I’ve searched old threads which have me even more confused as to what to do with the manure in my 1 acre grass “pasture”. I’ve been picking religiously, but some studies that others posted said it would be better to drag when it’s hot and dry to help improve the soil. My horses only go out on the grass for 2, maybe 3, hours per day - if that makes any difference. I was under the impression that horses would avoid grazing the areas where manure was spread…am I mistaken?
I have small pastures, too. I pick the manure, compost it, and then spread it on the pastures during the winter. I keep my horses off the pastures in the winter, so the compost has plenty of time to “dissolve” into the grass.
We recently had a state Soil Conservationist out to assess our fields and our management, and she said that is exactly how we should be handling it. Small pastures get “overloaded” with manure, making “roughs” that the horses don’t want to graze in, and making it hard to manage parasites.
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Pick the concentrations and drag the rest to be sure the “hidden jewels” are broken up, dry out quickly and move into the soil.
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In my experience (in Australia), people who drag their paddocks rotate their horses around different paddocks. They drag the paddock after moving the horse(s) to a fresh paddock. Dragging the paddocks breaks up the manure and exposes any parasites to the air. The paddock is then left to recover. Dragging and picking are methods used to stop the paddocks being horse sick and to reduce the parasite load. I pick my horse’s paddock.
Dragging does just what folks think it does: it breaks up the manure, exposes it to air and sunlight which grossly reduces parasite and fly populations and, as an wonderful bonus, returns fertility to the soil when the rain washes the manure back into the earth.
If you are seriously overgrazing your acre then maybe you should pick. But if you’re not then you’re giving way your soil’s heart and soul.
How many are you grazing? If you’re over-running the land’s capacity…well, that a decision that will have consequences.
Composting is best but sometimes that not practical. Dragging, however, almost always is.
G.
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Depends on your climate. Personally, one acre is so easy to pick, I’d just pick it. It doesn’t get consistently hot and dry enough here for me to consider dragging for my place (also small acreage – maybe 3 acres of pasture in use right now).
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1 acre is so small. If you drag manure through it I believe you would reduce the grazing area because your horses probably would avoid certain areas. If you can’t drag and rotate, you are probably better off picking it, and if you need to fertilize at some point, do that.
I drag because my pastures are just too large to pick. And yes, my grazing area is reduced. I’m ok with the tradeoff for now. Eventually I may have to take one out of the rotation for a year and reseed/fertilize/spray, etc.
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Add me to the crowd that thinks with a small acreage and no ability to rotate that picking is the best idea.
If you can do as @moving to dc describes above, with spreading the manure during the winter, after you composted it, that would be even better.
In the climate where I am if I just drag manure instead of picking it I would have a wet gooey mess in no time. If you are in a more arid environment then dragging only might be more effective and not cause an issue.
How many horses are going out on that 1 acre?
Pretty much as others have said, depends on the size. Obviously dragging is a lot easier than manually picking up. As others have said dragging spreads out the piles into small bits which are small, dry out quickly and not provide a comfy home for parasites.
But dragging contaminates a much larger area from one pile. So this is counter productive in small paddocks. If one has several acres to work with IMO and experience it is better to divide in half using a hot “wire” and step-in posts to be able to rotate from one side to the other. Drag and let rest for several weeks. Depending on weather conditions. IME it takes around 4 weeks for the stuff to break down, dissipate to the point horses won’t smell, balk at grazing the whole area.
As to the manure returning fertility to the soil. IMO that’s one of those “green” feel good things. Because we are talking about such a small amount of organic matter when all is said and done. It brings little to nothing to the table. It takes several tons of compost per acre to make much difference
So, if there are only a couple of acres to work with, divide, drag, rotate and rest. One of the biggest issues working with small paddocks is soil compaction. Grass struggles in compacted soil, it grows but does not thrive, spread. Grass roots need “air” also. Rain water does not perk well into compacted soil either. Using an aggressive drag will break up the thatch and rough up the top soil a bit to allow the soil to “breath” a bit better.
In my neck of the woods it takes around 2 months for an over grazed small paddock to recover and start producing thick grass that spread and fills in. IMO and experience it is a good practice to spray a broad leaf herbicide to get rid of the competing weeds early during the resting period. Most people will be surprised how well an over grazed trashed looking paddock will recover given time and a little TLC.
IMO if one is working with a very small paddock, 1-2 acres I would just pick out several times a week. Daily if one has the time and motivation. I would not drag unless one is sure they have cleaned up everything. It shouldn’t be that hard to find “everything”. A couple of horses on a small paddock are going to keep the grass short. Dragging the odd missed pile is going to contaminate a much larger area than the pile itself.
Bottom line, people with only a couple of acres and a couple of horses are always going to be up against it. They should be glad it looks kind of green and there is enough “green” for their horses to nibble on.
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I will add that geography is very much a player, here.
We get 50" of rain a year. If I make a mistake in my manure management the next week’s rain will likely take care of it. If I lived where annual rainfall was 10" I would have a different program as my problem would be different.
We still don’t know the stock loading, here. If it’s one or two horses then I’m still satisfied that dragging over picking is viable for most areas east of the Big Muddy, at a minimum. If it’s a dozen then clearly that’s not going to work, even in someplace like LA or the PNW where rainfall is of monsoon proportions!
In many ways all livestock keeping is local.
G.
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Just a horse and a pony, and like I said, only for 2-3 hours max per day. I’m very careful with my grass, since I don’t have a lot of space for pasture. The rest of the time they’re in the dry lot with hay.
I keep toying with splitting it in half so that I can rotate back and forth. Opinions on that?
To put things in a visual perspective; A 100X200 ring/arena is a tad smaller than 1/2 acre. A horse and a pony will graze that down in a matter of days, a week even with only a couple of hours turn out per day. I doubt a week will be enough time even under ideal growing condition for the resting 1/2 acre to recover to warrant the exercise and expense of dividing with a hot wire.
Might be worth a try, only need a few step in posts and a small charger. You can get a small charger used for goats,sheep etc for around $30. I have used one for a small space. It has enough “zap” for horses to respect it.
Maybe not ponies. lol.
For one horse and one pony only going out 2-3hrs per day, I would just pick up. That would be easier for me than getting the keys, hooking up something to drag with, etc.
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G. provided good advice that surrounds an important point: uncomposted manure has the most serious consequences for water quality. It’s ok to drag manure and let it digest into the soil, if it stays there long enough for that to happen. If you have decent grass on the paddock, grass surrounding it, and no bodies of water immediately near it, then dragging is very reasonable as the grass and soil will hold and convert the raw nutrients to more growth.
If on the other hand, this paddock is prone to washing off in heavy storms, low on grass, or adjacent to water, you should definitely pick and compost the manure. You don’t want the raw manure washing directly into streams.
David
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For such small areas, you might consider renting an aerator to use in helping with soil compaction, along with getting nutrients into the soil. I am talking about the type which punches holes into the dirt, laces those dirt cores on the ground as it goes along. I used one on a small paddock and then fertilized immediately after (no urea fertilizer) with good results. The dirt cores break down very quickly, to disappear after a rain or even heavy dews a night. The holes let air and moisture penetrate more deeply than usual, perking up the root system and fertilizer helps feed those plants.
Renting the machine was not terribly expensive, I got the area worked in a pretty short time. No damage to grass I already had in place. I did think the benefits were worth the work involved. I also used the aerator on the lawn around the house to improve it. So a double benefit in renting such a machine!!
I am not sure those little pull slicing aerators would work for this. Have not used them on a paddock or hoof-compacted soils. The MSU grass experts prefer the core punching aerators for doing lawn repairs, opening the soil to air and rain in building good turf cover of grasses.
I would just pick it.
I wouldn’t split 1 acre in half.
Goodhors - I’ve actually looked into renting an aerator and plan to aerate, fertilize, and seed next month! The horses will be limited to dry lots only all winter, it’s too wet here for grass turnout year-round.
Thanks for all of the responses, picking only takes me a few minutes so I’ll continue doing that. As far as splitting it, I guess it doesn’t make much sense so I’ll just leave it as is. It’s probably closer to 1.5 acres, and it’s a big L shape so they have fun running and bucking on occasion. I’d hate to take away their space to play like that if I were to divide it.
