Manure- moving it around the field- does this logic make sense

[S1969]

I believe I read that horses will avoid eating from the roughs for as long as 3 years after they have been used as manure areas; so dragging won’t really change that, nor will rotating, unless you have tons and tons of pasture.

I drag my pastures for aesthetic reasons more than anything else. I don’t want to look at piles of manure in them, nor do I want to pick 4 acres of manure. But I try not to drag the manure into the lawns, since that is only likely to make the grazing area smaller.

I’m not particularly worried about parasite contamination by dragging as I have big enough pastures and supplement with enough hay in a drylot that my horses don’t have to graze from the roughs (nor will they anyway). And I do fecals and deworm twice a year and/or as needed.

So, I would say go ahead and drag your pastures; but don’t expect that by doing so it will necessarily force your horses to graze the roughs more than they do now.

[LDavis104]

From AAEP.org “AAEP Parasite Control Guidelines”
http://www.aaep.org/custdocs/ParasiteControlGuidelinesFinal.pdf
The entire article is VERY informative, but here is the part specifically about environment-based approaches:

Eggs hatch and develop into infective larvae under conditions of moderate temperature and moisture. Cold slows the rate of development or stops it altogether, and excessive heat kills eggs and larvae. It is possible to heat manure sufficiently to kill the parasites, including even ascarid eggs (Gould et al., 2012). Proper composting of manure and soiled bedding will generate relatively high internal temperatures, and strongyle larvae in manure are virtually eradicated by exposure to temperatures over 40 ºC for a minimum of two weeks. Composting is a practice that should already be in place at any stable.

Non-composted horse manure should never be spread on pastures as this will increase the level of parasite contamination.

Leaving pastures unoccupied for several months of the year may or may not reduce the risk of infection depending on the time of the year. Infective strongyle larvae (L3) can survive for only a few weeks in hot weather, but for as many as six to nine months during colder weather (Nielsen et al., 2007). Consequently, L3 survival in the environment will vary greatly from region to region and season to season. Thus, strategies for environmental control must be made based on local conditions.

[purplnurpl]

welp. I suck then.
We have 2 acres for our 2 horses. there doesn’t seem to be a rhyme or reason to where they crap.
I spread out there too…and I pick the poop in the pasture and spread it. Everything gets spread out there.

Everyone seems fine.
I’ve never noticed them not eating from a certain area due to poop. There is one really green small area where the water flows when it rains…they neither poop nor graze there. lol.
who knows…

[dotneko]

Yes, I am terrible, too. I have been spreading the manure in my paddocks for 20 years. (22 paddocks from 1/2 acre down to round pen size with one occupant apiece). My horses are all worm ridden creatures and the vets doing the fecals are incompetent.

[SuzieQNutter]

We drag paddocks here in Aus but then we have a lot of heat to kill the parasites.

The easiest way for us (maybe not for you) is you let cattle into the paddock. They eat the rough and if they pick up the horse parasites they don’t continue the cycle. WIN WIN:yes:

[Bluey]

We spread the horse manure in cattle pastures.

I wonder if some of you without those could possibly find some neighbor that will let you spread there?

[dotneko]

I use a chain link drag behind my tractor.

[merrygoround]

We drag winter pastures as soon as the troops move to summer pastures. That gives the worms plenty of time to die. However when the horses come back, they still won’t graze the roughs. That’s the only time I wish I had beefers.