who doesnt poo pick?

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Do you rotate the field at all?
Does the poo break down really quickly once harrowed? I have visions of the whole field just being littered with small bits of poo... Am on the verge of buying a small chain harrow as want to try this way rather than poo picking every day but really want to understand what happens to the poo once harrowed?

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I don't rotate the fields much (more in the summer) but we do not have enough land to, I save two large fields for the summer & two for the winter, I have 8 horses on them (4 in each)
I harrow if I know it is going to rain, the poo gets broken up & spread by the harrow, the rain washes it into the ground. Never, ever, ever (!) had a worm problem.
 
I poo pick twice daily if he is out 24/7 or once daily if he is out either at night or during the day - it takes about 5 mins that way, and is much less back breaking
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I worm twice a year for tapeworm and all the essential bits, and worm count in between, worming if necessary (which is hasnt been so far!)

YOs are fab and will chain harrow the fields, but mine is out on his own in smallish paddocks so I am trying to encourage even grazing and avoid the rough areas (not that its working so far!)
 
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Nonsense. If you chain harrow a) the birds pick off the worms and b) they die from exposure. Plus if the horse doesn't have a worm burden to start with, and neither does the pasture, then you're pretty safe I'd say

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Harrowing will only work if you are in a hot climate & the heat from the sun will dry out the worms/eggs in the droppings. In this country we don't have hot enough weather for this to work. As any vet & they will tell you.

Some may use wormers as a matter of course, we prefer to worm count & only put chemicals into the horse if it is necessary.

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Exposure - NOT drying out. Two v different things.

Plus as has been pointed out the main aim of harrowing is to stop the roughs developing since wormers kill the worms. Seems to work considering I too worm count and have never had back a result which was not >50epg no eggs found.
 
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Harrowing will only work if you are in a hot climate & the heat from the sun will dry out the worms/eggs in the droppings. In this country we don't have hot enough weather for this to work. As any vet & they will tell you.

Some may use wormers as a matter of course, we prefer to worm count & only put chemicals into the horse if it is necessary.

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THIS is correct
 
we dont poo pick
we have field rotation instead most of our fields are pretty big and they wont go back on that same field for at least 4 weeks if not more. we have regular worming count and they never anything wrong
 
I poo pick every day, rotate grazing (6 acres for 2 nags), have sheep to put on once horses off and top any rough patches.

We dont worm routinely (partly as we have well water!) but we worm count quarterly and tapeworm blood test annually as that doesnt show up in the worm count.

Up here in NE Scotland the temps dont get consistently high enough for harrowing to be fully effective. Also poo picking helps to lower risks of grass sickness (along with lots of other factors) and we are in high risk area soil/climate wise for that
 
My oldie has always done his poo in patches of nettles and strangely enough when another horse went in with him they were soon doing the same.

Its worth leaving the odd patches of weeds for them to use (obviously not ragwort or anything similar)

I find it impossible to poo pick from the weed patches and the stuff they eat doesn't have any poos
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Its not working quite as well on the yard we are on now as the oldie is in with two other geldings but the mares are still doing it as they have their own field
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For me it depends on the size of the paddock. After coming off at the beginning of June and dislocating my shoulder (not as painful once back in as you'd think, surprisingly) and fracturing and then re-fracturing ribs, I was physically incapable of poo pickingthe small paddock that my 2 were in ATT. It wasn't until 2 months after the initial accident that I was able to do anything about poo picking. The paddock was a right state by then! However, earlier this week my 3 moved into a paddock that has been described by a friend as a county, not a filed - I will only poo pick any areas in here that become very dirty, otherwise it will be harrowed! They also have 12,000 free range chickens picking over their droppings! I too worm count and worm accordingly and have never had a worm count back to cause concern.
 
I have a 3 acre field, 2 horses that are turned out 24/7 May - Oct and stabled at night Oct - May. I worm regular changing my wormers and i poo pick twice a week...3 times in nice weather to help top up my tan!!!
I only poo pick in the the summer May - Oct as i find it helps to stop the long grass from growing, keeps the flys down and i get to spend some time with my horses while they graze. Also a chance to check on your fencing.
I also love looking back on too a poop free field...that's just my OCD kicking in!!!
I'm not sure of all the technical reasons and i've i heard that sheep/cattle grazing has problems as well as benifits...but i just think that if i'm taking 2 barrow fulls of poop out that's 2 barrow fulls of poop they aren't having to eat around?!!?
You wouldn't leave a horse in a stable of poo so why leave your field in that way?!!?
 
I have never poo picked
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I only have the two mares now on about 3 or 4 acres which I have split into three to rotate fortnightly. They do all their poos (and wees) in one or two patches in each small paddock and I have left it like that - seems to work very well!

I also have worm counts done and they always come back under 50 (although the lady rings me the next evening and usually tells me that she hasn't found any at all
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The fields are not harrowed nor topped nor fertilized and only about 2 or 3 times have I managed to get the local farmer to put some sheep in!

Its rained so much here over the last three years that I have so much grass its almost overwhelming and every year I struggle with their waistline!
 
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