# Attacking manure



## Foxhunter (Feb 5, 2012)

If I have what seems like an impossible task that I don't particularly like doing, I set myself an area. Where you start doesn't matter I would start at a fence line and eye a certain width and distance and clear, nothing to much! 
Odds are that you will clear that and then think to do another 5 yards - so it goes on! 

My sister bought a house that previous occupants had gloss painted the lounge ceiling (a horrid dark green) she had got some off, not a lot but some. I offered to help her she had to go to work so I set half the width to the window. This was lying on a plank between two ladders. I did that faster than I thought, did the other half. Then thought I'd do the bay window area. So it went on until there was only a small recess to do so I finished that. The whole ceiling was done. 

Mind you, it was well past midnight and I ached like crazy!


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## boots (Jan 16, 2012)

Dung beetles are your friends. They're the whole world's friends. But they take a while to get established.

So barring a sudden invasion of those helpful bugs, and dealing with a smallish paddock myself, I rake, scoop, and even fling. I definitely want it busted up as much as possible to make the dung less hospitable to parasites.

If your time is limited like mine is, you have my sympathy.


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## horselovinguy (Oct 1, 2013)

_Don't you board your horse?_
_Why are you doing barn maintenance chores when you pay for your horse to live in a clean environment?_
_I get helping out,...I do..._
_But do not start something you do not want to continue unless made absolutely clear it is a one-time favor done as starting to do "chores" to help out soon becomes expected and that is not right without compensation..._
_You should not be expected to clean up after previous boarders for your horse to have a clean pasture unless you agreed to this large task up front and first.
_
So, aside from that...
A 2-acre field is not small...and hides a huge amount of manure.
Does this property have a farm tractor?
This size pasture is perfect to be dragged, manure broken apart and moved around to spread the offending mess.
If no farm tractor, a atv or even a grass cutting ride-on lawn mower can pull a makeshift drag if the real thing does not exist...

So, if no drag...
A old piece of chainlink fence, 2 large concrete blocks, a 5' piece of pipe/wood and some rope or chain and you have a homemade drag.
Secure the pipe/wood to one end of the fence piece.
Add that rope/chain to it so it can be long enough away from the tow vehicle it not interfere with the back tires...attach it in 2 points.
Place that rope/chain over a pin on the tow vehicle and the concrete blocks on the fence piece so they add some weight to the fence material...
Drag slowly in a grid pattern so you can see where you have been and need to go to and break apart the manure scattered in the field.
This chore should of been done before your horse was allowed in this field...and it needs done monthly at the most and weekly at the minimum...
I drag my horses paddock bi-weekly usually to break apart piles, aerate the ground and level out hoof marks/holes...
This is also a great arena drag made inexpensively with others thrown away junk and your lucky finds.

If your barn has a tractor and a real drag harrow the job just became easy-peasy to have done...
A drag harrow also is easily used behind any vehicle that has a engine, easy-tight-small turning radius so you can get tight to fence lines and not leave any areas untouched.
This also can groom a nice finish on a riding ring surface, clear hoof prints and it just looks nice to see groomed dirt riding arenas. 
:runninghorse2:....


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## ACinATX (Sep 12, 2018)

@horselovinguy the only time they drag the fields is in the spring when they fertilize, and then they hire someone to do it -- they don't have the equipment. Their pasture maintenance is not, IMO, the best. They don't mechanically cut down weeds, either, ever. They didn't ask me to clean the pasture, I think they assumed I'd be fine with it the way it is. They never pick up manure, that's just the way it is here. When I asked the barn owner if I could make a manure pile in the back corner of the pasture she was quite surprised, like, why would I go to the trouble of picking up all that manure?

Dragging, harrowing, or raking -- the idea is to break up the manure into small enough pieces so that parasites are exposed to external conditions and die, right? Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't that work best when temperatures are extreme, e.g. summer in the south and winter in the north? Right now we've got a string of days in the 70s with misty, drizzly mornings and maybe some light rain in the afternoons / evenings. Would harrowing / raking even be effective in those conditions?

They have an ATV-like thing, but it is currently broken.

ETA: I just realized that I need this pasture cleaned and my daughter needs paid chores -- I'm seeing something that could work here...


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## horselovinguy (Oct 1, 2013)

You have the right idea but house-keeping chores are not for only in extreme conditions but all the time.
Pastures need year round cleaning if there are horses on it, then it needs attention.
Manure attracts flies to breed and make more flies.
Flies bring disease and nuisance to horses...
They also foster worms to be produced and the larvae to then be eaten out of the dirty fields...by the horses and that introduces worms in your horses, on their coats you see {bot fly eggs}

Manure in quantity also limits where a horse will eat as most won't eat where they or others have filthied.
A pasture with often cleaning will reduce worm infestation, disease carrying pests and offer a better grass yield for the horses...
Manure spread is a natural fertilizer...organic and worth $$ if no pesticides of worm medication is used.
If a pasture is properly maintained then few flies exist.

And yes, if you can motivate someone with some $$ earned by some labor and effort applied that is a winning situation for your horse...
I would put it to the barn owners if you clean it and maintain it for _*your horse*_...you get a $$ of so much a month as this truly is not a one-time a year chore, but weekly chore.
Don't underestimate what a job this is going to be... labor, time and energy invested...
If this is for several horses when on average about 10 piles of manure is made a day _per horse_...a lot of hand shoveling if it is only cleaned 1x a year. :eek_color: :eek_color:
I'm sorry but that is just disgusting for your horse to stand in, eat from and have to live in let alone you need to walk across/through it to get your horse for any reason.
I might be more inclined to turn the entire thing under and reseed it for a fresh, clean start.
I need 6 - 8 weeks off of my pastures once turned for it to re-establish and be hearty for teeth and feet to return.
:runninghorse2:...
_jmo..._


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## ACinATX (Sep 12, 2018)

Even if it were my pasture I don't think I'd turn and re-seed. The main pasture grass here is Bermuda grass, and from what I understand you can't grow that from seed. If it were mine, and it were all I had, I'd split the pasture, put them on one half and shovel the other half. Put them back on the shovelled half and harrow the first half, let it sit for a month or so, then rotate pastures that way.

I didn't mean that I'm not going to do anything about the manure, just that I think harrowing / raking might not be the best idea right now. I would rather shovel it. Or have my daughter shovel it. Or, more likely, have us both shovel it. Sure, it will never be completely clean, but we can get it to where it's better than it is now. In the meantime, I may haul their hay to the back of the pasture, which appears to have not been "used" so much.


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## horselovinguy (Oct 1, 2013)

My pasture is Bermuda....

I turned it under and it reseeded itself...
The grass grows on best I can describe is stringy roots many feet long...think Christmas lights.
It very quickly regenerates and comes back...


Be careful where you put that manure pile...watch where your horse goes to eat first that you not pile and contaminate her chosen area to graze.
:runninghorse2:...


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## Acadianartist (Apr 21, 2015)

I sympathize, I really do. When I (briefly) boarded Harley, he was living in filth. So I spotted this one paddock that was empty, and asked the BO about it. He said there was some buried metal from the barn build that was sticking out so he wasn't using it. I asked if we were willing to dig it up, and remove weeds, manure, etc. would he let Harly use it? He said sure, but acted like he thought I was crazy. DD and I spent a whole day in there. Obviously some horse had used it because there was a four-foot deep pile of manure. We hauled away wheelbarrow after wheelbarrow. I dug up all the metal I could find. I scoured the whole area, picking up what didn't belong, trimming weeds. By the end of the day, we put a very happy Harley in there. 

We went back the next day with aching backs to find Harley back in the old paddock pastern-deep in manure/mud. I asked the BO why he wasn't in the paddock we had cleared and he said it was upsetting one of the mares in the adjacent paddock so he moved him back. ARGH..... we moved him less than a month later to my neighbors' barn. 

Now that they're home, I do my very best to pick up manure, but older, half composted manure like you're describing is really hard to pick up. I'd drag it like @horselovinguy suggested. An ATV with a home-made drag of some sort is enough, but I bought a pasture drag off Amazon for 250$ and it works great. It will decompose much faster if you can break it up. So maybe pick up what you can, and spread around the rest. If you really can't access any machinery, you can go out and spread it around with a manure fork, but it will be hard work!


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