# Horse Manure clean up in pastures



## 98ramtough (Nov 15, 2016)

I just use a drag harrow or rock rake and spread the manure in the pasture. That would suck to pick poo up in the pasture. Do they have a tractor and a drag?


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## kathrynjane (Nov 14, 2017)

no.. just me and a pitchfork!


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## cbar (Nov 27, 2015)

All summer I picked my small paddock daily to keep it clean. Now I have a huge pile of manure to get rid of - unfortunately winter has set in so it won't get taken care of until spring. 

I do not pick my large paddock or the field though. I drag it in the spring with a harrow and let it sit for 2-3 weeks with no horses on it. 

Sounds like a lot of wasted hay! Anyway you can use hay nets to cut down on hay waste at least? 

I know some places around here leave all their paddocks until spring - then move the horses and use a bobcat to scoop all the poop. In doing this they also remove some of the top soil, so in some cases that needs to be replaced.


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## SilverMaple (Jun 24, 2017)

Can they get some hay feeders/hay huts so there's less wasted hay and less time spent scooping poop? Because manure freezes rock hard around here, we tend to leave it in the pastures until spring, then drag it and let it break down when the pastures are resting and growing before we cut them for hay. In the winter corrals, we move the hay feeder every few weeks when manure builds up, then do a big cleanup in the spring with a skidloader.


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## SansPeurDansLaSelle (May 6, 2013)

A hay hut for your round bales will change your life, seriously, we order a full load less of hay every year since using them. They paid for themselves that first year. It creates much less wasted hay and it is much easier to clean up the poo around the hay hut than the disgusting mixture of mud, wet hay, and poo that open round bales always seem to turn into. You will likely have less problems with worms as well since they wont be ingesting as much fecal matter.


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## Cynical25 (Mar 7, 2013)

If you have unlimited funds, you can buy a manure vacuum (yes, they exist!) but that's not in my budget!


Get a 4-wheeled cart (like a Gorilla cart, or I have the Northern Tool version that was cheaper.) It's SO much easier to roll a cart around the pasture than push a wheelbarrow! The big basket manure forks also make things much easier than basic manure forks.


I have 4.5 acres of dedicated pasture and periodically pick up a few carts worth of manure. If there is rain in the forecast, I'll pull my drag around so the rain can breakdown the smaller bits that get spread.


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## They Call Me Pete (Oct 27, 2009)

I found a really cool product called Super Scooper. Thinking of putting it on the spring wish list


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## Dreamcatcher Arabians (Nov 14, 2010)

We pick our pastures weekly. If you have multiple horses out on the pastures, that poo stacks up quick. Once you get it all picked up, if you do it at least weekly, it's not nearly as big a chore. 1/3 of a bale wasted sounds par for the course when using the big rounds, if you don't put them in some kind of feeder or hay net. I'd be picking that up daily or at least several times/week even if I only picked up the poo every week. We compost our manure and in a couple of years you have very rich, black soil to put in a garden or to top off the pastures before spring grass comes up.


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## Acadianartist (Apr 21, 2015)

Yes, hay nets will save you a ton of hay. Hay huts are also a great idea, especially if it tends to rain/snow a lot where you are. An extra expense initially, but as already pointed out, they will pay for themselves. 

I pick my sacrifice paddock clean daily. They're in there all winter. I have two pastures, so they go in one as soon as the grass is tall enough, then halfway through summer, I switch them to the other and run my pasture drag through it to break up the manure and let it compost for the rest of summer. In the fall, my husband disks the back pasture to churn up that manure and help it work its way into the soil. Both pastures then sit all winter so there is no manure left in the spring. Realistically, I can't imagine picking all my pastures clean, and I only have two horses.


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## Change (Jul 19, 2014)

My sacrifice lot (about 1/3 acre for 2 horses) gets all the poop scooped at least weekly, preferably more often if work schedule, weather, daylight permit. My grazing fields (3 other areas ranging between 1/4 - 1/2 acre each) get semi-cleaned up about once a month, but we get enough rain and sun most of the year to break it down pretty quickly. I also run a rock rake or drag over the fields periodically to help break things down. And... I have a pretty sizable compost heap that produces nice, black fertilizer in about a year. Joys of living in the South! 

I tried a round bale once. My mare took about 1 day to have it spread everywhere, then proceeded to use it as bedding/potty pad. They won't be getting another until I get a hay hut. On the up side, the hay she wasted made for good cover when I seeded. ;-)


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## horselovinguy (Oct 1, 2013)

So....you are on clean-up patrol but _*not*_ with a tractor? 
How large is this area you describe needing to clean?
How many horses live in this field 24/7 and how many more are stalled?
You do all this work by yourself?

Being this is not your property, or your horses but your "job" to maintain cleanliness...
My suggestion to you for the mess at the round roll is...
Take 4 fence posts - 6 1/2' long wood ones.
Sink them in the ground at the 4 corners of the round roll location so you can then put up a rail on the sides of the round bale.
This simple design will keep the horses from pulling down and out so far the hay to pee, poop, step on and sleep in it ruining it and making it a large chore to clean the area surrounding the bale.
_There is no reason to lose 1/3 of a round bale of hay honestly..._
I do round rolls sometimes. I have minimal, and I mean minimal amount of waste.
If my round roll is 1000 pounds, if I lose 100 pounds of hay that is a large amount..
I have exactly what I described around my roll allowing access to eat but not to ruin the food source.
If your barn wanted to go to the expense of a hay hut they would have already and some places just don't like the rings placed around the rolls.
I do think that the barn needs to do something about their expectations though if they won't at least help meet you part way in the effort to keep the hay area not a pigsty and cesspool environment.
Doesn't sound like they have the farm tractor equipment or won't allow you use of it to make this chore a little easier on you and that is a shame.
For every horse in a field 24/7 eating you can figure 12 piles a day of poop...now multiply that by number of horses in that field and that can be a lot of poop daily, weekly and all in a wheelbarrow pushed by you and hand power...:shock:
Sometimes, facilities need to get realistic in what is required of the help to do. 
Great to have a "clean" place but when it is only the sweat equity of one doing the manual labor...you might need to do a sit down and talk this one out or ask for assistance with the round bale pigsty situation at least.
Sometimes "working relationships" need to be re-visited when conditions change as seasons and feeding practices change.
:runninghorse2:....
_jmo..._


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## dkgoodman (Oct 20, 2013)

I agree with the Hay Hut and/or hay nets for the round bales.

I have a covered arena (South Carolina) with stall access that I clean daily. My (3) 2 acre pastures, I used to pick weekly but have just purchased an Arena Rascal Pro which I will now use to break the piles up weekly.

Good luck!


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## dkgoodman (Oct 20, 2013)

Forgot to add that I really like having my O2 Compost system!! I no longer put chemicals down in my pastures (except for lime, of course) and use my composted manure for fertilizer. Well worth the cost of the system, IMO.


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