The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Other => Topic started by: langdon on December 09, 2010, 09:44:44 pm
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we are moving our goats in an area where horses would have been at one time, by one time i mean
we will be putting a perimeter fence around the field to stop horses coming in.
there is quite alot of horse dung around, now i know in due time it would be good for the ground when it rots down,
my concern is for the goats, would it be bad for them in any way? im quite sure that they wont eat it!
thanks langdon :goat: :horse:
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It will take a while to rot down if left in piles and the grass around the poo will be stale and grow long through not being grazed. Best to pick it up and use it as comost, keep the grass clear of parasites and even growing. A sign of a bad maintained field is long spots.
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It should be good as horse parasites don't infest goats. Putting a different animal in a field is the best natural way to stop parasite hot spots. Sheep and horse rotation is the same. I heard some deer worms infect goats but I don't know if it's true. Could you chain harrow the poo to break up the lumps?
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if your gona pick up poo by barrow load, choose a day when poo is dry- ish cos it can weigh a ton when wet - iv learnt the hard way! if your gona compost it, cover heap with black plastic sheet and weigh down with tyres, leave for year and it will be great. better than stuff mixed with straw, and as its pure horse muck - it has resale value to gardeners. just a thought
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The other thing you could do is take a garden rake and break down the piles of dung, this will help it rot away quicker. Poo picking at this time of year is very hard work.
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Cross grazing is by far the most effective way of managing grazing - the dung piles left by horses will be broken down by birds, frost or a good rake or harrow if you're keen to get the look changed but left to itself it will do the goats no harm at all and return the goodness to the land that produced it into the bargain.
Poopicking by hand is a hard job and not one for snowy/frosty weather so I'd be tempted to put the goats on first and see how the horse dung breaks down naturally over the winter, perhaps giving it a helping hand with a rake or harrow depending on the quantities. The long grass around the dung is unpalatable to the horses that produced it but not to sheep and presumably therefore not to goats either tho I don't know anything about goats. The worms cannot cross contaminate and there are no other health risks I'm aware of between horses and goats so carry on and enjoy ;)
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if you spread cow dung on grass cows wont eat the grass where spread unless there is nothing else for them spread horse dung pig dung and poultry litter they will eat the grass this is only an observation
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I really like your dancing pigs.