What do you do - re poo removal?

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cappucino

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Currently 7 horses on 8 acre field. Just wondering how anyone removes the poo?

Is a monthly harrowing sufficient? Though YM is now saying that this isn't going to happen!

At the moment, can't see how to manage poo picking with 7 owners, does anyone else do this? How do you manage to stay on top of it all?

Thanks
 
Fields are harrowed and rolled, and horses moved on to fresh pasture. Do the horses actually have any grass to eat?
 
With that ratio, I'd be out there every morning and evening. Actually I do that anyway, but that's a lot of poo for basically just over an acre per horse.

The flies must be horrendous.

As for sorting out poo picking...easy. 7 horses, 7 days in a week....each horse owner does one day. If an owner has more than one horse, they do more than one day....as their animals are producing more poo than those with only one horse.

Simples :)
 
I agree, everyone should do a day a week. I used to take it in turns weekly when there were 3 or 4 of us but I think one day a week would be better. Now I'm at a yard where it's individual turnout I'm doing it twice a day and it doesn't take very long. Was once at a large yard where they harrowed it and I did wonder how on earth the horses were supposed to eat anything when the poo had been spread all over the surface.
 
could you not all club together and get a set of small chain harrows if the owner is unwilling to do or at the very least borrow hers and do it between you?

i have 4 acres and rotate between one acre sized paddocks every 1-2 weeks, when they leave a paddock i chain harrow, takes around 15-20 mins max with a 5ft set of harrows, use my 4x4 to tow. think they cost around £150 so around £20 each if you all put in. even if you cant rotate paddocks harrowing every week would be alot easier than trying to get everyone to poo pick.

admittedly its my own field so it does make it a hole lot easier, but it can be done if you are all willing to work together
 
Just re read the original post and realised its an 8 acre field - that sounds a lot to walk around twice a day!
 
I wouldn't be happy with harrowing grazing if the horses are still on it! That's thought to be connected to grass sickness. When I harrow fields they are rested from the horses for months before used again.

Is that not a bit over stocked, there must be a lot of muck!
 
asmp said:
Just re read the original post and realised its an 8 acre field - that sounds a lot to walk around twice a day!
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I used to do it on 10 acres for three horses. Just one of those things you have to do. Admittedly, 3 horses on 10 acres it wasn't so important, but the landowner wanted it done so it got done.
 
Field was meant to be split summer/winter grazing for 4 horses, suddenly 3 more turned up!

Just wanted to find out if there was anything obvious I hadn't considered before looking around...

Tried poo picking, gave up after 2 hours! No one else seems interested so I'm guessing they won't be too bothered taking part in a rota...
 
Why give up? If you do an hour a day, eventually you'll catch up with it.

I have to be honest, I would be pretty miffed at doing it all myself, but I'd rather do that and accept the other owners are just lazy than leave my horses in a field full of the proverbial.
 
You could get 1 owner to depoo each 1 day per week. I depoo 5 (my own) - I manage it by doing it twice daily 2 full barrows at each session, so not terrible. It takes me around 25 mins each time. Wish I had 5 owners to chip in and help.:eek:
We also muck spread late summer/autumn and I cease field depooing in late autumn once the ground gets very wet and boggy.
 
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Harrowng is a waste of time as all it does is spread the poos and worms.
Unless you are extremely lucky asking individual horse owners to pick up the poos on a daily basis is unlikely to materialise in reality.
The realistic solution wuld be to get an external contractor to come in once a week to pick up the poos.
Leaving poos on the ground contaminates the fields with worms and starves the grass of natural light causing it to die off and weeds then taking over (Ragwort, Thistles, Nettles and Twitch) and destroying the pasture.
 
8 acres with 7 horses is a big area and a lot of poo to keep on top of!
If it's going to work you need everyone on side really.

I think you have to be a bit practical about it, everyone has different life priorities and to be militent about it probably means nothing gets done.

I suggest trying to get people to do a small barrow a day each - so that can be done when they walk out to get their horse etc. Concentrate on the areas the horses are actually grazing - and then ignore the long rough sour patches. Not ideal but better than nothing.
 
Me and the yard owner do it every day, but there's another livery who doesn't do any I don't think. That means that although I only have one horse I am usually picking up after 4 or 5, but it's not every day because between me and the yard owner it tends to be whoever gets to it first on any particular day, unless one of us has done a lot in any one week and then the other gets 'poo guilt' and the one doing a lot gets told to stop. I find it's one of those things that if you care about it being done then you just have to do it and hope that someone else joins in or no one will.
 
Once when I felt that I was left with too much of the poo picking tp do I never said a word to anyone. I just poo picked half the field . Did not take too long before there was a big difference in the 2 halves of the field .
 
teasle said:
Once when I felt that I was left with too much of the poo picking tp do I never said a word to anyone. I just poo picked half the field . Did not take too long before there was a big difference in the 2 halves of the field .
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Ha! Good tactic :)
 
harrowing and not resting for a considerable amount of time is a worm nightmare and a risk factor for GS as stated. Do you just have the one muck heap or are there 2 or 3? Might make people more willing if they aren't traipsing around am 8 acre field with a full barrow-the muck heaps can then be removed regularly.
Threaten them with having to pay someone else to do it-it will knacker the field if not done-I've just spent nearly 3 years getting some paddocks right that weren't poo picked for 3 years before that-they weren't that overstocked either.
I do 3 every other day this time of year, weekly in the winter.
 
We worked out the poo areas then split the field up in sections (visually) so that everyone was responsible for a strip of field (that included a poo area). You picked your own strip and as mentioned above, it pretty soon became obvious who wasn't pulling their weight.

People are very cheery about poo picking on here, I absolutely hate it and grumble a lot about it. When I say grumble I mean chunter, chunter, grumble, grumble, never hear the last of it grumble.
 
Harrowing without resting would just make a dirty field filthy all over, and the "zone of repugnance" (the area too close to their poo to graze) would just cover the whole field. If you can't get co-operation from everyone else, do a barrow or so a day and use a corner of the field to dump it. You may well find the horses begin to regard that as their toilet area and gradually the poos will become concentrated in that area (or areas), making it much easier for everyone to do their share. worth a try, and less barrowing away which is the hard work. I actually know people who consider poo picking their therapy - I suppose I might have done for the first hundred years or so :)
 
I have 12 horses on 5 ares!

I don't poo pick, I worm and worm count routinely and always get low results.

I have split into 6 paddocks and a tiny stravation paddock.My elderly boy live in 1 paddock on his own as needs lots of grass and 2 fatties live in tiny paddock with bit of hay.

That leaves 9 on about 4 acres - split i 5 padock, I rotate weekly so each field gets a months rest, until dry period I had a lot of grass.

I harrow and roll in the spring when my muck heap gets removed.

I don't have any more flies then people that poo pick religously.

I do feed a little haylage, I use no more then 1 6ft square bale a week.
 
RebelRebel said:
People are very cheery about poo picking on here, I absolutely hate it and grumble a lot about it. When I say grumble I mean chunter, chunter, grumble, grumble, never hear the last of it grumble.
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no, I hate it too-would actually rather muck out. just one of those chores that has to be done unless you have enough land to rest half of it for at least 6months. When I am busy I pay someone else to do it-used to be a bloke with a quad/picker (brush type ones which have their own problems) and more recently a bloke with a fork at £12/hour.
 
JillA said:
Harrowing without resting would just make a dirty field filthy all over, and the "zone of repugnance" (the area too close to their poo to graze) would just cover the whole field. If you can't get co-operation from everyone else, do a barrow or so a day and use a corner of the field to dump it. You may well find the horses begin to regard that as their toilet area and gradually the poos will become concentrated in that area (or areas), making it much easier for everyone to do their share. worth a try, and less barrowing away which is the hard work. I actually know people who consider poo picking their therapy - I suppose I might have done for the first hundred years or so :)
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Apprently it is illegal to just put a muck heap in a field! I used to do this and got told off...
 
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.
 
MotherOfChickens said:
harrowing and not resting for a considerable amount of time is a worm nightmare and a risk factor for GS as stated. Do you just have the one muck heap or are there 2 or 3? Might make people more willing if they aren't traipsing around am 8 acre field with a full barrow-the muck heaps can then be removed regularly.
Threaten them with having to pay someone else to do it-it will knacker the field if not done-I've just spent nearly 3 years getting some paddocks right that weren't poo picked for 3 years before that-they weren't that overstocked either.
I do 3 every other day this time of year, weekly in the winter.
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There is one muck heap and it is 3 fields away! Having one closer is a really good idea!

RebelRebel said:
We worked out the poo areas then split the field up in sections (visually) so that everyone was responsible for a strip of field (that included a poo area). You picked your own strip and as mentioned above, it pretty soon became obvious who wasn't pulling their weight.

People are very cheery about poo picking on here, I absolutely hate it and grumble a lot about it. When I say grumble I mean chunter, chunter, grumble, grumble, never hear the last of it grumble.
Click to expand...

I like this idea, I think visual impact of seeing whether people were actually doing their fair share would really help.. I'm not the biggest fan of poo picking but am happy to do my share, just moved from a field of two, which was totally cleared every day..

teasle said:
Once when I felt that I was left with too much of the poo picking tp do I never said a word to anyone. I just poo picked half the field . Did not take too long before there was a big difference in the 2 halves of the field .
Click to expand...

Again, visual impact sounds a good plan

Bennions Field said:
could you not all club together and get a set of small chain harrows if the owner is unwilling to do or at the very least borrow hers and do it between you?

i have 4 acres and rotate between one acre sized paddocks every 1-2 weeks, when they leave a paddock i chain harrow, takes around 15-20 mins max with a 5ft set of harrows, use my 4x4 to tow. think they cost around £150 so around £20 each if you all put in. even if you cant rotate paddocks harrowing every week would be alot easier than trying to get everyone to poo pick.

admittedly its my own field so it does make it a hole lot easier, but it can be done if you are all willing to work together
Click to expand...

This sounds good, as long as we divide the field.

They've all been worm counted and came back low but I don't like the idea of poo being spread all over the fields if they have to graze there, esp with any risk of Grass sickness.

GG, I didn't mean that I had given up poo picking entirely, just for the day! Though it is very dispiriting spending hours and seeing little impact two days later!

Thanks for all the help and suggestions..
 
cappucino said:
There is one muck heap and it is 3 fields away! Having one closer is a really good idea!



I like this idea, I think visual impact of seeing whether people were actually doing their fair share would really help.. I'm not the biggest fan of poo picking but am happy to do my share, just moved from a field of two, which was totally cleared every day..



Again, visual impact sounds a good plan



This sounds good, as long as we divide the field.

They've all been worm counted and came back low but I don't like the idea of poo being spread all over the fields if they have to graze there, esp with any risk of Grass sickness.

GG, I didn't mean that I had given up poo picking entirely, just for the day! Though it is very dispiriting spending hours and seeing little impact two days later!

Thanks for all the help and suggestions..
Click to expand...

Oh I know that feeling....coming back off weekends visiting SIL recently to paddocks that have been left for days on end....very annoying :(
 
We poo pick every day and add to muck heap which in turn is removed when there is a load by a contractor. I would not have it any other way.
 
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?:confused:

I think I'm just going to buy a few sheep....
 
MotherOfChickens said:
no, I hate it too-would actually rather muck out. just one of those chores that has to be done .
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I hate and loather and DESPISE it. God I moan for England and I do it every day in summer, luckily only the horses to hear. Drives me nuts, it is hot and sweaty and heavy and they all lift their tails as you are leaving the fields. I much prefer mucking out!

I only pick the field I can see from the house (it is the only one they are on at the moment - sigh). I don't do any at all in winter and in the spring we harrow and rest the paddocks for 3 months.
 
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