Spreader Manure Spreaders

[cowboydoc]

Couple things to answer your questions.

1. You can put horses or any animal on the pasture right after you have spread manure with no worries. Usually though a horse will not eat where there is manure. That's the main reason you see that horses don't eat in certain places, it's where they've defacated. Now the only worry that you have is worms. Worms can live in manure and reinfect your horse for up to two weeks. Therefore the best manure management is to spread the manure and wait two weeks for better worm control but nothing else really. You certainly can leave manure sit for awhile but I can pretty much guarantee you that it's not going to spread very well at all. If you have it stacked it will start to compost and that makes for a very difficult job with a manure spreader.

As far as spreading the piles of manure in the field it's considered good management but again remember when you do that you are infected the area that you spread the manure to for up to two weeks. This is one reason why pasture rotation is so beneficial.

All in all spreading manure won't hurt horses except that it's going to make for more worms if it hasn't sat for two weeks.

 

[Charlie_Iliff]

Other than the worms, as mentioned by Cowboydoc, a number of people recommend composting manure and spreading it later, if the bedding is sawdust or wood shavings. Those actually absorb nitrogen as they break down, releasing it only after complete decomposition. We toss in a little ammonium nitrate and compost or spread, and either works. If you're spreading two or three horses worth per acre, probably the amount of shaving or sawdust doesn't even need additional nitrogen. I have an old ground driven spreader - so rusty I can't read a name anywhere. When properly adjusted, it spreads everything from fresh to completely composted with no problem. Spreaders vary considerably in capability to break up and broadcast.

Charlie Iliff

 

[polaris]

What do you use to break up the horse droppings in the pasture?

 

[MikePA]

Usually, my shoe. /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

But seriously, they get broken up when I mow the pasture.

 

[cowboydoc]

Polaris,
Just drag a harrow over them.

 

[BrianC]

Cowboydoc,

Is it a required practice to put a harrow over the pasture or is it just a good practice, and does it vary depending on the amount of available pasture for the animal..... You once said you loved to talk about horses...hope I dont abuse your offer, if I do just say back off, otherwise keep talking and I will listen.

Many Thanks

Brian

 

[cowboydoc]

Requied? Definitely not. The manure will decay on it's own and decompose into the soil with no problems. All the harrowing does is speed that process up a little bit. It really doesn't vary according to the number of animals. If you have too many green apple piles then you probably have too many horses on your grass anyway so harrowing those isn't going to make alot of difference. NOPE don't mind talking about horses at all!