# Winter pasture cleaning?



## jenkat86 (May 20, 2014)

Honestly, I would just keep doing what you are doing. If you wait until spring there is going to be A TON of work...literally, and it doesn't sound like hubby is helping! If you (or your husband) are concerned about the grass you can always section off that area and re-seed.


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## carshon (Apr 7, 2015)

We very rarely let our horses on pasture in the winter unless there is a good covering of snow. We have a sacrifice lot that they can go on and we pick up poop out of that sacrifice area. I too have 4 horses on a small acreage but my pastures are eaten down to the dirt by fall. When we get a nice thaw we will drag all of the pastures and drag them in the summer as well. We fertilize before winter and then again in the spring.


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## Joel Reiter (Feb 9, 2015)

My winter pasture for the horses is a field that grows corn and soybeans. So every spring all the manure gets plowed under. I have enough work to do cleaning up around the feeding and shelter areas without having to cover the entire field.


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## cbar (Nov 27, 2015)

My horses are in the fields all winter, so I won't bother doing anything. If my smaller paddock areas are a mess I will likely just harrow them come spring. I hardly have enough time to do half the stuff i actually want to do, never mind cleaning up all the horse manure. 

If it's a small area that you have that tends to get a lot of manure build up in it, I would likely just keep doing what you are doing to stay on top of it. I know that smaller paddocks can get super gross if left unattended all winter.


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## zandstrafarms (Feb 14, 2015)

Husband knows the grass will be fine, honestly. So not sure why he's complaining!

A lady at tractor supply said she discs her pastures each spring to allow air and nutrients back into the soil. Anyone else try that?


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## CAP (Jun 18, 2014)

I live in Canada, and between the cold and the amount of snow we get, we don't do anything with our pens until Spring, once things begin to dry out, and all we do is pull a harrow behind our quad.. works great it gets rid of all the lumps and fertilizes the ground for Summer and makes things look "nice" lol. 

It doesn't rip up the ground or damage grass. In the fall we sometimes go over the fields as well before the ground freezes, but we have a 160 acres so we don't do everything just the ones that really need it.


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## WhattaTroublemaker (Aug 13, 2013)

Canada here as well. Hmm, we feed round bales and leave it until spring. We also have an open 75 acre pasture. In the spring I set up a portable electric fence around the soft areas, cover with hay, and let it grow. *cue Elsa* :lol:


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## HarleyWood (Oct 14, 2011)

I have 3 horses on an area, its their winter/dry lot. its been -45 here, we put out a round bale once a week and every so many bales my dad will come back with the bucket and scrap the front part of our barn where their water sits, back to the bale so they have a path plus clears the snow and most of the poop to a pile in another area out of the pasture. every month my dad goes through our pasture to clean up the poop. they usually seem to go in a few areas so its pretty easy to clean up.


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## Nickers2002 (Nov 25, 2009)

Fields are closed for the winter so it's much easier this year! Each horse has it's own paddock that's picked daily. The only time it sat for 4-5 days is a couple weeks ago when we had 2' of snow. Now it's melted and muddy though so we're back to scooping daily. Much better than trying to keep up a whole field in the winter.


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## boots (Jan 16, 2012)

I disc in the spring. 

But, I also drag during thaws in the winter in areas where the horses and cattle gather.


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## PaintHorseMares (Apr 19, 2008)

It's so wet and muddy here in the winter that you really can't do much of anything unless you get a good 2 weeks without rain.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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