How long does manure take to break down?

laceyfreckle

laceyfreckle

Well-Known Member
May 27, 2007
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Essex/Suffolk
If my summer grazing isn't going to be used until May and hasn't been used since November will all the manure in it rot down to nothing on its own or will i have to remove it?

next summer the field will have droppings removed daily when it is being used again it's just i kind of didn't keep on top of it this year.
 
I would be interested in the responses as I don't know, but I would have thought that you would need to remove it as the summer grass may not grow properly in places where there was lots of poo.
 
Mary Poppins said:
I would be interested in the responses as I don't know, but I would have thought that you would need to remove it as the summer grass may not grow properly in places where there was lots of poo.
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all the poo is fairly spread out and the field isn't completely covered but obvouisly if i was using it for grazing now it wouldn't be ideal
 
I would imagine it would break down over that length of time, if in doubt and you didnt want to pick it all up just get someone to harrow it over x
 
i won't be able to harrow it as i don't know anyone who could and i'm not allowed to take machinery on to the fields anyway:(

would spreading the piles by fork help?

if it will break down it will save me a lot of work.:D
 
If it rains properly they dissolve pretty fast, but this year, at least around here, it's been a quite dry year, and I piled a bunch of horsey pies by some pine trees 4 months ago... and they're pretty much intact!!! :(

Although the ones out in the fields, the birds seem to help spread them out and about!!! :D
 
sorry lacey didnt realise you can t take machinery down what a puffy land owner
anyways it happens we all been there - and if some say i never had - i say poohey as what happend when you have a kid you stuck in hospital and you get someone else to do it - do they pooh pick for you- no not likely they mite do your neds but pooh pick is a ball game by itself

dont use a to do it alone- wiat till they softer as it be icy recently
then get a really good stiff yard broom and snow shovel
the shovel is a useful tool as it picks up far more than a shovel
and your mucking out can be halved- in time

but anyways if you some trees and bushes or hedgrew fling it in there ie sides
as it would disintergate and be benifical to the trees and scrubs and hedgegrow as will help to keep thm and feed them during winter months
as i see you have a hedge-- -so thats the sides done use snow shovel can get 3 on it


then center break it up a bit with snow shovel-- then brush in all direction with stiff broom that will break it up into tiny peices so wehn it rians it wil go into the ground
 
what kind of land owner wont let machinery on to tend to the land! :rolleyes:
 
Denbenj said:
what kind of land owner wont let machinery on to tend to the land! :rolleyes:
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one that isn't horsey lol.........city folk :p:D

they're pretty good but are completely city folk who like looking at ponies

thanks for the advice goeslikestink and everyone else...might have to get me one of those snow shovel things
 
if you can pick it up that would be far better, even just to fling it in the hedge!! :)

by spreading it out you are also spreading the worm burden. My YO "helps" by spreading it in my field when I've fallen behind with it :-( Bless him!!

does your ned drive? if so look at getting him to pull a set of chain harrows now to help break the poo up for the rain to wash it away, the crows will help too :) But wait until a sunny day so that it isn't just frozen frosty lumps!

incidentally frosty weather does help to kill off a few worm eggs.
 
she be ok with center ones as it a rested paddock so they be dead by then anyways if she spreads it out as far as she can in all directions with the broom as its the same as harrowing on by hand

worm neds before you go into a new paddock and change the paddock as you worm then its all ok
 
I don't know how long the field has been rested for but some eggs can be live but dormant for a number of months, I think some species for up to 3 years.

I agree to worm before entering new pasture, but I box mine with t/o on the yard for 48 hours after worming to reduce recontamination to the old field.
 
thanks everyone....the field was rested for 18months before i took it over then used for 6 months (ponies wormed before going in it and wormed again when changed fields (and once imbetween) field will have been rested 6 months before it is used again.....

hmmm like the idea of getting Lacey to chain harrow her own poo..:D not sure if she's take offence to it not being a cart though? or where you'd get a chain harrow from?

worm counts start in the new year as well and both field and ponies will be worm counted before fields swapped.

i'm going to go and have a look to see how much they've broken down today
 
occasionally chain harrows come up on ebay or farm auctions, even some old horse drawn ones.

but you can also buy new on ebay to be towed by quads etc, an expensive option if you have to modify them!!

I plan to make my own over christmas with a bit of iron bar and some old chains we have around the place, but then I have access to a workshop to drill the holes in the bar. it will look far from professional but in my experience my recycled made items are just as robust as anything you can buy, much to the OH's dismay!!
 
Me and mum just go for a wander around and kick it everywhere (when its soft) a good rain (come april unless we have repeat of last year) will wash it all into the ground, we keep fields clear until the last couple of weeks and then it gets thrown around. Same with wniter field, kept clean until the grass is gone then only the place where hay is put out is kept clean and horses trample everything else in.
 
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