# Manure Management & Pasture Maintenance



## Palfrey (May 29, 2020)

That is exciting! To your first question, I suppose, it would have to do with the size of your pasture. If you have a twenty acre field--yeah, that poo can lay where it's dropped LOL! But if you have a small paddock--cleaning it up would be the better management practice. (side note--that's one good thing about stallions--they poo in one spot, makes cleanup a breeze! LOL!) 

To your second question--that will probably depend on your geographic location. Pasture maintenance is much different in the deserts of the West compared to the North East. You could try your county extension office for more details like mowing and irrigation. Here in PA, you could mow 5+ times a year, depending on the length of grass you want and how much the horses graze it down. 

I'm not very scientific about my pastures. If a field looks thin, I buy horse pasture mix (from Blue Seal) and just walk about casting the seed as I go. Same with rotation, if a pasture is looking sad, I'll remove the horses and let it build back up. As you spend time with your land, you'll be able to read what your land needs by instinct. At least, that's my opinion. 

I sell my manure (fresh, not composted) in the Fall and Spring. I put it in used feed bags, take it down by the road and put a money can out--self serve style. I will most likely be using it to enrich one of my fields that's very lacking in nutrients as well. I make raised beds and plant vegetables too. Heavy feeding crops like corn and squash love the stuff. 

I wish you lots of luck on your new journey. 😀🦄


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## BethR (Feb 17, 2021)

As far as pasture management, I, like my friend Palfrey above, occasionally overseed with a pasture mix. But my pasture was formerly part of our yard, in which we planted Kentucky Fescue 31, the best grass seed on the planet. I’ve been informed that clover is high in sugar, but we’ve got plenty of white clover...Angelina loves it.
I clear my pasture of manure daily and dump it in a pile at the back of our property. The compost also includes yard and kitchen waste. We frequently flip it with the bucket on the Massey Ferguson, and add garden lime to assist in decomposition.
We have an orchard and large veggie gardens so we use most of the well-composted stuff ourselves. But there are always friends and neighbors more than willing to take it too.
Though I like Pal’s idea of SELLING it better, heh 🙂


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## ksbowman (Oct 30, 2018)

1. The manure in the pasture gets knock down every three or four weeks. I have a piece of steel grating 1" thick and 3' x 6' and I use it behind my utv and have it with the 6' as the width. Then just drive around the pasture hitting every pile I see. It pulverizes it and spreads it very well. I use the same drag to smooth my pens (works great).
2. I only mow when it needs it. I set my 15' batwing mower where it cuts about 6-8" tall and it takes me around 20 minutes to mow the 7 acres the horses run in. As you know horse's have a bad habit of grazing one area down to dirt and leave grass around it that may be 6" tall. One time I ask my cowboy buddy Bull why they did that. He said "Benny, Did you ever taste that grass? There has probably been poop there and the grass is bitter the first year". I have never checked, I'll just take Bull's word for it. I over seed the thin areas in Sept. usually the first week then it has time before winter to get enough root system then, in the spring it really takes off.
3. I don't fertilize my horse pasture with commercial fertilizer. I do my cattle pasture but, not the horse pasture. I do take all my pick droppings and composted cattle hay and manure and spread it in a manure spreader. I try to use the natural for the horses. It's not as hot and I think that keeps down the lushness that can cause founder problems.


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## trailscout (Nov 23, 2020)

ksbowman said:


> As you know horse's have a bad habit of grazing one area down to dirt and leave grass around it that may be 6" tall.


I seem to remember reading somewhere that short grass is stressed and trying to recover and as a result has more sugar in it which horses of course like better. (disclaimer: this is memory dependent)


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## addctd2horses (Jul 10, 2020)

We leave ours and rotate pastures. Our stall waste is composted for 9-12 months. Hubby wants to have it hauled away but it's expensive. We have enough land to compost it and I use it on a half acre garden and give it to the neighbors. If there's lots of farms near you, you will not sell it because others give it away free. The best composting system I've ever seen was O2 Composting systems. See: Aerated Compost Systems - O2Compost I believe if we did this we might have the state and county pay for up to 75% of the cost because we are on land that drains to a stream. But we'd have to put the money out first and prove the work was done before they will pay you back.


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