We have two paddocks, each about 150x150 feet. Currently, we are hand-picking the manure from them. However, my dad wants to drag the paddocks in order to spread the manure that is already out there, instead of picking it out by hand.
Is that okay? Are there any pros or cons to doing it that way? Or, is it better to keep picking it out by hand.
I guess it could be but those are not huge paddocks that could easily be picked daily or even twice a day.
We have larger paddocks (200by125) (200by150) that are usually picked twice a day
I do put the wet bedding from the stalls in the corners of one and along the fence line of the upper as that gives them a place urinate. Also for 95% of time they will poop in the bedding
We are in an urban area that by city code we must pickup and dispose of the manure. It is placed into roller carts that are lined with bags. These carts are emptied twice a week by the cityâs sanitation service (cost is cheap for us $18 a month)
To what end.
Those are small paddocks. It takes no time to pick. Removing the organics not only prevents mud but limits your intestinal parasite burden.
How many horses?
Are these grass paddocks that get occasional grazing? Dry lots with only hay? Either way, really, there arenât any Pros to dragging, and several Cons.
If itâs grazing land, youâre spreading parasite eggs which are likely the resistant parasites.
If a dry lot, which inevitably gets dusty at some point, youâre increasing the odds of horses inhaling manure dust.
Pick up donât drag. Too small
May I ask who currently is responsible for the manure picking? If this is a daily task that falls heavily on your father I can certainly understand him looking for a quicker and less laborious technique.
I would do a âspringâ drag of the paddocks after a rain, to bring up old grass leaves, tree leaves, smooths out soil hoof damage. Because the drag can do that much easier (on the body, save time) than doing raking of it by hand. Kind of âfluffingâ the green stuff out there with the teeth.
I use a chain harrow (8ft wide) with three tires tied to the bar to hold the teeth down into the grass. Doing this early in the season, grass is 4-6 inches long, softer but not muddy ground, doesnât damage the plants or affect regrowth.
I admire all the dedicated paddock cleaners picking them often. I just donât have the time or energy for that, along with cleaning 8 stalls daily and trying to get riding time in. Add in pasture mowing and I run out of daylight hours. Heaven forbid I should still be working a full-time job too!!
Thatâs like half the size of a small arena. Dragging a handful of times and youâll just have a lot completely covered in small manure particles. That doesnât seem good for feet, lungs, any stray grazing, etc.
Hand picking isnât my favorite but itâs the only option in my mind with smaller spaces.
My neighbor/hayguy spreads cleanings from my stalls on my mini-field (L-shaped area bordering my pastures). Then cuts & bales it.
When I mowed pastures I ran over the piles & called it Mulching 
ETA:
My larger pasture is 1ac+, smaller 1/2ac.
My âmulchingâ hasnât caused a problem in the 20yrs Iâve been here. Closed herd - horse, pony, mini - has annual fecals that never show any alarming load. I pasteworm 2X a year, Spring & Fall.
I get the time factor and if the paddocks are grass covered, picking is harder. I have clarifying questions:
1- how many horses in each paddock? One? Just a quick pick with a fork and wheelbarrow will be healthier and maintain the grass.
2- Do you want grass for grazing? If so, then spreading the manure will limit that because they will not eat where they pee or poop. So spreading it will create a grassy, uneaten, must be mowed mess.
3- If they are gravel/sand- Are you avoiding mud/diseases? Then spreading manure will promote that. I have large gravel/sand paddocks I pick twice a day. I often pile poop up for a few days,especially when itâs dry, then pick it all up at once. My paddocks remain mud free after years.
I do drag my big pastures each spring, and will pick the smaller of the two a few times each summer, but these are 1 to 1.5 acres each.
IIRC Youâre in Florida, right? That means your paddocks are probably pretty flat. If Dad is responsible for this and he really wants to drive the ATV/tractor around, get him one of these for Fatherâs Day 
Dragging Pastures Update:
Thanks for all the replies! Iâve been picking out the pastures myself daily. It takes about 20 minutes, which isnât bad at allâI donât mind doing it since theyâre not too big (150x150 each). Our neighbors have the exact same pasture size and they drag theirs, and now my dad wants to drag ours too because he thinks itâs fine since they do it and donât seem to have any problems.
I keep telling him I donât mind picking them out daily, and Iâd rather not spread the manure since our pastures are small. Iâm concerned about spreading parasites and bacteria and also limiting the available grazing area. Itâs hard for me to prove my point because our neighbors do it, and to my dad, it works for themâso I probably just sound stubborn for not wanting to follow suit.
I havenât seen their pastures personally, so I canât vouch for how they look, but my dad said when he was over there last, they looked nice and grassy. Still, I just donât feel comfortable dragging our pastures given their size. Am I right to feel that way? Am I doing the right thing by picking them out instead of dragging?
Iâve also heard some people say youâre supposed to give back what your horses take from the pasture, and that itâs actually better for the pasture to redistribute the manureâotherwise youâre removing nutrients. Is that true? Or are smaller pastures the exception?
We have two 150x150 paddocks, so itâs 150x300 total with a fence down the middle splitting them. One horse goes out in one paddock for 12 hours at night, and the other horse goes in the other paddock for 12 hours at night. The paddocks arenât big, but so far theyâve been holding up well with daily grazing. Iâm just wondering if thereâs any additional advice on how to keep them as healthy as possible.
Also, are there any tips or tricks for picking up the mature spots in the paddocks? For example, when grass gets caught on the rakeâis it okay if the crumbly pieces that the rake canât pick up are left in the grass?
If your dad needs a reason to not drag, the AAEP deworming guidelines should help
(Thatâll download/open a PDF.)
âEquine strongyle parasites begin life as eggs in a manure pile, which then must develop to infective
larvae in the feces, get out onto the pasture, and be ingested by a horse. Thus, infection of horses
could be prevented if all feces were promptly removed from the pasture.â
âNon-composted horse manure should never be spread onto pastures grazed by horses as this will increase the level of parasite contamination and transmission.â
Etc etc etc
Thank you!!
Also, is it okay to leave manure remnants that canât be picked up with a pitchfork or should I try raking over it with the pitchfork to break it up and lightly spread in that spot so the grass there can breathe and grow if that makes sense? Or is that overthinking and is it just fine to leave alone?
Youâll never get it all, so relax and let it go! I pick mine in the summer but as mine are a bit bigger, I simply drag a few times a year, especially in the summer when they can dry out and âcookâ the fly eggs. To be fair, my horses have a âtoiletâ area that they poop in regularly. They never, ever eat there, not matter what I do (pick or drag). I believe that is typical horse behavior.
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