What do you do - re poo removal?

[MotherOfChickens]

I'd like to see some scientific studies on the value/harm of harrowing. I really don't know.

On the one hand, we are told harrowing just spreads the worms, on the other we are advised not to let poo samples get warm when doing counts or all the eggs will hatch and invalidate the count.

Which is it?

I think I'm just going to buy a few sheep....

harrowing spreads the worm eggs so that horses can get reinfected, this country is not cold enough to kill worm eggs and we don't have enough UV to kill 'em either.
there have been studies done showing the risk of not poo picking and the risk of harrowing and mechanical poo picking in grass sickness.

 

[ILuvCowparsely]

we have a small Kubota tractor and trailer, we attach the ragi fork on the back so we d ragwort as we de poo.
We have good grazing, farmer does harrow all the fields (4 paddocks) 2 of which the horses in , but there is only 1 or 2 fresh poos when he does it as its morning he does it so not much out there are it was done the night before, I get 3/4 trailer out of the 4 acres per day, but then the horses are out there from 3pm till 7 am.

 

[JillA]

We have consistently had clear egg counts, so as far as I am concerned poo picking is about the quality of the grass (no lawns and roughs) not parasite eggs and larvae. Not so easy on a commercial yard but nothing grazes here unless it has a clear FEC or a good wormer immediately before it comes. If there are none in the horses, the grazing can't get infested, and if there are some in the horses, the grazing will carry them unless you can remove the droppings immediately they land. No-one can do that.

 

[Squeak]

By whom, Squeak? Who decides what is a muck heap and what is just a pile of poo? Or what is a field and what is part of a yard? I would want to know under what legislation and who enforces.

It was my landowner who told me that it wasn't legal and I don't want to cause problems so I just accepted... It all seems a bit mad though!

 

[3Beasties]

Could everyone take a barrow load out a day? That should easily keep on top of it, in fact if only 3/4 of you did a barrow a day that would probably be enough.

I currently have 2 horses and a pony on an acre and a half, I get a full barrow load a day!

 

[asmp]

3beasties - I wish! My two 14.2s are producing nearly 2 barrow loads a day and I don't know how. They are being strip grazed with just a sliver of fresh grass twice a day and the rest of the field looks brown and dead.

 

[stencilface]

We have 5 (well 4 as mine has been on box rest for 3 months now!) on 12 acres split into 3 fields. Between grazings they get harrowed and rested, and when they are on smaller manageable paddocks (in summer when theres lots of grass) they get poo picked, not religiously but it gets done. Our field is steep and a PITA, I'm not about to poo pick the lot as frankly I have better things to do with my time!