The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Pets & Working Animals => Horses, ponies, donkeys & mules => Topic started by: faith0504 on October 26, 2010, 08:11:39 pm
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hi everyone the land we have just purchased is in a poor state, very wet, weeds, i will need to spend alot of time on it next year to get on top of it, but to help us get through the winter is there anything i can do now, with muddy gateways, its getting really bad and winter is not really here yet!!!!!! i have tonight put electric fencing across one gateway and took a wee bit of fencing down further down as a temp gateway, any advice or help would be gratefully recieved
to safe me horses from ending up knee deep in mud, which could possibly mean i would only see the tips of my mini shetlands foals ears, oh dear please help
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Old pallets - use them as duck boards? That's what I did in my chicken run. Works fine for quite a while till that gets squelched over too. Hardcore underneath is best, although a bit late for that unless we get a really dry spell.
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i wouldnt use pallets, i had a horse rip its leg to the bone on pallets. we put plenty of hardcore in the gateways but you need to do it when the ground is dry first.
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could i put hardcore down when we have a frost and the ground is hard? :wave:
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Sorry, didn't think about that - and the nails of course. A bad idea, sorry. I was at a friend's croft on Sunday and the entrances to her cattle fields were dreadful whereas the one to the ponies was far easier to walk on - it had hardcore underneath.
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thanks doganjo :wave:
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I wondered that too, but I think when it softened it would mix in with the mud so you might need an awful lot more of it. If it was dry but not frozen it might be OK, but I think you'd have to tamp it down somehow too.
I still have a big problem with my muddy chicken run, so I am thinking of splitting it and putting down cement to mix with the mud in one half, then moving them over when it's gone off, and doing the same at the other side. I really am at a loss about this as it is so smelly too.
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how do other people cope with muddy gateways and entrances in fields and chickens runs?, inspire me and doganjo PLEASE
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i borrowed a pickup from place i worked at and got 3 ton of road scalpings they go like concrete when settled use it for driveway also i reversed up tipped a ton at a time flattend it then drove over that compacted it and it has now gone solid ish over time it was the cheapest option we had to do a semi yard sort of structure as was ankle deep in mud but now its ok have you got machinery? if i was going to do a gateway i would work from where the gate was shut tip it there then rake towards the way you would come from most then work back once you done one side then what you will do is have a deeper more solid layer where you want it then weaker layer where it eases up. if that at all makes sense
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I don't know how well it would work, but what about putting some down some garden webbing first or maybe the building suppliers have some sort of cheap fabric which would work the same then tipping scalpings on top.
I have always found that scalpings just need raking over and leaving for a day or two undisturbed and they set very well
All the best
Sue
Dark Brown Eggs
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Like has been suggested hardcore first which would probably have to be broken up and made level and then road scrapings always handy to ask any local road workers if they would load u up with some,or if they need a place to tip,LOL,To be honest u may have to wait till better weather,unfortunately we find that mud will surface regardless of what u do so this becomes a regular thing with our gateways etc,just the joys of haveing horses, ;D :horse:
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thanks everyone, looks like im on the look out for some handsome roadworkers to chat up ;)
matty yes you made sense, i dont have access to machinery just a barrow and rake, but hey ho it will be character building eh.
thanks once again :wave:
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Hardcore is the way to go but sounds like you will need a fair bit. Daddymatty82's idea is the one I would go with, board in the area you want to work within and then you'll get a nice look to the finish too.
If the new area isn't too poached yet you could buy some of the rubber matting that is made especially for such situations. A bit expensive though at around £45 a piece.
As previously said, pallets complete - or stripped, a big no no.
:horse:
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Perhaps, too, you should take advice on drainage. That's the first step in dealing with wet land. :)
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Perhaps, too, you should take advice on drainage. That's the first step in dealing with wet land. :)
I thought about that fro my chicken run - but it is right next to a burn that fills up when it rains, so nowhere fro teh water to go to even if I did put in drainage pipes. My chicken run is at the far side of the garden and i am not fit to barrow umpteen loads of scalpings or anything else, plus I'm a pensioner so I am really at a dead end. It would be a huge job to move the hens too as the sheds are part of the run. I think cement is the only option now. I just hope it works.
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good luck with the cement doganjo.
drainage is something i will look into in the spring, the field definately needs drainage but there is nowhere to drain too, no burns, no ditchs. and the top field is wetter than the bottom. roll on next spring think the field challenge is going to be expensive, and a learning curve, but worth it if i have a dryish field for my horses next winter. :horse:
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We are in the same position but the land is too wet to get in and try and clear the ditches to improve drainage so.......our horrendous failed hay is coming in handy, laying it in the gateways is saving it a bit and come spring, it will reseed fine. Have used hay before, definitely helps so if you have any old unusable stuff, use that! I am putting mine mushroom side down!! ;D
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trouble i found with hay in my opinion is when feeding our sheep in the feeder they get it all over the floor it held the wet in the ground all year round and took ages to rot down when we cleared it up the area got really boggy as it was the wettest area in the field as the hay held the moisture down and ended up being like a trampaline
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Carpet in emergancies then prepare for next winter
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heeps wool works in the short term, I use the daggings that I collect in a bag for such times
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heeps wool works in the short term, I use the daggings that I collect in a bag for such times
Hmmm. Wouldn't it cause a problem when the horses graze on it after the grass grows back?
???
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nope it is organic and eventually rots away, my sheep sometimes graze with the horse and leave bits of wool around and I have never had a problem.
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thats interesting the wool. i have been offered shells today, a lady i talked too today has a scallop factory and she has offered me the scallop shells, apparently farmers use them for muddy gateways, that may be an idea
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take her up on the offer if there cheap or free then problem is sorted free just smash them up try get some weight on them maybe ask a neigbour to roll them or maybe rent a wacker plate for a day to compact them down i need to find something for the ruts we got they are full of water all year round so i need to sort that this year
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i will probably give her some hen eggs in exchange, thanks matty :wave:
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how much shell can you get? allways get more in if you can always comes in handy ruts and such like but just make sure you brake them up enough as they would be sharp under foot if you dont do it properly
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not sure on the amount yet but will keep you posted, i will crush them well dont want any probs with horses feet . i hope you cure your rut problem
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yeah i due to get some paving bricks from a friend only about 200 of them so i hope to do the bulk of the ruts
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you can get rubber field mats they have holes in and let the water go away they made for gate ways.
Plus they made for horse paddocks very much like the rubber stable mats you get but with holes
Bearts of stowbridge sell them
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you can get rubber field mats they have holes in and let the water go away they made for gate ways.
Plus they made for horse paddocks very much like the rubber stable mats you get but with holes
Bearts of stowbridge sell them
Very expensive for the size of em I thought when I last looked.
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You cant really solve it when its poached already, its something for next year.
You sound like you've taken precautions to stop your horses gathering for food or comfort in the muddy areas. Thats probably all you can do while its still muddy.
I did a quick search on google and found this document which has some great advise on it - well I enjoyed the read and got some interesting ideas out of it:-
http://www.surreycc.gov.uk/sccwebsite/sccwspages.nsf/LookupWebPagesByTITLE_RTF/Gateways+advice?opendocument
Ta
Baz
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good article!
we have a very wet field entrance, the water drains off the hill and across the road into it.
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It is amazing how field gates and heavily poached areas recover, so don't panic. I've seen my wee paddock near the house in some pretty bad states if I've had to keep the horses in there for some reason or other when it's wet. It really does recover well after the frost, sun, wind, and even more rain have worked on it for a while.
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thanks for all the input,
bazzias that link was interesting reading, food for thought.
im definately going to sort the drainage out in the field next summer, the worst gateway is blocked off with electric fencing now, i have taken down some fencing and made a temp gateway on a drier bit of the field, my main concern is my horses hurting themselves, i.e pulled muscles in the mud, and with it only being the start of winter, its only going to get worse.
but you guys have given me plenty to think about and things to do to get us through till i can sort it out properly
thanks so much
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Yes of course you can. We like the stuff that comes from scraped-off road surfaces when they resurface a road. You can get special rubber mats with lots of holes but its an expensive way.
This year we've also gone for multiple field entrances to try to reduce the damage.