Spreading Horse Muck!!

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Sweet Bella

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Hi, I'm new to this Forum but thought I'd see what you think about the following. I regularly (at least once a day) clear my fields of muck and my ponies always have a zero worm count. At the moment I'm resting a field and the farmer I rent from has spread old horsemuck all over it as he says it will produce better grass. I just don't get the fact that I clear it all away to avoid worms and then he spreads muck from other ponies fields as well as my own all over my grazing! Could have your comments and advise please - do I avoid that field now and tell him not to touch the others??? Thankyou
 
Providing it is well rotted then it will benefit the grazing. Ideally the grazing would benefit from resting until the muck gets washed in/eaten by worms etc.

Welcome to the forum by the way. :)
 
I don't see a problem, if the much has been properly spread and the field is being rested it should be ok surely?
 
If you compost the manure that you remove and leave it for about 12 months the composting will kill any parasites. It is then both safe and beneficial to spread back onto your pasture. You should allow time for the manure to "go in" before you put your horse back on there. It is low in nitrogen and high in humus (sp) which is good for fertilizing horse paddocks.
 
Wow, what lovely quick and knowledgeable replies. Thankyou. It is probably about 8 to 9 months old and I won't be back on that field until at least Spring so I guess OK. Thankyou everyone :)
 
Sorry (yet another hijack :o) was wondering how long you have to leave the composted muck to "sink into" the ground before using that field as grazing again?
 
It doesn't take long but you shouldn't be able to see it on top. A friend of mine does hers and it takes about 3/4 weeks to disappear.
 
Suelin said:
It doesn't take long but you shouldn't be able to see it on top. A friend of mine does hers and it takes about 3/4 weeks to disappear.
Click to expand...

Thanks, was wondering about this as my mum and I are looking to rent a field and had been trying to decide what would be best to do with our (ponies) muck :D
 
When I was swapping fields I would chain harrow the muck(ie my religious poo picking would cease for approx 3 weeks prior to move then chain harrow) it takes about 9 months for it to disappear and even then I would find some polystyrene poos in the grass. The only thing was it was my horses poo and not other horses.But mine would be off this field for a good 6-9months. Farmers do love to nitrogen grazing although I realise this is rotted manure instead, personally I dont think manure did benefit the grazing. I would leave the horses off as long as you can or until we have scorching weather to make sure its dried right up or leave as long as possible etc.
 
Muck - stable or farmyard - is the best thing to spread on grass land because not only does ity replace nutrients lost, it also encourages earthworm activity and adds organis matter. I hve 27 stables - most full most of the year - so we produce TONNES of the stuff. The two main muckheaps are emptied regularly onto secondary muckheaps, to rot down for at LEAST 6 months. They're piled as high as the tractor front loader will go (about 6 feet), pushed up and rammed down! By the time I come to spread it it's black gold!! The heat that builds up is so great that I have to be a bit careful spreading in hot, windy weather (haven't seen much of that in the last year) as it will actually catch fire! I can spread it so thick you can hardly see a blade of grass - and within a few weeks the grass is pushing through and you can't see ANY muck within 6 weeks!

When I first came to this farm, it was heavy red clay with less than half an inch of topsoil and NO earthworms. Now we have so many earthworms we have moles too! I am always amazed that people PAY to have this valuable commodity removed!
 
Thanks again everyone. I am lucky as I can miss out this field and probably just let it grow until next winter as both ponies really don't need lush grass (try telling the farmer that - a constant battle). He also insists on topping the grass to let it grow better. That is OK in the Summer, but last year he did it in October and so left me with one field of non existent winter grazing. I'm rapidly running out so hope it doesn't get too cold!! :mad:
 
Out of interest, on the same lines is it of any benefit to spread muck that hasn't rotted? We rotate every 3 weeks ish, and have three paddocks so each one is poo picked weekly and gets 6 weeks rest. It's only my own horses on there with no horses or livestock in the surrounding fields.

My dad always says he doesn't see the point in poo picking when he can just harrow it and let the rain bed it in, but I've no answer to why I poo pick. We probably won't spread our muck when it's rotted it just gets left on the muckheap! With only three horses it's not gotten much bigger in the six months we've had the land, but I do wonder sometimes if we're as well to spread it instead of poo picking, and sparing myself the blisters in the process!
 
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