[faith0504]

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

[doganjo]

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.

[NLL]

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.

[faith0504]

could i put hardcore down when we have a frost and the ground is hard? 

[doganjo]

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.

[faith0504]

thanks doganjo 

[doganjo]

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.

[faith0504]

how do other people cope with muddy gateways and entrances in fields and chickens runs?, inspire me and doganjo PLEASE

[daddymatty82]

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

[darkbrowneggs]

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

[bevsmith]

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,

[faith0504]

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 

[OhLaLa]

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.

 

[Hardfeather]

Perhaps, too, you should take advice on drainage. That's the first step in dealing with wet land.

[doganjo]

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.