What’s the easiest way to do this? I mow at 5 1/2 inches, so the mower doesn’t come anywhere close to decimating their droppings. I asked the previous owner what he did and he said the mower took care of it. I have 5 1/2 acres, so not sure how economical it would be to buy more equipment or even what equipment I should buy. Any ideas? Currently, I have a tractor with rake. Should I use that? TIA!
Drag with a chain harrow.
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What she said.
Before I bought one I found a weighted down section of old chainlink fence did well.
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Muck? Five acres is a lot though, but that’s what I do for my two one-acre paddocks… I have a dump trailer and I just drive through and pick poop.
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Is it all one big area or split up into smaller paddocks? Is it flat, hilly, rocky, smooth, just grass or a mix with shrubs and trees? How many horses are involved? Any other non-equine critters? What kind of climate are you in? These sorts of factors might make some options more or less viable.
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I clean the paddocks less than 2 acres into a spreader, and all the sheds. I don’t have an issue. How many horses and how big are your fields? 5.5 acres is not large and I would expect to muck it if you have more than 2-3 horses.
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We have 4 pens. One is currently wooded and unusable and I’m working on that. It’s relatively flat. I mow with a zero turn without any problem. They just always seem to go in the same spot. In one pen, it’s down the fence line, so that’s what I see a lot, also behind the barn, and near the run-in. Trying to pick up the piles in grass is a pain! We have 3 horses and no other animals that use the pens. We’re outside Atlanta. I have a tree area in one of my pens that they use for shade and I haven’t mucked that. The chain link fence thing has appeal as I don’t like cutting the grass too short.
Thanks everyone!
Second the Chain link drag. It works, it’s cheap, and you will smile afterwards. I just zoom around on my Gator in the bigger pastures. The smaller pens and barn gate areas I pick if it’s not too much.
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I drag my 4.5 acres of pasture, with the occasionally hand pick with a wheelbarrow. Also, I’d go ahead and mow lower - most suggest 4", but I mow 3" with 2 horses because my grass tolerates it.
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I go out with the front end loader and a pitch fork. I just cleaned my fields yesterday. The key for me is too not let it get to bad. I compost the maneur at my place. It really helps with keeping the fly population down.
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@Horseman15 Thanks! I’m so far behind on everything. Yesterday, we raked the arena and today I mucked the fields. Not totally done, but I feel so much better. I’m composting too!
I have about a half acre dry lot and I use an ATV and a small harrow with a tire on top for extra weight. Works quite well.
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For mucking in grass, use a pitch fork and time it when you can get most of the pile with the pitch fork…a.e. if manure is too recent it will just fall through the tines. Picking it up and composting it really does help w/flies. I then use fly predators with good concentration of them near my manure pile which is far away from barn and house at bottom of my 10 acres.
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Consider that when you remove manure from a grass paddock you are removing the nutrients necessary for that grass to grow. Hay farmers know this and plan on fertilizing to replace the fertility that haying reduces. IMO this argues STRONGLY for harrowing, dragging, etc. vice picking up and disposal (or spreading elsewhere). If you compost and return then that’s OK but adds an expensive step (in time and money) and is not really necessary.
This will vary by area. East of the 98th Parallel where rainfall is relatively abundant you might have one practice where west, where it is less so, you might have others. Extension in those areas will have information on best practices for that location.
G.
@Guilherme I had to look up 98th parallel - I’m east being in Atlanta. I’m probably going to end up getting a harrow and dragging, so right now I’m just continuing to muck. Hadn’t thought about asking extension office this. Right now they’re working on identifying some grass for me. Currently, we have an area far from the barn for composting and use fly predators. The hassle for me is picking it up from the grass; the dirt areas are a piece of cake. Thanks for the advice!
You’re welcome!!! 
G.
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we had a lead mare who taught her charges to poop in the compost pile… very little ever in the paddocks… but most of our stock was shown a lot and it became habit for them to not poop in the warmup or show arenas
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Something I read recently as a pro for picking the poop up is parasites in the maneur don’t spread through the soil as readily. If you compost the heat kills the parasites.
Something I like about composting is I have about 10 yards of the most beautiful rich black soil.
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