Manure Management in Pasture help needed

[gahorseygal]

We just got our horses this past weekend (yay!) and now we have the 2 horses and 2 donkeys on our just under 2 acre pasture. We have been picking the pasture twice a week and putting the manure in a compost pile. We plan to use this later to fertilize the pasture. However, what do we do with the bits of manure that are left behind and the spots on the ground? Do we just rake the spots out? Anything we need to add there? It seems to be killing the grass on some larger spots (the donkeys tend to poo in the same area). Thanks in advance!

And if you have any great resources for composting manure please feel free to share!

[2DogsFarm]

Manure collecting on the same spot in pasture should not be killing the grass.
On the contrary, these repeated-use spots - called Roughs - generally grow nice lush grass that horses refuse to eat, because “toilet” :dead:
Maybe they are peeing in the same spots? That could kill grass.
When I mow pasture I take down the roughs & consider that spreading the manure in that field.

As for composting, I am the Grasshopper of Manure Management :rolleyes:
I don’t pick my pastures - one about 2ac, the other 1/2ac - with 1 horse, 1 pony & 1 mini on them year-round.
Manure composts where it lays, or gets spread when I mow.
I pile stall cleanings next to my barn & over the Winter they turn into lovely compost without any help from me aside from the very occasional pitchfork used to turn the topmost layer. A neighbor carts away about 1/2 my pile for his gardens.
If I am ambitious, I wheelbarrow the stall cleanings to my vegetable patch & dump them there starting in Fall through Winter to compost by spring.

[Katy9532]

We have a similar set up, but with only one horse and a mini. My horses tend to poop in the same area and avoid grazing in that area. I had a friend who once said they will poop in the grass they don’t like to eat. I don’t pick my pasture, I use a harrow every other week or so to drag it.
My horses at in their stalls at night, so the compost piles I have from the stall pickings go in the far back of the pasture. I offer “free horse manure” on Craigslist and often have people take it all. We bought a small tractor when we bought the house with a front end loader and turn the manure every so often. We’d probably have better compost if we actually tried.
What can’t be given away, we have a spreader that grinds it up, we lay that over the seed we spread twice a year. We do burmuda in the spring and rye in the winter. By spreading the manure on the seed, keeps the black birds from eating all the seeds, and the horses off the fresh sprouts.
We also have my pasture split into two, so we can fertilize/seed one and wait a week or so and do the other pasture.

[Scribbler]

Pasture management is certainly an art. You need to know your land and how it responds over the course of a year. Where I live, pastures within 10 miles of each other can be completely different in terms of soil, drainage, fertility, grass species, and how many horses it can support.

Four equines on 2 acres is a crowd and I ME the thing that kills pastures is overgrazing. On that size of land you need a rotational system and a dry paddock for part of the day.

With a rotational system, you can let the manure just naturally fertilize the grass while the pasture rests.

[gahorseygal]

@Scribbler

Pasture management is certainly an art. You need to know your land and how it responds over the course of a year. Where I live, pastures within 10 miles of each other can be completely different in terms of soil, drainage, fertility, grass species, and how many horses it can support.

Four equines on 2 acres is a crowd and I ME the thing that kills pastures is overgrazing. On that size of land you need a rotational system and a dry paddock for part of the day.

With a rotational system, you can let the manure just naturally fertilize the grass while the pasture rests.

We currently have a temporary sacrifice area on one end of the pasture and we are working on a permanent dry lot around the barn. We will rest the temporary area and seed it once the permanent dry lot is finished.

Seeing how much manure they create in just a few days it seems necessary to pick it, and that’s not a problem. But it sounds like raking out the extra bits of manure should do the trick! I just hate to leave the huge piles.

[Scribbler]

You will want to return that manure as compost to the fields however. Otherwise you are depleting nutrients from the soil over time.

[Sansena]

You have 4 animals in <2 acres. It’s going to lose grass unless you pick daily, heck twice daily, and cart poop off to a different spot. IME, grass can grow through the random pile of poo. But when it’s concentrated, piles on top of piles, it cuts off the air and the grass just dies under it.

For the ‘poop chips’ left behind, you drag the field. Fields should be aerated annually anyway to help nutrients, moisture and O2 reach the roots. Typically folks re-seed after aerating as well.

The only drawback I’ve heard to dragging fresh manure through fields is recontamination of parasites. So either be very certain your deworming protocol is top notch, or compost poop (the heat kills the ovum) then return it to the pasture.

But honestly, 4 equids on less than 2 acres is going to take a whole lot of work to keep it with fresh grass. Selective grazing, sacrifice paddocks, only partial day t/o… all help. At least here in CT

[Texarkana]

Where are you located?

In Tennessee, I had 2 horses and 1 donkey on a similar-sized pasture (maybe slightly bigger).

I picked the worst “toilet” areas, especially those close to the barn, about 1-2x per week. Sometimes more, sometimes less if it was times of year when the manure broke down quickly. I didn’t do anything special to the remaining bits that couldn’t be picked up by the fork. During the summer, manure in the rest of the pasture only got broken up by mowing.

My grass still grew like mad in the summer, provided we didn’t go into a drought. I didn’t have any parasite problems. I did have buttercups in spring/early summer, but I think the crux of that problem was greater than just manure.

But I don’t think that strategy would work in areas of the country where the climate + soil equals less resilient grass. I’m not even sure it would work here in Maryland, luckily have I more pasture these days.

[walkinthewalk]

When your livestock all start to develope hoof health issues like thrush and whiteline, don’t wonder why. Especially if you get heavy rain and the dirt turns to a sea of mud/manure. You need to invest as much time in keeping hooves healthy as you do picking manure.

Two horses would have been tough enough to manage on 2+ acres but having four on that small amount of land is compounding trouble; including the fact they can’t get away from each other if they get to running & bucking in play.

[Foxglove]

Where I live it is recommended 5 acres per horse if out 24/7. Some show barns keep horses in stalls most of the time and do a brief (hour or so) turnout on a small pasture —but those horses are worked daily --still --I think you have too many critters on too small a lot --unless you are in AZ —I hear they do pastures that small but are on 100% hay and no grass.

[Guilherme]

The level of stocking, here, is going to deplete the grass far more than the accumulation of manure. Remember that out of 2 acres total the horses have already set aside an area as the “toilet zone.” Picking it won’t change that. They will eat the grazing zone to dirt first. In the grass growing months if the stand is strong you might be OK. In the non-growth months you’re going to have mud problems if you have any significant rain or snow.

I don’t see the geographic location being noted. That has a HUGE impact on management practices. Your local extension service could help with that. Call them.

As for “detritus” left by picking, I’d let the rain do the job of cleaning it up. Manure is also sometimes called “fertilizer.”

G.

[gahorseygal]

@Texarkana

Where are you located?

In Tennessee, I had 2 horses and 1 donkey on a similar-sized pasture (maybe slightly bigger).

I picked the worst “toilet” areas, especially those close to the barn, about 1-2x per week. Sometimes more, sometimes less if it was times of year when the manure broke down quickly. I didn’t do anything special to the remaining bits that couldn’t be picked up by the fork. During the summer, manure in the rest of the pasture only got broken up by mowing.

My grass still grew like mad in the summer, provided we didn’t go into a drought. I didn’t have any parasite problems. I did have buttercups in spring/early summer, but I think the crux of that problem was greater than just manure.

But I don’t think that strategy would work in areas of the country where the climate + soil equals less resilient grass. I’m not even sure it would work here in Maryland, luckily have I more pasture these days.

I’m in North Georgia about 45 minutes south of the Tennessee border.

[gahorseygal]

I appreciate all the concern but this post has gone off topic. I was specifically looking for help with manure management in our pasture, tips on composting, and making sure I didn’t need to add anything after picking. So far it sounds like we should rake out the little bits left behind, plan to aerate and seed the pasture annually, and I need to check with my extension office I assume to have the soil tested and find out what if anything needs to be added. Thank you!

We have a barn with stalls. We have a sacrifice area. We have 10 acres total of property (half pasture and half wooded) and plans to fence more pasture. The horses are not on the grass 24/7. The horses receive hay and grain (I work with an Equine Nutritionist).

Hope that helps address some of the questions/concerns brought up. Thanks!

[lorilu]

Sounds like you have a handle on it. As for all the comments, the number of horses/acre all depends on WHERE you are. Here in Ocala, I have three horses on just under two acres. Good soil means LOTS of grass. Even now, in March! I mow and drag, and the only dead spots are the pee spots. I do feed hay in the winter, but am weaning them off it right now. Mowed the paddocks for the first time about a month ago, and again yesterday.

[Scribbler]

Like I said earlier, even in the same 20 mile radius the pastures can be totally different. I know one on good riverbottom soil that stays productive year round, only need to throw hay if there is more than 5 inches of snow. One on harder soil uplands that dried right out by July and horses needed supplementary hay. Others in lowland but poor soil, that just got trashed and are mud and buttercups. All the same climate zone, same year. Soil and drainage is such an important factor.

[candyappy]

@gahorseygal

I appreciate all the concern but this post has gone off topic. I was specifically looking for help with manure management in our pasture, tips on composting, and making sure I didn’t need to add anything after picking. So far it sounds like we should rake out the little bits left behind, plan to aerate and seed the pasture annually, and I need to check with my extension office I assume to have the soil tested and find out what if anything needs to be added. Thank you!

We have a barn with stalls. We have a sacrifice area. We have 10 acres total of property (half pasture and half wooded) and plans to fence more pasture. The horses are not on the grass 24/7. The horses receive hay and grain (I work with an Equine Nutritionist).

Hope that helps address some of the questions/concerns brought up. Thanks!

I kept 2 horses and my mule on under 2 acres when we lived up North. It was what we had at the time because we didn’t want to fence our grass / alfalfa hay ground. It did have some grass all the time and it was just enough to keep them happy looking for something to eat. I called it a big dry lot and actually preferred that for my mare & mule over abundant grass. They were out on it 24/7.

I fed hay year round and cleaned the barn daily as well as the several spots they used as the potty area and piled that up to spread on our hay field in the fall and spread on the garden area. I just let it sit but you could turn it if you wanted occasionally.

The harrow will spread the manure you miss as fertilizer and you could also apply commercial fertilizer spring & fall. Just send in soil samples so you know what you need.

We harrowed their acreage in the fall right before winter and then again in the Spring before the grass started greening.

No reason why your guys can’t thrive in a small space. I wouldn’t want donkeys to have too much of a good thing ( grass)anyways.

[Calvincrowe]

I have about the same amount of pasture with two full sized horses. I have a great, mud free sacrifice area (well worth the investment in time and money to do that right the first time!). As far as manure management, in the smaller pasture, off the sacrifice area (@1acre), I pick weekly in late spring, summer and fall–until the rains come, composting what I pick. I drag in the spring to aerate and distribute what I couldn’t pick. In the big pasture (1.5 acres) I don’t pick, but do drag and mow as they use this area less. I lime or fertilize pastures, spray for weeds, and mow as needed. Here in the land of eternal wetness, I also restrict the horses when it’s too wet to turn out. This saves my fields-- no compaction, no skidding and divots, no muddy gates.

I also use pelleted bedding and give away my composted manure. I simply do not have the space to spread manure on pastures-- the horses will not graze if I do. I experimented with doing this and it failed.