
 
15 to 20 poohs per 24 hrs is a lot if you want him to lose weight. if my big boy does more than 7 in a night (on rest. grazing out from 5/6 pm til 8 am) i know he is hoovering! he comes in for the day has breakfast and 1 small wedge of hay and does about 4 poohs in the day. small dinner then out on restrictive grazing with 1 small wedge of hay. he is 17.1 and was a whopper, now just fat! sounds like yours is having too much, but the grass is growing like stink and the short stuff is much higher than long old tatty stuff,
 
My lad probably does about 9 to 10 poos a day, however since he has been described as having an elephant's rectum :o it's still the equivalent of one very large barrow of poo a day to pick up!
 
My fatty (ex fatty really) does 5 in his box between 7pm and 8am and prob another 5 while in the paddock. His is a 1/4 acre paddock that is bowling green short ie very very short. He gets a net at night of 4kg
 
the kids 12hh pony on a bald (and it was bald) paddock did enough to fill a barrow a day, more than my 16.2hh and 15.1hh on plentiful grazing put together, i never did work out why/how but maybe they were throwing grass over the fence when noone was looking :D
 
Rueysmum said:
I like my good doer to do about 8 in a 24 hour period (but he's currently doing about 10 which I'm not happy about) and my old TB who is fed loads does about 12 (the more the merrier in his case).

Sounds like you have more grass than you think. Can you not section a smaller patch off?
Click to expand...

This was the max amount for my old boy too(RIP) if it went above that I knew it was too much. 14.1 h solid cob good doer ate for England.
 
I have a 15.2hh cob that poohs for an 18.2hh horse, it's just not funny any more. I mucj him out, bed down, in the evening, and by the morning, it's just pooh, ll straw gone, and enough pooh for about 3 horses. would love some advice!!!!
 
first the good news... none of your horses have impacted colic!!! :D

secondly, IME, mares produce more than geldings - so as yours is a boy, look on the bright side, it could be worse...!

now, a stiff word with you all...
you MUST be more scientific - a poo is not a reliable measure - as no 2 poos are identical...
this is insufficiently scientific...

a wheelbarrow percentage is better but there is no British Standard for wheelbarrow capacity... the barrows on my yard differ significantly...

therefore please use the industry standard (as of now) 'bucket' measure in all future correspondance... ;)

FYI mine are averaging 4 buckets on restricted grazing at the mo

and remember that it takes 2-3 days to go through the system... so you won't notice an immediate change in 'output' on change of 'input'....

and you'll need to add in any poos produced whilst ridden into your equations too..

poo-picking requires effort!
but poo-calibration shows real dedication... :D
.
 
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